HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Read responses to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Poudel-Tandukar, K. Articles by Jimba, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Poudel-Tandukar, K. Articles by Jimba, M.

Risk perception, road behavior, and pedestrian injury among adolescent students in Kathmandu, Nepal

Department of International Community Health, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Correspondence to:
Professor M Jimba
Department of International Community Health, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; mjimba{at}m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Objective: To examine the relationship between the perceived safety of specified road behaviors, self-described road behaviors, and pedestrian injury among adolescent students in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1557 adolescents in grades 6–8 across 14 schools in Kathmandu using a self-administered questionnaire in 2003. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Adolescents were more likely to suffer from pedestrian injury when they did not always "wait for green signals to cross the road". There were no significant associations between road behaviors such as "looking both ways along the road before crossing" or "playing in the road or sidewalks" and pedestrian injury. Adolescents who "perceived it safe to cross the road from any point" or "did not perceive it to be safer to cross the road at a zebra crossing" were less likely to "look both ways" or "wait for green signals" before crossing the road. Adolescents who "perceived it to be safe to play in the road" were more likely to play in the road or sidewalk. Similarly, this study showed a positive association between road safety education and adolescents’ road crossing behaviors.

Conclusion: Adolescents’ road behaviors, except for compliance with green signals, were not significantly associated with pedestrian injury. This suggests that a behavioral approach without modification of the traffic environment (such as provision of crossing signals) might not effectively prevent the occurrence of pedestrian injury in developing countries with poor traffic conditions.

Keywords: traffic; accidents; risk-taking; risk reduction behavior; school health; developing countries

eLetters: