Archives of Trauma Research

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year
: 2019  |  Volume : 8  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 219--228

Investigating Self-Reported Violations of the Drivers of Bandar Abbas City and Its Relation with Their Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Traffic Regulations


Mehdi Jahangiri1, Teamur Aghamolaei2, Shokrollah Mohseni3, Sara Mohammadpour4, Nazanin Sallari4, Abdolhamid Tajvar2,  
1 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Social Determinants in Health Promotion Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran
3 Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran
4 Student Research Committee, Hormozgan University of Medical Science, Bandar Abbas, Iran

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Abdolhamid Tajvar
Social Determinants in Health Promotion Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas
Iran

Abstract

Objectives: Road traffic accidents are much higher than the global average in Iran. Since the main cause of road traffic accidents is attributed to driver's risky behaviors, the aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and violation of drivers toward traffic regulations in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Methods: The study was carried out among 562 drivers in Bandar Abbas using cluster sampling method. The data were collected through a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire that had four sections including items assessing the demographic, knowledge, attitude, and violation of drivers toward traffic regulations. Results: The mean score for drivers' knowledge, attitude, and violations were estimated to be 8.71 ± 2.5, 42.4 ± 7.6, and 56.7 ± 11.8, respectively. Drivers' knowledge and attitude levels were low; only 11.4% of men and 9% of women had good knowledge. The use of mobile phone (74.6%) and drunk driving (9.4%) were reported as the most frequent and the least frequent driving behaviors, respectively. There was a significant relationship between knowledge with attitude, knowledge with violations, and attitude with violations (P < 0.001). Marital status, age, and driving history were significantly associated with drivers' knowledge, attitude, and violations (P < 0.001). Conclusions: It is recommended to reduce driving violations by implementing targeted and comprehensive plans to raising the level of knowledge and attitude of drivers toward driving regulations.



How to cite this article:
Jahangiri M, Aghamolaei T, Mohseni S, Mohammadpour S, Sallari N, Tajvar A. Investigating Self-Reported Violations of the Drivers of Bandar Abbas City and Its Relation with Their Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Traffic Regulations.Arch Trauma Res 2019;8:219-228


How to cite this URL:
Jahangiri M, Aghamolaei T, Mohseni S, Mohammadpour S, Sallari N, Tajvar A. Investigating Self-Reported Violations of the Drivers of Bandar Abbas City and Its Relation with Their Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Traffic Regulations. Arch Trauma Res [serial online] 2019 [cited 2024 Mar 28 ];8:219-228
Available from: https://www.archtrauma.com/text.asp?2019/8/4/219/272837


Full Text



 Introduction



Road traffic accidents are among the most common accidents that have endangered the lives of many people in the world, causing death and injury among large numbers of people especially among those aged 15–29 that are economically active age group.[1-3] According to WHO reports, the number of road accident has maintained its upward trend, reaching 1.35 million in 2016 and the risk of a road accident death remains three times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries According to the Global status report on road safety 2018, mortality rates due to road accidents estimated by WHO in Iran was 20.5/100,000 population (higher than global rate).[4]

In Iran, the most common cause of trauma and the most common cause of death from trauma was traffic accidents.[5] It shows insufficient attention has been paid to road safety and that a heavy fund is being in terms of lives lost, long-term injury, and pressure on healthcare service.

Many factors are associated with every traffic accident including environmental factors, technical factors (such as vehicle design and road design), and human factors. The results of recent studies also indicate that there is a significant relationship between high-risk driving and road injuries.[6-8] Traffic rules are one of the most important tools for road traffic management.[9] Many studies have confirmed that violating these rules increases the risk of road accidents.[10],[11] Because the traffic safety culture differs between different communities, it is very important that the traffic safety management of each community be designed taking into account the traffic culture of the drivers of the same area.[12] One of the most important human factors influencing the traffic safety culture is the violation of traffic laws. Therefore, investigation on this topic is important.[9]

Since a large number of people use car every day and are involved in traffic accident, and given the fact that drivers' errors and violations have high contribution to the traffic accidents, it is very important to identify the key causes of this errors and violations and subsequently to manage driving behaviors and improve traffic safety. Knowledge and attitude toward traffic regulations are significantly associated with risky driving behaviors and play an important role in constructing effective road safety program.[13-16] Prior studies have elucidated the role of divers behavior on road accidents, and it seems that knowledge, attitude, and practice of drivers toward traffic regulation may be one of the most important determinants of road accidents.[6] Therefore, this study aimed to investigate self-reported violations of the drivers of Bandar Abbas city and its relation with their knowledge and attitude regarding traffic regulations.

