Seatbelt Use and Related Factors Among Drivers Involved in Road Crashes in Southeast Iran

Abstract

Background: Seatbelts are a relatively low-cost safety device that provides easy basic protection for occupants of 4-wheeled vehicles. Objectives: This study investigates frequency of seatbelt use and its related factors among drivers involved in a vehicle crash. Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, all crash profiles recorded in a province from March 2010 to March 2011 were reviewed. Necessary information was extracted from crash reports in which at least one 4-wheeled vehicle was involved. Data were analyzed using binary and multinomial logistic regression. Results: Of a total of 1427 motor vehicle crashes, a seatbelt was used by 58.2% of drivers. In the univariate analysis, the following were significantly associated with seatbelt use: driver age, education, and occupation along with front seat passenger's sex and seatbelt use, type and make of vehicle, speed, road surface condition, and type of road. In the multivariate model, the following remained significant: driver education, seatbelt use by front seat passenger, and type of road. Furthermore, a restraining seatbelt protected drivers from severe injury and death. Unbelted drivers were 7 and 17.4 times more likely to experience injury and death respectively than belted drivers. Conclusions: The seatbelt wearing rate among the study participants was much lower than the 90% rate reported among Iranian drivers in 2010. Mandating seatbelt use, as in most countries, will be more effective if a combination of factors such as changes in vehicle design, road safety, and driver and passenger behavior are taken into account.

Study of the Pattern and Frequency of Road Traffic Injuries in Car Occupants in the Eastern Part of Iran

“…The findings of this study suggest an inverse relationship between seatbelt use and death in car occupants. The same result has also been reported by many earlier studies [22][23][24]. It has been demonstrated that fastening the seatbelt would reduce 40% to 50% of death cases in front seat occupants as well as 25% in rear occupants [25].…”

Use of seat belts among public transport drivers in Tacna, Peru: Prevalence and risk factors

“…Several factors have been found to increase seat belt use, such as being in a city far from the capital, being female, driving a taxi [15], older age [10], and being more educated [7,9,11].…”

“…However, most of those studies were conducted using secondary databases [8,10,12,13], through observations from outside the vehicles [7,[15][16][17] or through self-reports by the drivers [9,11,12,14]. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct field research that directly observes their use and the most important influences, especially in low-and middle-income countries such as Peru [1].…”

“…Its use is mandatory for all vehicle occupants due to the legislation in force, and this is applied in several countries worldwide [1]. The prevalence of seat belt use varies to worldwide, as 48% [7], 73% [8], 58% [9], 82% [10], and 86-90% [11-13] were reported in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Korea, Iran, Singapore, and in the United States of America, respectively. On the contrary, in Latin American countries, the prevalence of 82% was reported in Ecuador [14], 36% in Colombia [15] and 38% in Mexico [16]; lower prevalence was observed among co-drivers [15,16].…”

“…Several factors have been found to increase seat belt use, such as being in a city far from the capital, being female, driving a taxi [15], older age [10], and being more educated [7,9,11]. However, most of those studies were conducted using secondary databases [8,10,12,13], through observations from outside the vehicles [7,15-17] or through self-reports by the drivers [9,11,12,14]. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct field research that directly observes their use and the most important influences, especially in low- and middle-income countries such as Peru [1].…”