RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

The Harstad Injury Prevention Study: Impact On Traffic Safety Awareness By A Traffic Safety Brochure Distributed To All Households In Harstad, Norway During Two Years

Borge Ytterstad MD PhD

Surgical dept. Hatstad Hospital 9400 Harstad Norway

A 26.6 % reduction of overall traffic injury' rates (p<0.001) was reported in Hatstad, Norway, following community-based interventions for traffic injury, prevention 1-2. Interventions aimed at changing the physical environment (passive) and accident-related behavioural (active). One of the interventions was the distribution of a quarterly Traffic Injury. Report (TIP,) to all households in Hatstad (N=9300). These reports contained victim stories and statistics based on local traffic injury data recorded at the local hospital.

In the first half of 1994. a cross-sectional survey was conducted in Hatstad. This survey aimed, among other things, at sampling a possible impact in Harstad of the Traffic Injury Report system (TIR). The sample of 1500 persons, aged 18-79 years, was drawn by the Nowegian Bureau of Statistics. The response rate was 48.2 % after two requests for a reply.

56.0% of respondents from Harstad reported to have acquired information or good advice abouttraffic safety from the TIRs. 42.6 % reported that information acquired from the TIRs was the reason for starting discussions about problems connected with driving and alcohol and/or drugs/speeding/children's safer). in traffic. The distributions of these two respondent categories by age groups and socio-economic status (as expressed by years of education) are shown in Figs. 1-2.

The impact of the TIRs seemed to be largest among respondents from the third to the beginning of the sixth decades of life (Fig. l). The impact was larger in women than in men (data not shown). The impact of the TIP, seemed to be distributed evenly over socio-economic classes as expressed by years of education (Fig. 2).

References:

1. Ytterstad B. and Wasmuth H. The Hatstad injury prevention study: Evaluation of hospital-based injury recording and community-based intervention for traffic injury prevention. Accident Analysis & Prevention 1995.27, 111-23.

2. Ytterstad B. The Hatstad injury prevention stud,,': Hospital-based injury.' recording used for outcome evaluation of community-based bicyclist and pedestrian injury prevention. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care 1995. 13. 141-49

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