ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF ROAD SAFETY MEASURES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A TERTIARY HEALTH CARE CENTER IN CENTRAL INDIA.

INTRODUCTION In recent years, road accidents and injuries have grown to be a major worldwide epidemic and the leading cause of death for younger people in the 15-29 age range. According to the “Ministry of Road Transport and Highways GOI” report 2022, there were 461312 incidences of road accidents in India during 2022, which claimed 168491 lives and caused injuries to 443366 persons. Amongst the States, Madhya Pradesh recorded the second highest number of road accidents (48,877), i.e., 11.8%, in 2021. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of road safety measures among undergraduate medical students in a tertiary health care center in Central India.METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 undergraduate medical students (i.e., 45 from the first professional, 45 from the second professional, 45 from the pre-final, & 45 from the final year) at Government Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar (M.P.) during the period from October 2023 to November 2023. The sampling was done using the stratified random sampling method. Using a pre-designed questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of road safety measures. The collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). The statistical analysis was done using relevant statistical tests. RESULTS The present study was conducted among 180 study participants, of whom 119 (66.1%) were in the 21-25 age group. Most of them were males, 106 (58.9%). The overall knowledge was adequate (81.5%) among study participants, and a good attitude towards road safety measures was exhibited by 98.7% of the study participants. The distribution of practice among study participants showed that only 27.2% always used helmets & 24.4% always used seatbelts. While driving a vehicle, 42.2% of study participants always used an indicator while turning onto the road. CONCLUSION The present study showed that overall knowledge regarding road safety was good. Most of the study participants had a favorable attitude towards road safety measures. However, knowledge is not being put into practice, which calls for more enforcement of the law, increased IEC activity, and incentives to put knowledge into effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]