Abstract
BackgroundRoad traffic accidents are the second largest cause of burden of disease in Thailand, largely attributable to behavioural risk factors including drinking and driving, speeding, substance abuse and failure to use seatbelts. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of non-seatbelt use among drivers during Songkran festival in Thailand.MethodsA cross-sectional survey has been performed to determine the prevalence of seatbelt use among Thai drivers (N=13722) during four days of the Songkran festival. For this sample the population of drivers was consecutively selected from 12 petrol stations in four provinces from each of the four main geographical regions of Thailand. The study was conducted at petrol stations at roads in town, outside town and highway at different time intervals when trained field staff administered a structured questionnaire and performed an observation checklist on seat belt use.ResultsAn overall prevalence of 28.4% of non-seatbelt use among drivers was found. In multivariable analysis demographics (being male, younger age, coming from the Northern or Southern region in Thailand), environmental factors (earlier during the Songkran festival, in the morning and late evening and on main roads in town), seatbelt use experiences and attitudes (having been in an accident before, never having used a seatbelt, no intention to use a seatbelt, lack of awareness of danger of non-seatbelt use and lower perceived risk of being caught with non-seatbelt use) and lower exposure to road safety awareness (RSA) campaign (less frequent exposure to RSA campaign, less frequent following of RTI statistics and not talking with others about the RSA campaign) were associated with non-seatbelt use.ConclusionRates of non-seatbelt use by Thai drivers during Songkran festival was 28.4%. Lower exposure to the RSA campaign was found to be associated with non-seatbelt use among drivers during the Songkran festival.
Highlights
Road traffic accidents are the second largest cause of burden of disease in Thailand, largely attributable to behavioural risk factors including drinking and driving, speeding, substance abuse and failure to use seatbelts
A number of known behavioural risk factors for Road Traffic Injury (RTI) have been identified in Thailand, including drinking and driving, speeding, substance abuse and failure to use seatbelts [3,4,5]
Factors associated with non-seatbelt use among drivers were male gender [6,9,16], younger age [9], professional and pickup versus general drivers [5,9,14], lowest within the Central Business District (CBD) compared to the outskirts of the city [6,9], lower on highways than on local streets [17], lower on urban roads compared to those on main highways and rural roads [13], lower at daytime, early in the morning than at night [14,15], and fatalistic orientation [10]
Summary
Road traffic accidents are the second largest cause of burden of disease in Thailand, largely attributable to behavioural risk factors including drinking and driving, speeding, substance abuse and failure to use seatbelts. Studies on observed seatbelt use in low and middle income countries found high rates of non-seatbelt use among drivers, ranging from 99% among drivers in Kenya [7], 91% in Argentina [8], 83.4% in Ghana [9], 53% in South Africa [10], 50% -32% in Nigeria [11,12], 45% in Russia [13] and 44.1%-32.7% in China [14,15] In most of these studies passengers in motor vehicles seemed to use less often a seatbelt than drivers [5,9,11,14]. Factors associated with non-seatbelt use among drivers were male gender [6,9,16], younger age [9], professional and pickup versus general drivers [5,9,14], lowest within the Central Business District (CBD) compared to the outskirts of the city [6,9], lower on highways than on local streets [17], lower on urban roads compared to those on main highways and rural roads [13], lower at daytime, early in the morning than at night [14,15], and fatalistic orientation [10]
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