Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objectives: the study was designed to determine the prevalence of children’s safety seat and seatbelt usage, the position of the children in the vehicles, and to observe how much people adapted to safety seat and seatbelt in Mamak, Ankara. Methods: The study was an observational survey, conducted in front of the Mamak Cultural Center in the daylight, flowing traffic. 1043 vehicles were observed and data was collected in an observational sheet which included 10 variables regarding the objectives of the research. Data was collected for five days (from 02/12/2013 to 6/12/2013), each day for two hours (from 08:00 am to 10:00 am) in the traffic stream. Collected data was first cleared, entered, edited and analyzed, SPSS version 21 was used. Results: Totally 1043 vehicle was observed; Out of 1043 vehicles 157 (15.1%) vehicles had children. The prevalence of seatbelt usage among drivers was 43.3% (95% CI 41.7% - 44.9%). The prevalence of seatbelt usage was higher among women than men. The prevalence of restraint children was 24.1% either using a safety seat or seatbelt. Safety seat was used by 17.8% (95% CI = 12.8% – 22.8%) of the drivers and seatbelt by 6.3% (95% CI 2.8% – 9.8%). Conclusion: the findings are quite lower compared to the studies conducted in other countries. The usage of safety seats has been recently legalized and in this short period of time, it is not possible to increase the parameter of interest to the level to compete with the other countries in the world. On the other hand, effective enforcement of the safety seat has not been strictly practiced in Turkey yet. Therefore, education of parents, caregivers, and drivers regarding the law risks children may encounter when they are not restrained, the usefulness of the safety seat for their children and proper technique for proper usage of the safety seat is recommended. Furthermore, enforcement and legislative strategies for the improvement of the safety measure while traveling is also recommended.
Institution: Nangarhar University
Language: English
Topic: Traffic and Road Safety
Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7217060352