Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Nigerian commercial motorcyclists in the use of crash helmet and other safety measures

Objective. This study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of some commercial motorcyclists in Nigeria in the use of crash helmet and other cycling safety measures. Methods. At randomly selected commercial motorcycle parks from two South Western Nigerian locations (Lagos and Ile-Ife), we obtained verbal consent from commercial motorcyclists (randomly selected) and thereafter administered structured questionnaires to consenting motorcyclists. The questionnaire sought to know the respondents' biodata (age, gender, and educational attainment inclusive), cycling background, and experience (trainer, duration of training and cycling, and history of crashes). Furthermore, risk factors and practices like alcoholism, maintenance history of the motorcycle, maximum number of pillion passengers carried, and use of crash helmet were elicited. Respondents' knowledge of available safety measures was also investigated. Data was entered into an IBM compatible computer and analyzed using the SPSS 11.0 statistical software. Statistical significance was inferred at p value 0.05. Results. There were 224 male respondents aged 15-58 years. Their peak age was 25-29 years and mean 35.1 8.9 years; 8.4% had no formal education; 10.3% received formal training but the majority were either trained by self (35.5%) or an acquaintance (34.6%). Training lasted 1 week in 21.5% of the respondents and 3 weeks in 43%. Close to half (48.6%) of cyclists admitted carrying more than one (2-4) pillion passenger; 64 (30%) volunteered positive history of alcohol consumption. Only 20% supplied a crash helmet as a known safety device and 23.8% had a helmet on at the time the study was conducted. The majority (67.3%) favored the enforcement of crash helmet while others would reject the idea; 45.8% of the cyclists have been involved in crashes at one time or the other. Most of the crashes occurred with a motor vehicle or as a lone accident while they attributed most of the accidents to bad roads and failure to observe road signs. Conclusion. Commercial motorcycling is essentially done by males who have not received formal training for the job; hence, they lack adequate knowledge and practice of road safety measures. Additionally, bad roads appear to also contribute to frequent crashes. However, the need to enforce all existing laws related to motorcycling is evident.