Attitude of Drivers Towards Road Traffic Safety and its Association with Occurred Road Traffic Crashes Among Jimma Zone Public Transport Drivers, Southwest Ethiopia
Wondu Reta Demissie1, Hiwot Berhanu1, Amare Abera1, Moyeta Bariso1*, Elias Mulat1, Wondwossen Debebe1, Chala kenenisa1, Endriyas Kelta1, Arefayne Alanko2, Kumale Tolesa3
1 Jimma University, Institute of Health, Faculty of Medical Science, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma, Ethiopia.
2 Jimma University, Institute of Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, Jimma, Ethiopia.
3 Jimma University, Institute of Health, Faculty of Medical Science, School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Jimma, Ethiopia.
*Corresponding Author
Moyeta Bariso,
Jimma University, Institute of health, Faculty of medical science, Department of biomedical sciences, Jimma, Ethiopia.
Tel: +251913922295
E-mail: moyetabariso@gmail.com
Received: July 30, 2021; Accepted: August 24, 2021; Published: September 08, 2021
Citation: Wondu Reta Demissie, Hiwot Berhanu, Amare Abera, Moyeta Bariso, Elias Mulat, Wondwossen Debebe, et al.,. Attitude of Drivers Towards Road Traffic Safety and its Association with Occurred Road Traffic Crashes Among Jimma Zone Public Transport Drivers, Southwest Ethiopia. Int J Behav Res Psychol. 2021;09(03):284-289. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19070/2332-3000-21000050
Copyright: Moyeta Bariso© 2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Road traffic crash (RTC) has become a global burden. The world health organization’s (WHO) global report on
road traffic safety of 2015 shows that about 1.25 million deaths observed due RTC which means every 24 seconds someone
dies on the road and predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. RTC was identified as the leading cause of
death especially among young people of 15-29 years, and low and middle-income countries. Attitude of drivers towards road
traffic safety (RTS) is one of the most important indicator for RTC which needs due emphasis to tackle this tragedy.
Methods: The study was conducted among 398 public transport drivers that selected randomly. Driver Attitude Questionnaire
(DAQ) that comprises 16 items was applied to investigate drivers’ attitudes towards RTS with four Point Likert-scales
(1-4, refers to totally disagree, disagree, agree and totally agree respectively for positive statements and reverse for negative
statements where scale 1 belongs to totally agree). The driver was considered to have positive attitude if agrees/accepts items
of positive statements and disagree/against items of negative statements. DAQ assesses attitude of drivers towards RTS with
its four domains (Alcohol, close following, overtaking and speeding). Cross tabs and binary logistic regression were applied
to determine the association of attitude related variables with occurrence of RTC. A p-value less than 0.05 was declared as
statistically significant.
Results: From the total 398 drivers participated on the study, males accounted 394 (99%). The mean age of the respondents
was 32.11±9.133 years that range from 20–60 years. They had an average driving experience of 6.72 years. Majority of participants
[219(55.0%)] had less than 5 years of driving experience; More than one third [142 (35.7%)] of the drivers were reported
to sustained RTC. From the applied DAQ questionnaires with 16 items to assess drivers attitude towards RTS, about nine items
of DAQ variables with negative statements (speed limitation problems, interest of competition, taking risks, perception of
obeying regulation as childish, mimicking peer fraud, disobey regulation when no police, attitude about offense punishment,
alcohol drinking and overtaking in front vehicles) were statistically significantly associated with the occurred RTCs among drivers.
There was statistically significant difference observed among drivers’ attitude scores of Likert-scales with occurred RTCs.
In nutshell, drivers who sustained RTC (35.7%) were statistically associated with lower scores of Likert-scale (totally agreed)
to those items with negative statements.
Conclusion and recommendation: The occurrence of RTC was more likely among drivers with negative attitude/behavior
(who agreed/very agreed to items with negative statements and/or who disagreed/very disagreed to items with positive statements)
which needs due emphasis for tackling this tragic event in collaboration to enhance drives attitude towards RTS by
providing awareness.
2.Keywords
3.Introduction
4.Materials and Methods
5.Results
6.Discussion
7.Funding
8.References
Keywords
Road Traffic Safety; Attitude; Drivers; Association; Road Traffic Crash.
