No abstract

Background Road traffic crashes have been responsible for increase in deaths and disabilities in both developed and developing countries. One of the main areas of focus is how to improve the effectiveness of the prehospital care given to crash victims especially in the developing countries where it has been poorly developed. In Nigeria, with no formal prehospital emergency services, drivers would serve as an effective first responders, because they are the first to arrive at the accident scene in most intercity crashes. Aims and Objectives To determine commercial drivers' knowledge attitude and practice of first aids to road crash victims. Methods Using simple sampling technique, 229 commercial drivers were interviewed in Osogbo, Nigeria using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires. Results All respondents were males with majority having secondary school education (44.5%).The mean driving experience of respondents was 26.05 years. 79.9% believed that anybody could be trained to apply first aid and that pouring water to revive crash victims and giving them things to consume are vital components of first aid. 37.6% got the order of priority right- breathing maintenance, haemostasis and fracture splinting. Sideways positioning of victims, tourniquet use to secure haemorrhage and splintage of suspected fractures were indicated by18.3%, 44.5% and 88.5% of the respondents respectively. Attitude to first aid was said to be positive, majority of the respondents were ready to be trained. Significance The Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of the respondents concerning first aids to crash victims is poor. Efforts should be made to educate commercial drivers on the components of first aids.