Associations of traffic safety attitudes and ticket fixing behaviours with the crash history of Pakistani drivers

Underreporting of road crashes in Pakistan and the role of fate

OBJECTIVE

Comprehensive, accurate information about road crashes and related trauma is a prerequisite for identification and control of risk factors as well as for identifying faults within the broader road safety system. Quality data and appropriate crash investigation are critical in reducing the road toll that is rapidly growing in much of the developing world, including Pakistan. This qualitative research explored the involvement of social and cultural factors (in particular, fatalism) in risky road use in Pakistan. The findings highlight a significant issue, previously unreported in the road safety literature, namely, the link between fatalistic beliefs and inaccurate reporting of road crashes.

METHOD

Thirty interviews (one-on-one) were conducted by the first author with police officers, drivers, policy makers, and religious orators in 3 Pakistani cities.

FINDINGS

Evidence emerged of a strong link between fatalism and the underreporting of road crashes. In many cases, crashes and related road trauma appear to go unreported because a crash is considered to be one's fate and, therefore, beyond personal control. Fate was also implicated in the practice of reconciliation between parties after a crash without police involvement and the seeking and granting of pardon for a road death.

CONCLUSIONS

These issues represent additional factors that can contribute to underreporting of crashes and associated trauma. Together, they highlight complications involved in establishing the true cost of road trauma in a country such as Pakistan and the difficulties faced when attempting to promote scientifically based road safety information to counteract faith-based beliefs.

Effects of familial climate on the adolescents' driving habits: a recent literature

Driving is a functional task that requires a complex interaction of visual perception, cognitive and motor skills. Next to circulatory diseases and cancer, road accidents remain the third epidemic cause of death internationally, with approximately half a million teen drivers killed annually. Driver behaviour has been cited as the pervasive marker of automotive crashes. A reliable and firm relationship between the positive parental model, message, and communication has been established. Specifically, the familial climate is proposed to be an important element of reinforcement, modelling, support and environmental determinant in interpreting personal perceptions, habits, values, and belief system. Confirming the assertion, this bibliographic review presents the most recent research findings on the contributions of families to the driving habits of teens. The emphasis is speculated on parental alcohol use, aggressiveness, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, relationship, and intergenerational transmission of driving styles. Besides, the effects of familial supervision, monitoring, education and awareness, and genders, partners, and demographic influence on the driving habits are discussed and outlined.

Predictors of intrinsic motivation behind seatbelt use in a country where current use is low

CONTEXT

Seatbelt use is a major determinant of a driver's safety on the road. In Turkey and other middle-income countries, seatbelt use is lower than in high-income countries and contributes to the higher burden of road traffic injuries. Assessing factors behind drivers' motivations to wear seatbelts can help determine appropriate interventions for specific subpopulations.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the factors predictive of whether drivers who wear seatbelts in Afyonkarahisar and Ankara, Turkey do so because they believe seatbelts can save their lives.

METHODS

As part of the monitoring and evaluation of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme, 817 drivers were randomly recruited in Afyonkarahisar and Ankara, Turkey, to participate in roadside interviews. Logistic regression was run on data from 408 drivers who claimed they always wore seatbelts. Predictors were driver's city, driver's age group (30 and younger, 31 to 40, and over 40 years), whether at least one passenger was in the car, and an interaction term between age group and whether passengers were in the car. The outcome variable of interest was whether drivers wore seatbelts because they believed seatbelts can save their lives, referred to in this paper as "selection of Reason 3."

RESULTS

The odds of selecting Reason 3 were 2.45 (95% CI: 1.40-4.31) times higher in Ankara than in Afyonkarahisar, 2.52 (95% CI: 1.38-4.60) and 3.65 (95% CI: 1.92-6.95) times higher for drivers aged 31-40 and drivers over the age of 40 than for drivers 30 years of age and younger, respectively, and 5.89 (95% CI: 2.02-17.23), 7.22 (95% CI: 1.61-32.42), and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.32-2.19) times higher for drivers traveling with passengers who were 30 years of age and younger, between 31 and 40, and over 40 than for drivers traveling without passengers in these age groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Drivers with passengers had higher odds of selecting Reason 3, especially younger drivers who are more likely to succumb to peer pressure. Older drivers had higher odds of selecting Reason 3. Peer groups and peer education campaigns may have an impact. Education interventions combined with extrinsic campaigns can be aimed at younger drivers to increase and maintain adherence in the population.