Introduction
Road traffic crash (RTC) can be defined as an crash that occurs
on a way or street open to public traffic, resulting in one or more
persons being killed or injured, and involving at least one moving
vehicle. It involves all collisions sustained between vehicles, between
vehicles and pedestrians, between vehicles and animals, or
between vehicles and geographical or architectural obstacles [1].
Globally, RTCs are issue of major public health importance and
are projected to be the third leading cause of Disability-Adjusted
Life-Years (DALYs) by 2020. In 2010 about 1.24 million people
lost their lives in RTCs, making it the eighth leading cause of
death globally. Additionally, 20–50 million people were non-fatally
injured on the road[2]. The burden of road traffic injuries in Africa
is high and there is an underestimation of road traffic fatalities
despite 34% increase road deaths in Africa in the past 35 years [3].
Personality traits, attitudes toward traffic safety (RTS), risky driving
(errors, lapses, and traffic violations), and self-reported crash
involvement and number of issued traffic tickets in the last 12
months showed that risky driving was positively related to selfreported
crash involvement and higher number of issued traffic
tickets [4]. Increase in attitude and behavior was followed by a
decrease in RTC having a crucial effect. Study conducted among
Iranian drivers [5]. Personality traits were also associated to aberrant
driving behaviors both directly and indirectly where a particular
altruism, excitement seeking, and normlessness directly
affects drivers’ attitudes toward traffic safety which, in turn, were
negatively associated with RTCs [6, 7].
In Ethiopia, there is limited of studies on attitude of drivers towards
road traffic safety and its association with RTC. Thus, the
present study was aimed to assess attitude of drivers towards road
traffic safety and its association with occurred RTC among Jimma
zone public transport drivers.
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted in Jimma zone, in the Oromia region,
located 352 km away to southwest of the capital city of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa. Jimma zone has 18 woredas/clusteres for administration.
Jimma zone transport authority registered a total of 7219
vehicles working in public transpoRTCtion from whch about
1352 are three wheel vehicles. About 4446 vehicles are traveling
to woreda from capital town of the zone, Jimma while about and
248 vehicles are serving within the town. The study was conducted
from March 25, 2019 to April 25, 2019. A Cross sectional
study design was used among selected 398 licensed public transport
drivers (including drivers of three wheel vehicles) working
at different stations, while waiting their turn. Study participants
were informed about the nature of the study, and participation
was voluntary and anonymous.
Driver Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ) that comprises 16 items (4
statements with positive items and 12 statements with negative
items) was applied to assess drivers’ attitudes and behaviors towards
road traffic safety with four Point Likert-scales (1-4, refers
to totally disagree, disagree, agree and totally agree respectively for
positive statements and reverse for negative statements (scale-1:
totally agree) [8]. It can be also generalized that scale 1 and 2 for
any item implies that the driver had negative attitude/behavior towards
that domain while drivers of scale 3 and 4 refers considered
to had positive attitude. DAQ assesses attitude of drivers towards
road traffic safety with four domains (Alcohol, close following,
overtaking and speeding). Cross tabs and binary logistic regression
were applied to determine the association of attitude related
variables with occurred/sustained RTCs.
Ethical clearance was obtained from Jimma University Review
Board (IHRPGD/467/2019) and letter of cooperation was obtained
from Jimma Zone transport authority and respective woreda
offices. Both verbal and written consent was obtained from
each participant before the study. Permission to participate in the
study was confirmed by informed them about the research and
their right to abandon the involvement was respected at any time,
and confidentiality of the information was also maintained.
Results
Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Drivers
The totals of 398 drivers were participated in this study making
response rate of 99% from the total sample of 402 drivers. The
mean age of drivers was 32.11years ± 9.133years that ranges from
20 - 60 years. Majority of them [394(99%)] were males, married
[214 (53.8%)], had primary education (54.8%), earned monthly
income of 2,000–3,000 Ethiopian birr, had less than 5 years of
driving experience [219(55.0%)] and drivers of four-wheel vehicle
[337 (84.7%)].
