title: Seatbelt use and speeding on three major roads in Egypt: a brief report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Road traffic injuries pose a significant threat to the Egyptian population. Recent estimates revealed that Egypt experiences 42 road traffic deaths per 100,000 population (1.8% of all deaths in the country), which is the highest death rate in the region. More than half of the road traffic crashes that resulted in injuries occurred on the country's highways. Despite the significance of this public health problem, very little risk factor information currently exists. The overall goal of this paper is to understand the burden of speeding and the level of seatbelt and child restraint use on a highway (Cairo Ring Road) and two urban roads crossing Alexandria city (Kornish and Gamal Abd-Elnaser roads).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two rounds of seatbelt and child restraint observational studies and one round of speed observational study were carried out between 2011 and 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings revealed that seatbelt use among drivers and front seat passengers were low for all three sites (range: 11.1% to 19.8% for drivers; 2.9% to 4.0% for front seat passengers). Similarly, child restraint use in cars with children was very low ranging from 1.1% to 3.9% on all three roads. All three roads experienced a high percentage of vehicles driving above the speed limit (39.4% on Kornish Road, 22.6% on Cairo Ring Road, 11.8% on Gamal Abd-Elnaser Road), with the majority of these vehicles driving 1 to 10 kilometer above the speed limit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future interventions need to focus on enhancing enforcement of speed and seatbelt wearing, closing gaps in legislation, and standardizing existing data systems to help inform good road safety policies.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. Electronic address: choe@jhsph.edu.
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoe
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Prasanthi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Puvanachandra
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: M Hafizur
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hesham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: El Sayed
authors.affiliation: Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt.
authors.forename: Soad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eldawy
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Interior, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Dabaa
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Interior, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mourid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Adnan A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hyder
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D033161:Government Regulation; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Egypt; Road safety; Seatbelt use; Speeding