Background: The Russian Federation is among the countries with the highest road traffic fatality rates in the WHO European Region. One of the main reasons for that is the personal attitude of traffic participants to safety that includes medical illiteracy and unpreparedness to render first aid to the injured. Our objective was to study failure to give quick and competent first aid as one of the possible causes of road traffic deaths in the Russian Federation and to identify potential ways of improving the situation. Materials and methods: In May-September 2018, in January and June 2019, we conducted a survey of 403 Russian citizens (284 men and 119 women) having a driver’s license and driving experience in different Russian regions including the Volgograd Region, the Krasnodar Krai, the Rostov Region, Moscow, etc. The respondents were asked to answer the questions about first aid training courses in driving schools, prior involvement in road traffic accidents, and first aid techniques. Results: Most of the respondents (63%) reported having had first aid training courses at driving schools given by driving instructors and almost a quarter of the respondents (23%) reported having never had such courses at all. Approximately 68% of the survey participants had no first aid training using dummies. About 17% witnessed traffic collisions and provided at least some level of first aid while almost 14% could not give any help due to the stressful situation or fear to do harm to the injured. We then calculated the number of correct and complete answers rated 1 and 2 points according to the estimation scale and drew a control chart of the average value. The analysis of the control chart showed that 331 of 403 participants (82%) passed our test. Conclusions: Although the results were not as bad as might have been expected, significant gaps in basic first aid knowledge did exist: some respondents failed to answer the questions correctly. Given that in addition to theoretical knowledge the person should be able to use this knowledge decisively and calmly, without panic and the fear of blood, the percentage of those who can really help is even lower. First aid training courses in driving schools shall be mandatory and must be given by medical professionals. Governmental regulatory authorities should pay special attention to this issue when licensing. At the same time, more emphasis should be placed on first aid training in educational institutions (kindergartens, schools, colleges, and universities). In addition, we recommend compulsory first aid training of professional drivers of commercial vehicles.

Road traffic accidents cause enormous material and moral damage both to the society as a whole and to individual citizens. According to the data, the Russian Federation is among countries with highest road traffic mortality rates within European Region of the World Health Organization.The objective of the study was to attempt to identify possible causes of high mortality rates from traffic accidents on the roads of the Russian Federation and to reveal ways to reduce those rates.To that purpose a survey of citizens of the Russian Federation who are driver’s license owners and who are experienced drivers was conducted in different regions of the country. The results identified low medical literacy in terms of provision of first aid to the injured persons as one of the causes.Other factors, potentially capable to reduce the number of fatalities in road traffic accidents, once their performance indicators improve, have also been considered. Those indicators comprise time of arrival of ambulance crews at the site of an accident with enough medical equipment and medicines, interaction of emergency services, growth of efficiency of training in providing primary medical care at driving schools.

The Russian Federation occupies one of the first places in terms of road transport mortality. While the countries of the European Union play a special and significant role in reducing global indicators of road traffic mortality. The objective of the study is to compare the level of knowledge on first aid techniques among drivers in the Russian Federation and EU countries. In continuation of the previous work, in the framework of which a study was conducted by interviewing citizens of the Russian Federation according to the questionnaire developed by the authors, the number of respondents increased from 107 to 403 people. To compare the indicators, 402 European Union citizens were surveyed. The survey was conducted in May–September 2018 and in January and June 2019. A direct survey was conducted by the students of VPI (branch) of VolSTU and Volgograd State Medical University. The platform https://docs.google.com/forms was also used, a link to the questionnaire was posted in the most active driver communities in the social networks Vkontakte and Facebook. According to the data received, Russian driving schools are much more likely to neglect conducting first aid classes than European ones. EU respondents were much less likely to encounter the need for first aid, which may be due to the shorter time for arrival of a team of doctors at the scene of an accident. The most significant discrepancies were revealed in drivers’ knowledge regarding issues related to application of a hemostatic tourniquet, indications of beginning of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and its methods, and actions in case of fractures of the extremities, i.e. critical in cases of traffic accidents. The general preliminary conclusion, subject to fruther detailing, is drawn that more attention is paid to first aid issues in the EU. To improve the situation in Russia, a number of measures have been proposed: compulsory medical classes at driving schools by a medical professional, greater attention to training in first aid techniques in educational institutions, training of special services for first aid skills and facilitating the training of ordinary citizens.