Assessment of seat belt use and its associated factors among public transport drivers in North Gondar, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Road traffic injuries are the major and neglected public health challenges. It causes 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries yearly and the use of seat belt reduces 60% of the cases. However, little is known about the magnitude of utilizing seat belt and associated factors in Ethiopia. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the seat belt practice and associated factors among minibus and taxi drivers. RESULTS: The magnitude of seat belt users is 69.6%. The majority (98.1%) of drivers used seat belt to minimize injuries, 95.8% to prevent casualties, 92.5% to safeguard vehicle occupants, 29.9% to generate revenue for government and 22.8% to beautify the vehicle. Almost 80% of participants reported that wearing seat belt could save lives; and 29.6% of them wear belts because of stiffer penalties. For not using seat belts, more than 18% drivers reasoned out that it is not guarantee for safety and it wastes time to wear. In the multiple logistic regression being taxi driver (AOR = 1.998, 95% CI 1.250, 3.192), being married (AOR = 2.91, 95% CI 1.118, 7.601) and attended vocational school and above (AOR = 2.140, 95% CI 1.014, 4.519) were associated with seat belt use.