Risky driving behavior among public transport vehicle drivers in Ethiopia using the health belief model

Abstract

IntroductionEvery year, road traffic accidents cause 1.35 million deaths and up to 50 million disabilities worldwide. Low and middle-income countries account for 93% of all fatalities, despite owning 60% of the world's vehicles. Road traffic accidents contributed to a fatality rate of37 persons per 100,000 inhabitants in Ethiopia each year, with risky driving behavior accounting for 83% of traffic crashes. Using the health belief model, this study aimed to examine risky driving behavior and its associated factors among public transport vehicle drivers in East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia, in 2021. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 369 public transport vehicle drivers selected by a multi-stage sampling technique. Data collected through the interviewer-administered technique were entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported to Stata software version 14 for further statistical analysis. Multiple linear regression models were fitted with statistical significance at a p-value of 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. ResultsA total of 369 drivers were interviewed, with a response rate of 94.1 %. The mean risky driving behavior score was 1.74 (SD + 0.36), with an expected value of a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5, and actual minimum and maximum values of 1 and 3, respectively. Perceived severity (B = -0.23; 95 % CI (-0.37–-0.08)), perceived benefit (B = -0.58; 95 % CI (-0.68–-0.47)), perceived barrier (B = 0.23; 95 % CI (0.16–0.30)), and self-efficacy (B = -0.22; 95 % CI (-0.31–-0.13)) were statistically significant variables. The perceived benefit was the strongest predictor of risky driving behavior, and health belief model constructs explained 62.2 % of the variation in risky driving behavior. ConclusionPerceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barrier, and self-efficacy were statistically significant variables, so corrective measures should focus on maximizing perceived severity, perceived benefit, and self-efficacy and minimizing perceived barriers.