Knowledge, attitudes and practices on traffic regulations among Kampala- Masaka highway passenger service vehicle drivers

Abstract

Road traffic crashes continue to be a leading cause of death causing an estimated 1.2 million people globally each year with millions sustaining serious injuries and enduring long term adverse health outcomes. Recently statistics on road carnages in Uganda indicate that approximately 17,000 accidents occur annually. Such accidents claim up to 2,000 lives every year and Kampala-Masaka highway is considered the deadliest road in the country. To assess the Knowledge, attitudes and practices of passenger service vehicle drivers on the Kampala-Masaka Highway as regards road safety regulations. Methodology: An analytical cross sectional study design was employed. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 196 drivers working on the Kampala Masaka Road. Data was captured in Epidata version 3.02 and was exported to stata 13 for analysis. Analysis was done at univariate, bivariate and multi-variate analysis. Qualitative interviews were conducted in form of In-depth Interviews with 15 traffic police officers on the Masaka-Kampala Road. Thematic analysis was done using atlas software so that common themes could be obtained. About 20% of drivers had ever been involved in an accident. Half 51.9% (96) had high driving compliance scores. Drivers aged 40-49years, those who covered weekly distance of 1001 -2000km, those who had high knowledge on road signs and positive attitude toward road traffic regulations were more likely to have good driving behavior in line with road traffic regulations as compared to those who were younger or older than 40-49years, those who covered a weekly distance of more than 2000km, those who had poor knowledge on road signs and those with a negative attitude toward road traffic regulations Knowledge and attitudes of drivers were satisfactory though practices were less satisfactory. There is need to increase awareness campaigns and enhance enforcement to ensure more compliance with the traffic regulations.