Abstract
BackgroundRoad Traffic Crashes (RTCs) are the third highest cause of death in Zambia, claiming about 2000 lives annually, with pedestrians and cyclists being the most vulnerable. Human error accounts for 87.3% of RTCs. Minibus and big bus public service vehicles (PSVs) are among the common vehicle types involved in these crashes. Given the alarmingly high rate of road traffic crashes involving PSV minibuses and big buses within Zambia, there is a need to mitigate this through innovative solutions. In other settings, it has been shown that stickers in PSVs encouraging passengers to speak out against reckless driving can reduce RTCs, but it is unclear whether such an intervention could work in Zambia. Based on this evidence, the Zambia Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has developed a road safety bus sticker campaign for PSVs and before national scale-up, RTSA is interested in evidence of the impact of these stickers.MethodsThis evaluation will be a stratified two-arm randomized controlled trial with a one-to-one ratio. The sample will be stratified by vehicle type, thus creating a two-arm trial for minibuses and a separate two-arm trial for big buses. The sample will include 2110 minibuses and 300 big buses from four towns in Zambia. The primary outcome of interest will be the difference in the rate of RTCs over a 14-month period (7-months before the intervention and 7 months after) between buses with and without the new RTSA road safety bus stickers.DiscussionThis study will provide evidence on the impact of the Zambian sticker program on road traffic crashes as implemented through minibuses and big buses, that can help inform the scale up of a national ‘Zambia road safety bus sticker campaign’.Trial registrationPACT-R, PACTR201711002758216. Registered 13 November 2017-Retrospectively registered.
Highlights
Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) are the third highest cause of death in Zambia, claiming about 2000 lives annually, with pedestrians and cyclists being the most vulnerable
Though no separate data is available for Public service vehicle (PSV) minibuses, PSV minibuses and private vans combined account for a total of 65% of all RTCs while big PSV buses are second on the list, accounting for 14% of all RTCs [5]
Given the potential infrequency of overall RTCs (0.026 per 1000 minibuses per 6 months as reported in Kenya) and the relatively short length of the study, it is possible we will not find an impact at 7 months
Summary
Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) are the third highest cause of death in Zambia, claiming about 2000 lives annually, with pedestrians and cyclists being the most vulnerable. It has been shown that stickers in PSVs encouraging passengers to speak out against reckless driving can reduce RTCs, but it is unclear whether such an intervention could work in Zambia Based on this evidence, the Zambia Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has developed a road safety bus sticker campaign for PSVs and before national scale-up, RTSA is interested in evidence of the impact of these stickers. Phiri et al BMC Public Health (2018) 18:872 public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, people with disabilities and older people respectively; are targeted at reducing RTCs. In Zambia, RTCs are the third highest cause of death among the young aged 15–29 years, claiming about 2000 lives annually, with pedestrians and cyclists being the most vulnerable [2]. Though no separate data is available for PSV minibuses, PSV minibuses and private vans combined account for a total of 65% of all RTCs while big PSV buses are second on the list, accounting for 14% of all RTCs [5]
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