Practice of safety measures among inter-city commercial vehicle drivers in Kwara State, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) is rising world-wide, with 1.24 million people killed on the world’s roads in 2010 due to non-compliance with safety measures. The objectives of the study was to determine the practice of safety measures and prevalence of road crashes among inter-city commercial vehicle drivers in Kwara State, Nigeria. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study done by interviewer-administered questionnaire and blood alcohol concentration of respondents was determined using Breathalyzers. A total of 410 respondents were involved by multi-stage sampling technique; data analysis was done using EPI INFO version 3.5.1 software package. Level of significance was < 0.05 at 95% confidence level. RESULTS: More than eighty per cent of the respondents practiced safety measures and checked their vehicles before embarking on a journey. More respondents who practiced safety measures carried out driving test before issuance of license compared with those who did not (p = 0.001). Some respondents tested positive for alcohol with mean blood alcohol concentration of 23.28 ± 23.32 µg/dl. About a third of the respondents had road traffic crashes in the past. CONCLUSIONS: The drivers demonstrated good safety measures and practices before embarking on a journey. Safety practices were influenced by driving test before issuance of license. Sensitization and orientation of drivers on relevance of driving test before issuance of driving license should be promoted by all stakeholders in road safety. The enforcement of laws by government is critical to addressing challenges of road safety and security by ensuring appropriate driving test before licensing.