Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions

Francisco Alonso; Cristina Esteban; Sergio A. Useche; Violeta Manso

doi:doi:10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions

Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche, Violeta Manso

Published in Higher Education Research (Volume 1, Issue 1)

Received: 26 October 2016 Accepted: 5 November 2016 Published: 5 December 2016

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Abstract

Traffic crashes are considered one of the major public health concerns, considering that this phenomenon explains a high number of deaths and injuries every year, and around all the world in different groups of population. The road safety education, (or traffic safety education), regarding the complexity of this process, and that it takes place during the complete process of life of individuals, is considered as a key determinant of road safety behaviors and a relatively lower road risk, essentially for road users with more and diverse high risk factors which may explain the occurrence of road accidents, such as young adults. The general objective of this study was to describe the associated factors to the Road Safety Education in the higher education institutions (universities) of Spain, and its relationship with road safety factors among young adults currently coursing a career in this kind of centers. Throughout this study, it was also assessed a set of indicators related with road safety education “outputs”, such as attitudes towards road safety, knowledge of traffic law and signals, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=843 (357 (42.3%) men, and 486 (57.7%) women) university students, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, factors associated with road safety education at Spanish higher education institutions and, finally, their attitudes, perceptions and self-reported behaviors as road users. Besides finding a very low participation of Spanish universities in road safety education, and of its students in these activities or programs, significant measures of association between individual factors and the employed road safety education indicators were found. Gender comparisons show substantial differences on road safety education indicators between men and women, being, in all cases, more adverse results corresponding to the male gender. Finally, it was built a multiple linear regression model, that allowed to establish the statistical influence of the road safety education on risky behaviors on the road of Spanish university students. This study shows that it is necessary to develop strategies to increase the presence of actions related to road safety education within universities, to improve the coverage and quality of the learning process of this subject among higher education students, and to include universities in the development of a multi-sectorial road safety education strategy.

Published in	Higher Education Research (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
Page(s)	10-18
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Road Safety Education, Universities, Young Adults, Road Users, Road Safety, Traffic Accidents

References

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Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche, Violeta Manso. (2016). Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. Higher Education Research, 1(1), 10-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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Francisco Alonso; Cristina Esteban; Sergio A. Useche; Violeta Manso. Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. High. Educ. Res. 2016, 1(1), 10-18. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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AMA Style

Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche, Violeta Manso. Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. High Educ Res. 2016;1(1):10-18. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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@article{10.11648/j.her.20160101.12,
  author = {Francisco Alonso and Cristina Esteban and Sergio A. Useche and Violeta Manso},
  title = {Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions},
  journal = {Higher Education Research},
  volume = {1},
  number = {1},
  pages = {10-18},
  doi = {10.11648/j.her.20160101.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.her.20160101.12},
  abstract = {Traffic crashes are considered one of the major public health concerns, considering that this phenomenon explains a high number of deaths and injuries every year, and around all the world in different groups of population. The road safety education, (or traffic safety education), regarding the complexity of this process, and that it takes place during the complete process of life of individuals, is considered as a key determinant of road safety behaviors and a relatively lower road risk, essentially for road users with more and diverse high risk factors which may explain the occurrence of road accidents, such as young adults. The general objective of this study was to describe the associated factors to the Road Safety Education in the higher education institutions (universities) of Spain, and its relationship with road safety factors among young adults currently coursing a career in this kind of centers. Throughout this study, it was also assessed a set of indicators related with road safety education “outputs”, such as attitudes towards road safety, knowledge of traffic law and signals, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=843 (357 (42.3%) men, and 486 (57.7%) women) university students, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, factors associated with road safety education at Spanish higher education institutions and, finally, their attitudes, perceptions and self-reported behaviors as road users. Besides finding a very low participation of Spanish universities in road safety education, and of its students in these activities or programs, significant measures of association between individual factors and the employed road safety education indicators were found. Gender comparisons show substantial differences on road safety education indicators between men and women, being, in all cases, more adverse results corresponding to the male gender. Finally, it was built a multiple linear regression model, that allowed to establish the statistical influence of the road safety education on risky behaviors on the road of Spanish university students. This study shows that it is necessary to develop strategies to increase the presence of actions related to road safety education within universities, to improve the coverage and quality of the learning process of this subject among higher education students, and to include universities in the development of a multi-sectorial road safety education strategy.},
 year = {2016}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions
AU  - Francisco Alonso
AU  - Cristina Esteban
AU  - Sergio A. Useche
AU  - Violeta Manso
Y1  - 2016/12/05
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
T2  - Higher Education Research
JF  - Higher Education Research
JO  - Higher Education Research
SP  - 10
EP  - 18
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-935X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
AB  - Traffic crashes are considered one of the major public health concerns, considering that this phenomenon explains a high number of deaths and injuries every year, and around all the world in different groups of population. The road safety education, (or traffic safety education), regarding the complexity of this process, and that it takes place during the complete process of life of individuals, is considered as a key determinant of road safety behaviors and a relatively lower road risk, essentially for road users with more and diverse high risk factors which may explain the occurrence of road accidents, such as young adults. The general objective of this study was to describe the associated factors to the Road Safety Education in the higher education institutions (universities) of Spain, and its relationship with road safety factors among young adults currently coursing a career in this kind of centers. Throughout this study, it was also assessed a set of indicators related with road safety education “outputs”, such as attitudes towards road safety, knowledge of traffic law and signals, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=843 (357 (42.3%) men, and 486 (57.7%) women) university students, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, factors associated with road safety education at Spanish higher education institutions and, finally, their attitudes, perceptions and self-reported behaviors as road users. Besides finding a very low participation of Spanish universities in road safety education, and of its students in these activities or programs, significant measures of association between individual factors and the employed road safety education indicators were found. Gender comparisons show substantial differences on road safety education indicators between men and women, being, in all cases, more adverse results corresponding to the male gender. Finally, it was built a multiple linear regression model, that allowed to establish the statistical influence of the road safety education on risky behaviors on the road of Spanish university students. This study shows that it is necessary to develop strategies to increase the presence of actions related to road safety education within universities, to improve the coverage and quality of the learning process of this subject among higher education students, and to include universities in the development of a multi-sectorial road safety education strategy.
VL  - 1
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Francisco Alonso

DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Cristina Esteban

DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Sergio A. Useche

DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Violeta Manso

Unit of Educational Intervention, Directorate–General of Traffic DGT, Salamanca, Spain

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Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche, Violeta Manso. (2016). Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. Higher Education Research, 1(1), 10-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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ACS Style

Francisco Alonso; Cristina Esteban; Sergio A. Useche; Violeta Manso. Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. High. Educ. Res. 2016, 1(1), 10-18. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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AMA Style

Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche, Violeta Manso. Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions. High Educ Res. 2016;1(1):10-18. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12

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@article{10.11648/j.her.20160101.12,
  author = {Francisco Alonso and Cristina Esteban and Sergio A. Useche and Violeta Manso},
  title = {Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions},
  journal = {Higher Education Research},
  volume = {1},
  number = {1},
  pages = {10-18},
  doi = {10.11648/j.her.20160101.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.her.20160101.12},
  abstract = {Traffic crashes are considered one of the major public health concerns, considering that this phenomenon explains a high number of deaths and injuries every year, and around all the world in different groups of population. The road safety education, (or traffic safety education), regarding the complexity of this process, and that it takes place during the complete process of life of individuals, is considered as a key determinant of road safety behaviors and a relatively lower road risk, essentially for road users with more and diverse high risk factors which may explain the occurrence of road accidents, such as young adults. The general objective of this study was to describe the associated factors to the Road Safety Education in the higher education institutions (universities) of Spain, and its relationship with road safety factors among young adults currently coursing a career in this kind of centers. Throughout this study, it was also assessed a set of indicators related with road safety education “outputs”, such as attitudes towards road safety, knowledge of traffic law and signals, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=843 (357 (42.3%) men, and 486 (57.7%) women) university students, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, factors associated with road safety education at Spanish higher education institutions and, finally, their attitudes, perceptions and self-reported behaviors as road users. Besides finding a very low participation of Spanish universities in road safety education, and of its students in these activities or programs, significant measures of association between individual factors and the employed road safety education indicators were found. Gender comparisons show substantial differences on road safety education indicators between men and women, being, in all cases, more adverse results corresponding to the male gender. Finally, it was built a multiple linear regression model, that allowed to establish the statistical influence of the road safety education on risky behaviors on the road of Spanish university students. This study shows that it is necessary to develop strategies to increase the presence of actions related to road safety education within universities, to improve the coverage and quality of the learning process of this subject among higher education students, and to include universities in the development of a multi-sectorial road safety education strategy.},
 year = {2016}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Analysis of the State and Development of Road Safety Education in Spanish Higher Education Institutions
AU  - Francisco Alonso
AU  - Cristina Esteban
AU  - Sergio A. Useche
AU  - Violeta Manso
Y1  - 2016/12/05
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
T2  - Higher Education Research
JF  - Higher Education Research
JO  - Higher Education Research
SP  - 10
EP  - 18
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-935X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20160101.12
AB  - Traffic crashes are considered one of the major public health concerns, considering that this phenomenon explains a high number of deaths and injuries every year, and around all the world in different groups of population. The road safety education, (or traffic safety education), regarding the complexity of this process, and that it takes place during the complete process of life of individuals, is considered as a key determinant of road safety behaviors and a relatively lower road risk, essentially for road users with more and diverse high risk factors which may explain the occurrence of road accidents, such as young adults. The general objective of this study was to describe the associated factors to the Road Safety Education in the higher education institutions (universities) of Spain, and its relationship with road safety factors among young adults currently coursing a career in this kind of centers. Throughout this study, it was also assessed a set of indicators related with road safety education “outputs”, such as attitudes towards road safety, knowledge of traffic law and signals, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=843 (357 (42.3%) men, and 486 (57.7%) women) university students, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, factors associated with road safety education at Spanish higher education institutions and, finally, their attitudes, perceptions and self-reported behaviors as road users. Besides finding a very low participation of Spanish universities in road safety education, and of its students in these activities or programs, significant measures of association between individual factors and the employed road safety education indicators were found. Gender comparisons show substantial differences on road safety education indicators between men and women, being, in all cases, more adverse results corresponding to the male gender. Finally, it was built a multiple linear regression model, that allowed to establish the statistical influence of the road safety education on risky behaviors on the road of Spanish university students. This study shows that it is necessary to develop strategies to increase the presence of actions related to road safety education within universities, to improve the coverage and quality of the learning process of this subject among higher education students, and to include universities in the development of a multi-sectorial road safety education strategy.
VL  - 1
IS  - 1
ER  -

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