Abstract
M.Com. (Business Management)
Motor vehicle accidents have become recognised internationally as a social and economic burden. In developing countries such as South Africa, motor vehicle accidents have become a major challenge. In South Africa, motor vehicle accidents are the largest unnatural killer of children today. This state of affairs needs to be addressed. Road safety advertising, also called social marketing, can play a vital role in reducing the death toll in motor vehicles, and it is therefore critical that researchers evaluate road safety advertising and education. Literature suggests various methods in which social marketers can achieve this. There are three campaign strategies that social marketers can use to achieve changes in social behaviour namely education, legislation and motivation. Most social marketing campaigns with regard to injury prevention on the road make use of threat appeals, which indicates the consequences to the road users who don’t comply with certain road rules.
Therefore, the primary research objective of this study was to determine parents’ and drivers’ knowledge, use and beliefs of child restraints amongst lower middle-class groups in the Gauteng Province in South Africa. The primary objective was addressed by the literature review and the empirical study that followed. The empirical study sampled 14 parents and drivers of children between the ages of birth - 11 with a motor vehicle in Gauteng. They were randomly selected in lower middle-class groups in the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni. The study made use of an in-depth interview.
The method that was used to analyse the empirical research results, was the Morse and Field Approach, which indicated that there is a lack of knowledge and usage of child restraints among lower middle-class parents and drivers within Gauteng. They have some knowledge of the infant capsule, however succeeding restraints knowledge is poor. The results also indicate that there are variables that are predictive of age-appropriate restraint use and knowledge, and that parents hold behavioural, normative and control beliefs around child restraints. Lastly, the results indicated that parents and...