 Methods



This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out in Bandar Abbas in 2018. Bandar Abbas is a port city in Hormozgan province on the southern coast of Iran; many of its residents come from other ports of Iran for work. The target population included drivers with driver's license who were randomly assigned to 15 predetermined locations identified by cluster sampling method. At first, according to the map, the city of Bandar Abbas was divided into five points, and at each point, three locations were selected for random sampling. Informed consent was obtained from the study participants. The data were collected through a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire consisted of four sections including demographic questions (7 questions) as well as questions assessing knowledge (15 Questions), attitudes (15 questions), and offenses (25 items) of drivers toward traffic regulations.

The required sample size was calculated to be 600 people based on Cochran's formula. The validity of the questionnaire was established using a panel of experts so that the questionnaire was given to nine traffic officers and their comments were collected. Finally, the comments were applied in the final format of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was examined using internal consistency methods and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Cronbach's alpha for the whole questionnaire was 0.89.

For assessing the level of knowledge, 15 questions were used (one point for each correct answer and zero point for each wrong answer). Therefore, the total scores for the knowledge questionnaire will be 15. Subsequently, these scores were converted to percentages and divided into three categories, including poor knowledge (0%–49.99%), moderate knowledge (50%–74.99%), and good knowledge (75%–100%). Furthermore, questions related to drivers' attitude toward some traffic laws (such as eating and drinking while driving, crossing continuous lines, seat belt use, driving in forbidden places, "right of way," and driving with unauthorized speed) were designed using comments from traffic officers and health education specialist.

A four-point Likert scale was used for measuring drivers' responses to attitude (strongly agree: 1, agree: 2, disagree: 3 and strongly disagree: 4). After adding points and converting them into percentages, we placed them in three groups of attitude: weak attitude (0%–49.99%), moderate attitude (50%–74. 99%), and good attitude (75%–100%). The drivers' violations assessment was carried out through 25 questions taken from the list of traffic violations throughout the country and industrial and commercial free zones so that the drivers were asked how they would behave in each situation.

The answers were: "I usually do" (zero points), "I sometimes do" (one point), "I only do in an emergency" (2 points), and "I never do" (3 points). To obtain the total score of violations, the points in this section were summed up, and after being converted to percentage, level of drivers' violations was divided into three classes: high violations (0%–49.99%), moderate violations (50%–74.99%), and low violations (75%–100%). Finally, SPSS software (SPSS 22.0, IBM Corp, Chicago, USA) was used for data analysis.

Descriptive analysis of quantitative variables was performed using mean and standard deviation of the variables. Descriptive analysis of ordinal variables was performed using absolute and relative frequency determination. Chi-square test was used to compare the relationship between qualitative variables, and an independent t-test was used to determine the relationship between quantitative and dichotomous variables.

 Results



A total of 562 drivers of 600 participated in the study and 38 drivers were excluded from the study due to missing or incomplete data. 76.3% (429 people) of the participants were male and 23.7% (133 people) were female. The average age of the participants was 34.8 ± 10, between the ages of 18–84 years. Other demographic characteristics of the population are presented in [Table 1].{Table 1}

The mean score for drivers' knowledge, attitude, and violations were 8.71 ± 2.55, 42.41 ± 7.68, and 56.78 ± 11.89, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of drivers' knowledge about driving regulations are given in [Table 2] and [Table 3]. The questions used to assessing knowledge (15 question), attitude (15 questions) and self-reported violations (25 questions) differ in content and are listed in the annexed tables.{Table 2}{Table 3}

After completing self-report questionnaire on driving violations, it was determined that use of mobile phones or similar communication devices during driving (74.6%) and drunk driving (9.4%) were reported as the most frequent and the least frequent dangerous driving behaviors, respectively. 40.9% of the drivers reported having been fined at least once in the previous year.

