Response to road traffic injuries: a survey of Royal Thai Traffic Police in a Northeastern Province of Thailand

Timely and appropriate response to road traffic accidents can reduce the mortality and severe morbidity associated  with  it.  Traffic  police  are  one  of  the  first  responders,  and  could  play  a  vital  role  in  pre-hospital care of road traffic injuries  (RTI). A  cross-sectional  survey  was  conducted  to  assess  knowledge,  experience,  and  practice  of  Royal Thai  traffic  police  in  responding  to  RTI,  and  the  association  between  respondent  characteristics  and  their practice of responding to RTI. Self-administered questionnaires were employed among 123 traffic policemen of Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were utilized to analyze the data. A  majority  of  traffic  police  reported  dealing  with  RTI  cases  in  the  previous  year  (76%),  having  prior experience of post-crash rescuing (76%) and responding within 10 minutes of being informed about accidents (78%). There were 65 respondents (56%), who had received training on handling RTI cases and they were more likely to respond within 10 minutes to RTI than those who had not received such training (85% versus 69%,  p-value  0.04). This study demonstrates a positive link between training on management of  RTI  to the  traffic police and their responding ability. Providing proper training and encouraging traffic police to respond quickly and effectively to road traffic accidents, in coordination with emergency medical services, may help reduce the burden  of RTI  in  Thailand.