Knowledge, attitude and practices towards seat belt usage among taxi drivers in Kampala old taxi park, Kampala district

Abstract

Introduction: Road traffic accident is increasing and becoming public health burden worldwide. About 1.24 million people die each year on the world's roads and between 20 and 50 million sustain nonfatal injuries. Road traffic injuries are so rampant whereby a lot of lives have been claimed and safety measures that are available have been undermined, not used effectively such as seat belt use and helmet use. Safety belt use is a neglected road safety measure that can reduce mortality and morbidity rates due to traffic crashes. Objective: The study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and practices towards seat belt use among drivers in the public transport means specifically the taxi drivers. The study focused on the seat belt usage as a safety measure for all the vehicle occupants. Methodology: The study employed a cross sectional study design. Data regarding knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) was collected using pre-tested questionnaires. A samples size of 325 randomly selected public transport taxi drivers were interviewed. Data from the questionnaires was entered into computer data base designed using Epi data software and analyzed using Stata version 13.0. Results were presented in form tables and graphs. Results: Only 48.3% respondents had worn the seatbelt on the previous day of data collection though 88.6% had seatbelts in the driver’s seat of their taxis. Taxi drivers were mostly motivated by increased traffic patrols to wear seatbelts and over 59.7% respondents had good knowledge and 58.2% had positive attitude towards seatbelt use positive attitude towards seatbelt use. Conclusion: Three out of five taxi drivers were found knowledgeable and one out two had a positive attitude towards seatbelt use. In addition, the practice of seatbelt use was less than half.