Citation

Truong LT, De Gruyter C, Nguyen HT. Traffic Injury Prev. 2017; 18(6): 593-598.

Affiliation

Institute of Construction Engineering, University of Transport and Communications , Hanoi , Vietnam.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15389588.2017.1283490

PMID

28112978

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of calling, texting, and searching information while riding a motorcycle among university students and the influences of sociodemographic characteristics, social norms, and risk perceptions on these behaviours.

METHODS: Students at two university campuses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the two largest cities of Vietnam, were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Data collection was conducted during March and May 2016.

RESULTS: There were 741 respondents, of which nearly 90% of students (665) were motorcycle riders. Overall prevalence of mobile phone use while riding is 80.9% (95% CI: 77.9-83.9%) with calling having a higher level of prevalence than texting or searching information while riding: 74% (95% CI: 70.7-77.3%) vs. 51.7% (95% CI: 47.9-55.5%) and 49.9% (95% CI: 46.1-53.7%) respectively. Random parameter ordered probit modelling results indicate that mobile phone use while riding is associated with gender, motorcycle licence duration, perceived crash risk, perceived risk of mobile phone snatching, and perceptions of friends' mobile phone use while riding.

CONCLUSIONS: Mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle is highly prevalent among university students. Educational programs should focus on the crash and economic risk of all types of mobile phone use while riding, including calling, texting, and searching information. In addition, they should consider targeting the influence of social norms and peers on mobile phone use while riding.

Language: en

Keywords

Motorcyclists; accident; calling; crash; mobile phone; texting