The results for drivers' knowledge, attitude and violations are presented in [Table 4]. As shown in this table, 10.9%, 36.7% and 59.4% of the participants had proper knowledge, attitude and practice toward traffic regulations.{Table 4}

[Table 5] and [Table 6] show the relationship between drivers' knowledge and attitude toward traffic regulations and background variables including sex, marital status, educational level, and age and driving history.{Table 5}{Table 6}

To investigate the drivers' practice about 25 recorded traffic violations, they were asked to explain how they would behave in each of these situations. After completing the Self-Reported Driving violation Questionnaire, drivers status was categorized according to their Likert score on three levels : high violations (0%-49.99%), moderate violations (50%-74.99%), and low violations (75%-100%). Therefore, the lower the score for the driver, the more likely he is to commit a driving violations and vice versa.[Table 7] shows the relationship between drivers' violations and background variables.{Table 7}

As seen in [Table 8], using Pearson correlation matrix, a significant relationship was found between drivers' knowledge and attitude, drivers' knowledge and violations, and drivers' attitude and violations (p-value <0.001).{Table 8}

 Discussion



The drivers' knowledge was reported to be very low in this study; only 11.4% (49 people) of men and 9% (12 people) of women had good knowledge toward traffic regulations. Many studies carried out in various countries showed a low level of driver's knowledge toward traffic regulations.[15,17-20] The study of relationship between drivers' knowledge of traffic regulations and background variables indicated that there was a significant relationship between drivers' knowledge and sex, marital status, educational level, age, and driving history. Men had higher level of knowledge than women and married people had higher level of knowledge than single ones. Multiple studies have shown significant relationship between age, sex, educational level, and driving history with drivers' knowledge levels.[16],[19],[21]

After using Pearson correlation matrix, it was determined that there is a significant relationship between knowledge, attitude, and driving violations [Table 7]. Therefore, it is recommended to reduce driving violations by implementing targeted and comprehensive plans to raising the level of knowledge and attitude of drivers toward driving regulations. There was no significant relationship between sex and attitude, while there was a significant relationship between attitude and other variables such as marital status, educational level, age, and driving history. Married people had a positive attitude, Moreover, drivers with driving license for more than 16 years who were aged over 55 years had a positive attitude toward safe driving. Yunesian et al. found a significant relationship between drivers' age and marital status and their attitude so that married people had a better attitude toward traffic regulations.[16]{Table 7}

Contrary to our findings, Yahia et al. found a significant relationship between gender and attitude and reported that men have weaker attitude toward driving regulations than women.[21] Akaateba and Amoh in Kumasi found that driver's attitude toward traffic violations is significantly associated with age and sex.[22] Nordfjærn et al. also showed that in both urban and rural areas, driver's attitude toward traffic safety rules is significantly associated with age and sex so that young people, especially men have weaker attitude toward traffic safety rules.[7]

The results of investigating drivers' self-reported violations of traffic regulations indicated that 59.4% of drivers had low violations. In this regard, contradictory results were obtained in various studies. Perhaps, one of the reasons for this is the cultural difference between people of different countries.[3],[6],[7],[20] This differences could be attributed to different geographical and sociocultural statuses of them.

Examining the relationship between demographic characteristics and drivers' violations indicated that there is no significant relationship between sex and drivers' violations while some other studies showed the opposite and confirmed more insecure practice in men than women.[7,19,23-25] However, marital status, educational level, age, and driving history were significantly associated with driver's violations toward traffic regulations. In this regard, the finding of Tajvar et al. was not consistent with our results, and they found no significant relationship between violations and demographic characteristics.[19] Married people showed better practice, knowledge, and attitude than single ones. Drivers with longer term driving experience also reported better practice so that the best practice was reported for drivers holding driving license for more than 16 years (76.3%). Furthermore, consistent with our results, a significant relationship was found between drivers' age and practice in some studies, that is, young people had the most unsafe driving behaviors.[8,13,22,23,26]

Mobile phone use was reported as the most frequent unsafe driving behavior and only 25.4% of drivers reported that they never commit this violation. A high percentage of drivers reported unauthorized speed and only 28.6% stated that they are not willing to commit this violation at all. A study carried out in Bandar Abbas, Iran revealed about 66% of drivers were frequently committing speed limit violations.[27]

In our study, a significant relationship was found between drivers' knowledge level and attitude, their knowledge level and practice, as well as their attitudes and practice. Consistent with our results, Gopaul et al. observed a significant relationship between drivers' knowledge and practice.[17] Contrary to our results, there were other studies that indicate driver knowledge about traffic laws was not always put into practice.[28-31] Our study showed that attitude dimensions were significantly correlated with self-reported driving behavior and drivers' knowledge regarding traffic regulations. Yunesian et al. in agreement with our results stated that increase in attitude and driving behaviors accompanied with decreased number of road traffic crashes in Iranian drivers. Specifically, driver's attitude had the crucial effect[16] in contrast to other studies which found that attitudes toward traffic safety influenced involvement in traffic crashes.[32],[33] Perhaps, the reason is because of specific conditions which change drivers to do unsafe driving. Culture of not obeying traffic regulations is one of them.

