Opinion Survey on Traffic Accident Prevention among Communities along Thepkrasatree Road, Phuket-ความคิดเห็นของชุมชนที่มีต่อแนวทางการป้องกันอุบัติเหตุจราจรบนถนนเทพกระษัตรี จังหวัดภูเก็ต

Abstract

          Phuket is one of the provinces in Thailand that has high traffic accident morbidity and mortality rates.  The communities along the road together with government and others key stakeholders should be involved to solve this problems.  This study was aimed to survey opinions about traffic accident prevention among population who lived along Thepkrasatree road.   A cross-sectional descriptive design was conducted during September 2006 - January2007.  There were 2 study populations.  For quantitative study, 397 people were selected by cluster random sampling.  A structured questionnaire was designed with Cronbachีs alpha coefficients of 0.85 and 0.90.  For qualitative study, 31 people were selected purposively and interviewed by semi-structural questionnaire.  Quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive analysis and qualitative data was done by content analysis.

            The quantitative results showed that the majority of participants used motorcycle as transportation vehicle (76.57%).  About half (53.90%) of them/or their relatives used to have traffic accident experiences.  The majority of them (78.13%) thought that the causes of the accidents were human factors.  Both quantitative and qualitative results showed that traffic polices and the participants themselves were  involved in traffic accident prevention schemes.  They thought that law enforcement, engineering, and education were the three major interventions that could prevent the accidents.  The law enforcement activities should have included the check points for blood alcohol level, helmet wearing, and safety belt fastening.  The engineering interventions should include road reconstructions, posting traffic signs, and resetting of traffic lights.  Prevention measures should become part of conventional education and the strengthening accident prevention attitude beginning from family through school and community.

           The majority of the study population used motorcycles and more than half of them or their family members had traffic accident experiences presumably resulting from human errors.  The traffic accident interventions should systematically integrated various strategies and must be appropriate to community culture and conducive to behavioral change.

Key words:      traffic accident, opinion, community