A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude towards Road Safety Rules and Regulation among Adolescents Studying in Selected Schools of Districtsolan, Himachal Pradesh

"Accidents Brings Tears Safety Brings Cheers". Background: Road Traffic Injuries are major problem among youth especially in adolescents. According to World Bank report 2021, "India tops the world in road crash deaths and injuries. WHO predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitude towards road safety rules and regulation among Adolescents, and their association with demographical variables. Material and Methods: Non-experimental descriptive study with quantitative descriptive survey approach. Simple random sampling technique used to select sample of 100 adolescents studying in selected schools distt. Solan (HP) design was adopted. Data collection was done by using structured knowledge questionnaire to assess knowledge and rating scale to assess attitude of adolescents. Results: The results show 59% adolescents had adequate knowledge. The total mean knowledge score was 27.56 and SD was ?8.68 whereas mean percentage of knowledge score was 68.9%. Among the study participants, more than half of the participants had a Unfavourable attitude (67%), the total mean attitude score was 47.88 and SD was ?13.93 whereas range of attitude was 51. The selected socio demographic variables are age, gender, religion, residential area, class, father education status, mother education status, father occupation status, mother occupation status, source of information, mode of travelling. Conclusion: Overall findings of the shows that majority of the adolescents 59 (59%) having adequate knowledge and more than half of 67 (67%) adolescents have unfavourable attitude; Mere knowledge does not necessarily translate into improved traffic behaviour. Continuous reinforcement and education reminding them of traffic rules can bring about a positive change and motivate them to strictly adhere to the traffic norms and help reduce the morbidity and mortality regarding road traffic accidents.