Self-reported pedestrian knowledge of safety by school children in cape coast metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

The incidence of a pedestrian crash is a leading cause of death among Ghanaian schoolchildren due to various factors including the lack of pedestrian walkways and zebra crossings. This study was a cross-sectional self-reported survey to investigate the means of transport by school children, the incidence of pedestrian crashes among school children and knowledge of pedestrian safety. The survey focused on three basic schools in the High and Medium-Income Residential Areas in the Metropolis and was administered to 230 school children with observations. Descriptive and pairsampled t-test analyses were conducted to assess the differences in pedestrian safety knowledge by gender, age, education and the incidence of pedestrian crashes. The results revealed that transporting/dropping off by vehicles and walking were the major forms of travel for school children with the majority of those walking unaccompanied. Female, younger and lower primary school children were largely victims of pedestrian crashes because of low pedestrian safety knowledge. The findings have emphasized the need for evidence-based safety promotion and injury prevention in the high and medium-income areas of the Cape Coast Metropolis.

Exploring the Nature of Road Safety Education in Basic Schools and School Children’s Travel Mode Options in Winneba, Ghana

“…While the above sheds light on road safety education for children, the discourse on the nature of such road safety education has primarily been dominated by academics in the global north, even though children in the global south record more injuries (Nasrudin & Nor, 2013). Across Ghana, the discourse on trip generation among children has primarily been dominated by the injury statistics (Setorwofia et al, 2020), children walking behaviour (Yankson et al, 2020) and challenges in the implementation of safety education (Odonkor et al, 2020). But for a few studies that explored challenges in the implantation of road safety education, research into the nature or content of such education is nearly absent.…”

Exploring the Relationship between Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, Fatalistic Beliefs, and Pedestrian Behaviors in China

“…Moreover, it is not appropriate for researchers to put pedestrians into dangerous situations. Thus, in order to study risky behaviors, many researchers have used questionnaires (e.g., [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]). This method can provide an insight into pedestrian behaviors, for example, in the exploration of the psychological mechanisms that explain intentional and unintentional risky pedestrian behaviors.…”