Response to road traffic injuries: a survey of Royal Thai Traffic Police in a Northeastern Province of Thailand

Abstract

Timely and appropriate response to road traffic accidents can reduce the mortality and severe morbidity associated with it. Traffic police are one of the first responders, and could play a vital role in pre-hospital care of road traffic injuries (RTI). A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess knowledge, experience, and practice of Royal Thai traffic police in responding to RTI, and the association between respondent characteristics and their practice of responding to RTI. Self-administered questionnaires were employed among 123 traffic policemen of Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were utilized to analyze the data. A majority of traffic police reported dealing with RTI cases in the previous year (76%), having prior experience of post-crash rescuing (76%) and responding within 10 minutes of being informed about accidents (78%). There were 65 respondents (56%), who had received training on handling RTI cases and they were more likely to respond within 10 minutes to RTI than those who had not received such training (85% versus 69%, p-value 0.04). This study demonstrates a positive link between training on management of RTI to the traffic police and their responding ability. Providing proper training and encouraging traffic police to respond quickly and effectively to road traffic accidents, in coordination with emergency medical services, may help reduce the burden of RTI in Thailand.