Knowledge of Wearing Helmets Among the Two-wheeler Riders in Technical Institute of Belagavi - A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction

Every year about 1.25 million people die as a result of road traffic crashes.¹ Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among people aged between 15 and 29 years. 90% of the fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries of the World, even though these countries have approximately 54% of the world’s vehicles.²

Nearly half of those dying on the world’s roads are “vulnerable road users”: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product. Without sustained action, road traffic crashes are predicted to become the seventh leading cause of death by 2030. The newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020.¹

Creating an awareness regarding the road safety and prevention of accidents will reduce the morbidity and mortality related to Road traffic accidents.³ It saves more lives and is also costeffective intervention. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of two-wheeler riders regarding wearing helmets.

Methodology

Sources of the Data:

Primary Data was collected from Students of Technical Institute of Belagavi city. It was a cross-sectional study carried out on the students the Technical Institute of Belagavi from February 2017 to December 2017 Sampling Technique: Convenient sample.

Sample Size Calculation:

Considering the prevalence of helmet use as 30%.⁴

Now, Sample Size (n) = z2pq/d2;

where, ‘d ’ is the Absolute Error,

5% Sample size (n) = 323.

Inclusion criteria:

• Students who drove two-wheeler at least once in last year.

• Students who attended all the sessions i.e. health education session, and pre and post surveys.

Exclusion criteria:

• Students who do not wish to sign on the consent form.
• Students who remain absent on the data collection days.

Predesigned pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. Ethical clearance from Institutional Ethics Committee was obtained for the study. Informed consent was taken to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the study participants.

Pre-tested questionnaire was prepared to collect data. The Questionnaire consisted of 4 parts. The first part was about Demographic characteristics of participants the Second part was about Knowledge regarding Helmet wearing; Third part was about Attitude towards Helmet wearing. The fourth part was about Practice towards Helmet wearing.

Pilot study- 10% of the sample was included in the pilot study to assess the feasibility of the study and validity of the questionnaire. Accordingly, the questionnaire was revised after pilot study. Permission from Technical college obtained for data collection. After obtaining inform consent, participants were asked to fill the questionnaire.

Data analysis:

Data entry and analysis was done by using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS)

Result

In present study, maximum number of participants 220(68.11%) were in the age group of 20-22 years, followed by 98(30.34%) participants were in the age group of 17-19 years, 5(1.55%) participants were in the age group of 23-25 years. Male participants were 160(49.53%), and female participants were 163(50.46%). Almost equal distribution of male and female participants was observed (Table.1).

Discussion          

The aim of this study was to assess knowledge of two-wheeler riders regarding wearing helmets. Most of the studies were done on bicycle helmet, the research is lagging on wearing motorcycle helmets. Hence most of our finding are compared with studies conducted on bicycle helmet.

In the present study, 323 participants were included out of which there were equal number of males and females i.e. 49.54% and 50.46% respectively. In this study, 262(95.27%) participants gave correct answer for the reason to wear helmets, the correct answer was individual safety of two-wheeler rider. 271(98.54%) participants gave correct answer regarding whether helmet is compulsory while riding, but 4 gave different answer.267(97%) participants gave correct answer i.e. there is a punishment for not wearing helmet. Out of 323 participants, 197(71.63%) gave correct answer regarding legally punishment i.e. Rs.100/- fine for not wearing helmet. Death of a motorcycle rider was the worst result that could happen after falling from motorcycle without wearing helmet, this answer was correctly responded by 123(44.7%). In this study, 224(81.45%) participants gave correct answer about the worst situation that could happen after knocked out by car or truck without wearing helmet, is death of a motorcycle rider. In our study, 248(90.18%) participants gave correct answer in regard to selection criteria for helmet i.e. assured quality tested by competent authority. The correct answer was 40% of reduction of death due to head injury while wearing helmet, which was given only by 172(62.54%) participants.

Average of overall knowledge score was 6.55(72.7%), of wearing helmets among the twowheeler riders in technical Institute.

A study conducted by Sridharan, among 309 motorcyclists, 76% were males, and only 24% were females4..In the present study, the number of participants were between the age group of 18-25 year. 80% were less than 40 years of age. A similar study revealed that most of the participants were in the age group of 21-30 years.  Another study showed majority of samples (motorcycle riders or passengers) were between 18-59 yrs.⁵ All these studies were conducted among elderly population, but our study is conducted among young students. In our study, there was 6.55(72.77%) knowledge score.

Conclusion

This study includes 323 participants out of which there were equal number of males and females. The maximum number of participants were between the age group of 20-22 yrs. It was found that students had average knowledge regarding the use of helmet.

There is need of frequent health education in the form of audio-visual aids. Enforcement of law is equally important with that health education to sensitize the importance of wearing helmet for new generations will have great role in creating awareness.