SAFETY EDUCATION AND CHILD SAFETY BEHAVIOR ON THE ROAD, THE GAMBIA
By Paul Bass_ University of the Gambia in Gambia
Abstract
In The Gambia, up to 30% of road traffic crashes involve students (mean age of 14 years) and more than half (51%) are injured as pedestrians. To our knowledge, no study in West Africa investigated child safety behaviours with a support system from parents. This study investigates the influences of safety education and parent support to improve child safety behavior on the road in The Gambia. Methods: Using a controlled field experimental design, two public lower basic schools located along a public road (highway) within the peri-urban Greater Banjul Metropolitan area were randomly assigned as the experimental or control schools. Eligible participants are all students aged 11 to 14 years.
All parents in both schools were invited to assent for their children to participate in the study. Parents of children in the intervention school were provided road safety education and their parent support was assessed, including the child’s mode of transport to school, sources of distraction, and safety concerns. However, parents in the control school were not provided road safety education, instead they were given information about how to ensure dental hygiene for their children. Real-time video recordings are used to observe child safety behaviour while on the road. The observations were noted as road-crossing behaviours of individuals and as a group of children.
Results: The results showed that individuals or groups of children in the intervention school were more likely to demonstrate ideal road crossing behaviours like looking left-right-left before crossing than children in the control school. They were also less likely than children the control school to cross the road while there was an incoming vehicle at either side of the road. Individual children in the intervention school were more likely than children in the control school to cross the road at designated crossing areas and walking fast and not running while crossing the road. For group-children road crossing, children in the intervention school more likely children in the control school to cross the road without distractions by others. The mean time of crossing was lower for children in the intervention school than in the in the control school.
Conclusion: Road Safety Education is important to bring about the desired changes in ideal road safety behaviour for children. The intervention in this study has demonstrated to an extent adoption of ideal behaviour such road crossing at designated areas, looking left-right-left before crossing, and road without distractions. These findings may fill in a knowledge gap and we are confident the project will initiate discussions on introducing road safety lessons in the basic school system in The Gambia.