Abstract
The existing structure of pre-hospital trauma care in developing countries is largely deficient. The goal of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude of young drivers towards the care of the road traffic injured. This was a descriptive cross sectional study which we carried out among undergraduates of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Campus, Ogbomosho, Oyo state, Nigeria using a stratified random sampling technique. Of the total 457 returned questionnaire, only 396 were sufficiently filled to warrant inclusion in the study. Of this number of respondents, 80% (317) were males. The mean age of the respondents was 23 years. While 82.2% (326) of the respondents will attempt to offer victims of road traffic crash some resuscitative measures at the scene, only 30% (119) claimed to have received some form of training in first aid care of the injured. Only 0.5% (2) of the total respondents knew the universal telephone number of 112 or 911 to call in the event of road traffic crash. Young drivers are well motivated and are more likely to confront emergency situations in road traffic crashes. Training them to function as pre-hospital care provider will add to the efficacy of pre hospital care.
Key words: Young driver, road traffic injured, pre-hospital care, training.