Drivers Attitude Towards Road Traffic Safety
From the total 16 items of DAQ applied, the minimum mean of
attitude scale (2.17+1.17 SD) was observed with item of ‘traffic
offences are punished too severely’ indicating that net attitude of
drivers towards this item was scale 2 (agree) while the maximum
mean of attitude scale (3.65+0.7SD) was seen with item of ‘definite
obeying of the stop sign’ that implies as the net attitude of
respondents towards this item was scale 3 (agree).
Among DAQ applied with four Likert scales, majority of the drivers
claimed to have positive attitude/ scale 4/ very agree to statements
with positive items (obeying stop sign, easy to obey regulations,
feeling guilty to fraud and never driving on white line).
In general, the attitude of drivers varies towards different items.
But, there is no driver who claimed for scale 2 attitude (disagree)
for item ‘Minor traffic violations should be punished only in case
of crash’ as detailed in table 1.
Association of Drivers’ Attitude towards Road Traffic Safety
with Occurred Road Traffic Crashes
About 142 (35.7%) of drivers responded as they sustained road
traffic crash in their driving career. The associations of drivers’
attitude towards road traffic safety with occurred road traffic
crashes were established by cross tabs and binary logistic analysis
with p-value less than 0.05 considered as statistically significant.
Accordingly, about nine items of DAQ variables with negative
statements (speed limitation problems, interest of competition,
taking risks, perception of obeying regulation as childish, mimick ing peer fraud, disobey regulation when no police, wrong perception
about offense punishment, alcohol drinking and overtaking
in front vehicles) were identified as the correlated variables with
the occurred RTC with specific odd ratio (OR), 95% confidence
interval (CI) and p-values as explained in table 2 in details. There
is statistically significant difference in attitudes of drivers towards
those items with the occurrence RTCs. Drivers with negative attitudes/
behaviors towards these items were more likely to sustained
RTCs.
Table 1. Drivers attitude towards road traffic safety by DAQ among public transport drivers of Jimma zone 2019.
Table 2. Association of drivers’ attitude towards road traffic safety with occurred road traffic crashes among public transport drivers in Jimma zone, 2019.
Discussion
Attitude of drivers towards speeding
Among the domain of drivers’ attitude towards road traffic safety,
speeding perception is a key for the occurrence of RTC [9]. In the
present study conducted among a total of 398 public transport
drivers, majority of them (49.7%) had very negative attitude (scale
1) about speed limitation that associated with the likelihood of
RTC occurrence (about 1.74 times) in comparison to those who
had positive attitude/scale 4 (31.2%). Drivers who had competing
interest with scale 1 (46.2%) were faced trauma about 1.8 times
than others who had not interested to compete/scale 4 (32.4%).
The occurrence of RTC was higher (2.5 times) among drivers
who take risk in hurry driving (scale 1) than other drivers with
scale 4 where all speeding domains shows statistically significant
difference among four point Likert scales of DAQ. The present
finding of drivers’ attitude of speed was in agreement with previous
studies [7, 10] that revealed negative attitudes (scale 1) were
associated with the occurrence of RTC.
Attitude of drivers towards traffic regulation
The present study revealed that majority of public transport drivers
were violated road traffic regulation within the last 12 months
at least once while there were fewer drivers who strictly obey and
adhere to traffic laws as assessed by items with negative statements.
But, there is no significant statistical difference in allocation
of drivers among the four likert scales of items with positive
statements in association with the occurrence of RTC. There was
a huge difference in distribution of drivers who strictly obeying
stop sign/scale 4(74.6%) and those who violate stop sign (3.8%)
with scale 1/totally disagree to this item. But, it was statistically
evidenced that the probability of committing RTC was more likely
(1.7-2.6 times) among drivers who belong to scale 1 in comparison
to those with scale 4 as assessed by items with negative statements
towards traffic regulations. This finding was also supported
by study of Nabi et al. [7] who reported the higher (2.1-2.6 times)
likelihood of occurrence of RTC among who violated the traffic
law in 2001-2003 period in French by GAZEL cohort.
