title: Child pedestrian safety knowledge, behaviour and road injury in Cape Town, South Africa.
abstract: Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of death among South African children, and young children residing in low-income communities are more at risk, due to various factors such as inadequate road infrastructure, exposure to traffic due to reliance on walking as a means of transport, and lack of supervision. This study used a cross-sectional, non-randomized self-report survey to assess pedestrian safety knowledge, road-crossing behaviour and pedestrian injuries of primary school children in selected low-income settings in Cape Town. The survey focused on three primary schools that had joined the Safe Kids Worldwide Model School Zone Project and was administered to 536 children aged 6-15 years, in their home language of isiXhosa. Descriptive and bivariate analyses as well as multivariate regression analyses were conducted to investigate potential predictor variables for pedestrian collision severity and unsafe road-crossing behaviour. Walking was the sole form of travel for 81% of the children, with a large proportion regularly walking unsupervised. Children who walk to or from school alone were younger and reported riskier road-crossing behaviour, although children who walk accompanied tended to have higher pedestrian collision severity. "Negligent Behaviour" related to road-crossing was significantly associated with higher pedestrian collision severity, with predictors of "Negligent Behaviour" including the lack of pedestrian safety knowledge and greater exposure to traffic in terms of time spent walking. More than half of the reported pedestrian collisions involved a bicycle, and older boys (10-15 years) were most at risk of experiencing a severe pedestrian injury. The findings substantiate emerging evidence that children in low-income settings are at greater risk for child pedestrian injury, and emphasise the need for evidence-based safety promotion and injury prevention interventions in these settings.
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town, South Africa; Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 1087, Lenasia, 1820, South Africa. Electronic address: karin.pretorius@mrc.ac.za.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koekemoer
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town, South Africa; Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 1087, Lenasia, 1820, South Africa.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Gesselleen
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town, South Africa; Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 1087, Lenasia, 1820, South Africa.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Niekerk
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town, South Africa; Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 1087, Lenasia, 1820, South Africa; Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, Room 4.45, Fourth Floor, Leslie Social Sciences Building (Upper Campus), Rondebosch, 7701, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Rajen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Govender
authors.affiliation: Childsafe South Africa and Department of Pediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Klipfontein Road, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Arjan Bastiaan
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Van As
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000069636:Pedestrians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D013019:South Africa; D016138:Walking / Q000293:injuries; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Child injury; Low-income; Pedestrian; Road-crossing; Safety knowledge