Safety of Children Who Ride to School on a Motorcycle: An observational study in two Argentine cities

TOSI, JEREMÍAS DAVID; POÓ, FERNANDO MARTIN; LEDESMA, RUBEN DANIEL; FIRSENKO, EKATERINA

IATSS Research

Elsevier

Año: 2020

0386-1112

In low- and middle-income countries, the motorcycle has increasingly become a means of family transportation due to its low cost and the poor quality of public transportation. Consequently, many child motorcycle passengers are at an elevated risk of serious injury in the event of a traffic crash. The available research on child safety devices is scarce and focused mainly on helmet use, while other devices (e.g. high-visibility clothing) have received little attention. This observational study documented the safety conditions and related factors of primary schoolchildren who rode to school as motorcycle passengers in two cities of Argentina.Data was obtained from 27 public primary schools in two cities of Argentina (one mid-sized city and the other a small city by the country?s standards) between May 2018 and September 2019. A total of 1,440 motorcycle occupants (656 drivers and 784 child passengers) were observed. The use of an adequate helmet was lower among children (vs. drivers). Most of the children were unable to reach the motorcycle?s footrests, did not use high-visibility clothing or a fastening device, carried a backpack, and mounted and dismounted the motorcycle in an unsafe place. Some children rode in front of the driver or in a motorcycle with three or four occupants. The indicators were worse in the larger city. The results revealed a low level of adoption of safety measures in children as well as in adults in both cities. This suggests that motorcycle travel is globally unsafe. Greater effort is needed to improve motorcycle safety, especially for children. It is important to debate regulatory details such as a minimum age for passengers, a limit on the number of passengers, and other safety criteria. It is also important to conduct educational campaigns that include the distribution of safety devices.