The impact of classroom training on road hazards perception in a Tanzanian Secondary School

In Tanzania, in 2014, 3,760 people were killed on the roads, and 14,530 were injured. The possible reasons are to be investigated around the fatalistic beliefs common in Africa, and the lack of effective road safety education in schools. The present study was conducted in a Secondary School in Tanzania in 2016. In January 212 students received a two-hour training held by a traffic psychologist and the training effectiveness was assessed through Static Hazard Perception Test (SHPT), that was submitted before the training and twice after the training, in February and in November (follow up). Aim of the training was to open a ‘window of thought’ on simple concepts such as road risk and danger, starting from the idea that reflecting on these concepts would help students to improve their awareness of the dangers that can be found on the road. Pre-post repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) yielded a principal effect of the training on hazard perception (F (1,210)=27.519, p<.001). Data collected in the follow up show that the level of hazards perception at eight months after the training was lower than immediately after the training (repeated measures ANOVA: F (1,210)=11,700, p<.005) but higher than before the training (repeated measures ANOVA: F (1,210) =85,685, p<.001). Although there are some limits, the results suggest that a traffic psychology training about road safety, based on students’ reflection about their experience as road users, may help to better recognize hazards on the road and to maintain such ability forward. Such results have implications for more effective road safety education in Africa.