In the present study, majority of the drivers (40.7%) had negative
attitude and behavior (scale 1) about seat belt but there is no
statistically significant difference among other scales expressing
level of drivers’ attitudes towards seat belt in association with the
sustained of RTC/crash opposing the study of Gopaul et al. [11]
who reported that about 46.7% of respondents always wore seat
belts from which 93% believed strongly (scale 4) and their use
was essential for safety probably due to population difference of
Jimma and France. But, the present finding revealed the statistical
significant difference of drivers’ attitude scales towards traffic
regulations and its subsequent risk of RTC or sustained road
traffic crash. This finding was also supported by studies of Riaz
and Shahid [12] and Tajvar et al.[13] who conducted study among
drivers in Pakistan and Iran respectively. Additionally, Yahia et
al.[14] also reported there is no statistically significant gender difference
among drivers’ attitude towards RTS in regards to degree
of RTC occurrence.
Attitude of drivers towards alcohol drinking
Majority of the drivers (49.2%) had negative attitude and behavior
of drinking and driving who voted for attitude scale 1/very agree
and belief in drinking and driving while a few (28.4%) had positive
attitude/scale 4/ not drink and drive which also creates statistical
significant difference to occurred RTC (about 1.96 times)
among two extreme groups (with scale 1 and 4) which was also
in line with study of Pal Ulleberg [15] who revealed higher occurrence
of RTC among those who had negative attitudes towards
drinking and drive (those who drink and drive /scale 1).
Attitude of drivers towards over taking and close following
The other domain used frequently to assess attitude/behavior of
drivers towards RTS is over taking and close following where majority
of the drivers (57.7%) in the present study claimed as negative
attitude and behavior towards over taking and close following
(scale 1 and 2) while a few (42.3%) were allocated to scale 3 and
4 for their perception of positive attitude/behavior towards over
taking and close following which also creates statistical significant
difference to sustained RTC among scales.
Association of drivers attitude towards RTS with occurred
RTC
About nine items of DAQ variables with negative statements
(speed limitation problems, interest of competition, taking risks,
perception of obeying regulation as childish, mimicking peer
fraud, disobey regulation when no police, wrong perception about
offense punishment, alcohol drinking and overtaking in front vehicles)
were identified as the correlated variables with the occurred
RTC. The occurrence of RTC was more likely among drivers with
negative attitude/behavior (scale 1) than those with positive attitude/
behavior (scale 4) towards road traffic safety. This finding
was also in harmony with study of Gopaul et al [11] that showed
that alcohol consumption, use of mobile phones while driving,
speed and age were significantly (p > 0.001) associated with RTC.
In another wing, drivers with positive attitude towards RTS had
less probability to sustained RTC and this finding was also supported
by study of Mirzaei et al. [5] who revealed higher knowledge,
safer attitude, and safer practice were associated with a decreased
number of RTC. The study of Pal Ulleberg [15] supports
the presenting finding in declaring different personality subtypes
of young drivers (speeding, rule violation, drinking and driving)
and its relationship to risk-taking preferences to crash involvement.
Conclusion
More than one third of drivers (35.7%) were sustained road traffic
crash. DAQ was applied to assess drivers’ attitude towards road traffic safety with four domains. There were statistically significant
variations in drivers’ attitude towards road traffic safety domains
and associated with the occurred road traffic crashes. The occurrence
of RTC was more likely among drivers with negative attitudes/
behaviors (who agreed/very agreed to items with negative
statements and/or who disagreed/very disagreed to items with
positive statements) than those drivers with positive attitudes/
behaviors (who disagreed/very disagreed to items with positive
statements and/or who agreed/very agreed to items with negative
statements). Among the assessed 16 items of DAQ, about nine
items with negative statements (speed limitation problems, interest
of competition, taking risks, perception of obeying regulation
as childish, mimicking peer fraud, disobey regulation when no
police, attitude about offense punishment, alcohol drinking and
overtaking in front vehicles) were determined to had statistically
significant associated with the occurred RTCs. Conducting the
study only at Jimma zone and involvement of fewer females in
the study might be considered as a limitation of the study.
Funding
Jimma University provided funding through mega project (among
won mega project in 2019 with institutional review board of number
of IHRPGD/467/2019).
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Jimma University for providing
funding, and all data collectors and the drivers participated in the
study.
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