Wondu Reta Demissie, Hiwot Berhanu, Amare Abera, Moyeta Bariso, Elias Mulat, Wondwossen Debebe, et al ,. Attitude of Drivers Towards Road Traffc Safety and its Association with Occurred
Road Traffc Crashes Among Jimma Zone Public Transport Drivers, Southwest Ethiopia. Int J Behav Res Psychol. 2021;09(03):284-289.
284
OPEN ACCESS https://scidoc.org/IJBRP.php
International Journal of Behavioral Research & Psychology (IJBRP)
ISSN 2332-3000
*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 Traffc Safety and its As-
sociation with Occurred Road Traffc 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.
Attitude of Drivers Towards Road Traffc Safety and its Association with Occurred Road Traffc Crash-
es Among Jimma Zone Public Transport Drivers, Southwest Ethiopia
Research Article
Wondu Reta Demissie
1
, Hiwot Berhanu
1
, Amare Abera
1
, Moyeta Bariso
1*
, Elias Mulat
1
, Wondwossen Debebe
1
, Chala kenenisa
1
, Endriyas Kelta
1
, Are-
fayne Alanko
2
, Kumale Tolesa
3
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.
Abstract
Background: Road traffc crash (RTC) has become a global burden. The world health organization’s (WHO) global report on
road traffc 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 ffth leading cause of death by 2030. RTC was identifed 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
traffc 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 signifcant.
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 partici-
pants [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 signifcantly associated with the occurred RTCs among driv-
ers. There was statistically signifcant 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 state-
ments) which needs due emphasis for tackling this tragic event in collaboration to enhance drives attitude towards RTS by
providing awareness.
Keywords: Road Traffc Safety; Attitude; Drivers; Association; Road Traffc Crash.