Investigation of the road safety measures around schools in Ethekwini
type: CreativeWork
description: Globally, road traffic injury is a leading cause of death and disability in children aged 15 to 19 and the second leading cause of death in children between the ages 10 to 14 years. This thesis reviewed literature regarding the extent of road traffic injuries involving child pedestrians, the risk factors for child pedestrians and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at road safety improvement. EThekwini Metro was used as a case study for investigating the magnitude of road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians around primary schools. The schools with the highest road traffic crashes were used to investigate the road and environment contributory factors to crashes and finally the interventions in place at these schools to reduce road traffic injuries. The magnitude of crashes was quantified by using road accident data obtained from eThekwini Metro and the investigation of the interventions applied at the schools was conducted using Google Earth imagery, onsite inspections and administering a questionnaire to educators at the schools chosen for the case study. Results suggest that, in eThekwini, 32% of pedestrian crashes involve children from 0 to 19 years. The 6 to 10 year age group has the highest risk of road traffic injury and boys are 20% more likely to be involved in a crash compared to girls. The top ten primary schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located in middle and low income areas in eThekwini, these are, Sydenham, Jacobs and Umlazi Township. Most crashes took place where three or more schools are located within a kilometre radius of each other. Child behaviour contributed to 77% of the road traffic crashes. Scholar transport driver behaviour was highlighted as a major contributor to crashes by the respondents and environmental factors that resulted in reduced visibility of the child pedestrian contributed to 6% of the crashes. The main cause of road traffic injury, 68%, was crossing the road when it was unsafe to do so. Most crashe…
abstract: Globally, road traffic injury is a leading cause of death and disability in children aged 15 to 19 and the second leading cause of death in children between the ages 10 to 14 years. This thesis reviewed literature regarding the extent of road traffic injuries involving child pedestrians, the risk factors for child pedestrians and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at road safety improvement. EThekwini Metro was used as a case study for investigating the magnitude of road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians around primary schools. The schools with the highest road traffic crashes were used to investigate the road and environment contributory factors to crashes and finally the interventions in place at these schools to reduce road traffic injuries. The magnitude of crashes was quantified by using road accident data obtained from eThekwini Metro and the investigation of the interventions applied at the schools was conducted using Google Earth imagery, onsite inspections and administering a questionnaire to educators at the schools chosen for the case study. Results suggest that, in eThekwini, 32% of pedestrian crashes involve children from 0 to 19 years. The 6 to 10 year age group has the highest risk of road traffic injury and boys are 20% more likely to be involved in a crash compared to girls. The top ten primary schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located in middle and low income areas in eThekwini, these are, Sydenham, Jacobs and Umlazi Township. Most crashes took place where three or more schools are located within a kilometre radius of each other. Child behaviour contributed to 77% of the road traffic crashes. Scholar transport driver behaviour was highlighted as a major contributor to crashes by the respondents and environmental factors that resulted in reduced visibility of the child pedestrian contributed to 6% of the crashes. The main cause of road traffic injury, 68%, was crossing the road when it was unsafe to do so. Most crashe…
author: Mhlanga, Mabuyi
language: eng
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:46Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Centre for Transport Studies

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29828