Abstract:

Road traffic injuries are a major and neglected public health challenge that requires intensive efforts for effective and sustainable prevention. Tanzania is one of the six countries responsible for 64% of deaths as a consequence of road traffic accidents. Wearing a seatbelt can reduce the risk of fatal injuries by up to 50% for front seat occupants and by up to 75% for rear seat passengers. Most of the studies were focusing KAP of seatbelt use among drivers, however, there is a big gap with regard to the KAP of motor vehicle occupants/passengers on seat belt use. The aim of this study was to study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of seatbelt use among motor vehicle occupants.

This was a cross sectional study was conducted at Nyamagana district among motor vehicle occupants/passengers. Samples size was 340 calculated by Yamane taro formula and random sampling procedure was used. Data were collected using standardized structured questionnaire and were managed and analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Science Software (SPSS) also through quantitative data analysis methods.

More than half of the respondent were male (52.9%), the remaining were female (47.1%). Majority of the respondents knew about road safety measure (85.9%). 90.6% had ever heard about seatbelt. 78.8% of the respondents had good attitude towards seatbelt wearing while 21.2% had bad attitude. Males had good attitude towards seatbelt wearing compared to females (56.7% vs 43.3). 116 (34.1%) of them said that they wear a seatbelt when boarding car while 224 (65.9%) do not.

We concluded that most of respondents had good knowledge and attitudes of road safety measures and the importance of wearing seatbelt, but few of them practice it.