Although all of drivers had a driving license and had successfully passed the driving license examination, in our study, drivers' knowledge level was very low; therefore, holding purposeful retraining courses, especially for high-risk drivers with a lot of traffic violations on their driving record, and using mass media to improve public awareness are recommended.

Limitations

This study has some limitations which are important to take into account when the results are interpreted. First, instead of international standardized questionnaires, a researcher-made questionnaire was used to assess knowledge, attitude, and violations of drivers. Another limitation was that filling in the questionnaires was time-consuming which caused some drivers not to answer all the questions.

 Conclusions



The results of our study showed that drivers' knowledge and attitude levels toward traffc regulations were low, and these are probably the reasons for high traffic accident and fatality rate in Iran. In a study by Wang et al., it was also found that there was a significant relationship between knowledge and attitudes of drivers and traffic accident.[34] Therefore, the direct interpretation of our results recommended approaches that improve knowledge and attitude levels of traffic regulations; after that, creating, maintaining, and improving knowledge, attitude, and practice of drivers toward traffic regulations should be assessed as the milestone in a holistic road safety program.

It is important to note that although drivers know that violating traffic regulations is dangerous, committing violations can be attributed to drivers' risk-taking behaviors. In places where there are fewer traffic policemen or control technologies, drivers may have more tendency toward risky driving besides their proper attitude toward traffic regulations. Hence, it is suggested to reduce the level of risk taking through adopting various policies.

Financial support and sponsorship

This work was supported by Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences with grant no 9453.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

 Questionnaire



Drivers' Knowledge Questionnaire on Traffic Law

1. What does it mean to have a yellow light at the intersection?

If the road is open let's continuebe ready to continue the journeyStop behind the stop lineIf pedestrians are not passing we will continue the route

2. How fast can you travel while driving in the city?

Inside the local passageways and squares is 30 kmInside the local passageways and squares is 20 kmInside the local passageways and squares is 40 kmInside the local passageways and squares is 50 km

3. The right of priority in three ways?

With a device located on a wide streetWith a device that has reached three ways earlierWith a device that moves directlyWith a device that moves at a fast pace.

4. Where the “NO Stop” sign is installed

Stopping is only permitted for boarding and disembarking passengers.You can't stop for a moment.You can't park at all, but you can stop.It depends on the situation.

5. At the intersection for right turn

Go right and then turn aroundGo left and then turn aroundYou don't have to go right to turn right at intersections.urn around the middle band.

6. You are driving at a permissible speed The car behind you wants to overtake Can you prevent it from overtaking?

not at allNot unless it is safe to do soYes, because the driver is doing something dangerousYes, because the driver breaks the law

7. On Interrupted lines in the middle of the street

Only bypass can be doneOnly one can overtakeIt can be bypassed but not overtakenCan be used to bypass and overtake

8. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:1]

You only stop when children cross the streetYou stop even if the road is openYou only stop when there is trafficOnly stop when the red light is on

9. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:2]

No stopNo entryEnd of NO stopNo-stop range during the day

10. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:3]

You only have to drive at the speed indicated on the signThis speed is the minimum speed recommendedYou must not exceed the speed shown on the signThe speed is different for road, water and air conditions

11. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:4]

Stopno stopno entryEntrance is prohibited on both sides

12. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:5]

The front vehicles have the right of priorityTwo-way end of lineYou have the right to cross over the vehicle coming towards youThe road becomes one-way

13. What does this sign mean? [INSIDE:6]

Entrance is prohibited on both sidesthe right of way in trafficno entryno stop

14. How is the right of way at the crossroads for vehicles? [INSIDE:7]

Yellow_ Blue_RedRed_ Blue_ YellowRed _ Yellow _ BlueBlue-Red – Yellow

15. How is the right of way at the crossroads for vehicles? [INSIDE:8]

Blue _ Bike_ Truck_Red_Bike _ Blue _ Red _ TruckBike _ Truck _ Red _ BlueBike _ Truck _ Blue _ Red

[INLINE:1]

[INLINE:2]

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