METHOD: A naturalistic exploratory un-obstructive observational approach was used in assessing this phenomenon. The relationship between motorcyclists' behaviors and motorcyclists' observed demographic characteristics, the locality of the intersection, time of the week and presence of pillion passengers were analyzed. Chi-Square test of independence was used to establish the statistically significant relationships between dependent and independent variables.
RESULTS: In all, 2,225 motorcyclists and 744 pillion passengers were observed. The results revealed that 33.1% of the motorcyclists ran a red light with 45.4% not using a helmet. Red-light running at signalized intersections was significantly linked to the locality of the intersection, time of the week, and helmet use. The helmet use was low and significantly associated with the presence of a pillion passenger and whether the pillion passenger used a helmet or not.
CONCLUSION: Red-light running is influenced by locality of intersection, time of the week and helmet use. Efforts to reduce red-light running and improve helmet use should involve road safety education, awareness creation, and enforcement of traffic laws by the officials of the National Road Safety Authority and Motor Transport and Traffic Department of the Ghana Police Service. City managers in other low and middle-income countries can use the findings in the study to inform policy.
OBJECTIVE: Given the unpopularity of the current hard hat, the general perception of workers concerning its use and its measurements are the determining factors in the development of a new hard hat.
METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 132 male oil palm harvesters between 19 and 60 years of age were selected from among the employees of the same oil palm harvesting company. A set of questionnaires was developed to collect their socio-demographic information as well as their perceptions of comfort and the prevalence of head injury. In addition, a set of measuring instruments, including Martin's anthropometry set, was used for head measurement and data collection in respect of the current hard hat. In this research, six respondents were randomly selected to attend an interview session for qualitative assessment.RESULTSBased on the questionnaires, the unpopularity in the use of the hard hat was largely influenced by factors related to poor design, in general, and, specifically, poor ventilation (64%), load (67% ), and physical discomfort (42% ). The measurements of the anthropometric parameters and the dimensions of the hard hat also showed a significant mismatch.
CONCLUSION: The unpopularity of the current hard hat among oil palm harvesters stemmed from the discomfort from wearing, which showed that the development of a new hard hat could lead to better usage and the greater likelihood of wearing a hard hat throughout the working day.
METHODS: The study design was a prospective cross-sectional study. The participants involved injured motorcyclists who were admitted in five selected hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Participants who sustained head injury were selected as the cases while those with injury below the neck (IBN) were selected as the controls. Questionnaire comprising motorcyclist, vehicle, helmet and crash factors was examined. Diagnoses of injuries were obtained from the participants' medical records.
RESULTS: The total subjects with head injuries were 404 while those with IBN were 235. Majority of the cases (76.2%) and controls (80.4%) wore the half-head and open-face helmets, followed by the tropical helmets (5.4% and 6.0% of the cases and controls, respectively). Full-face helmets were used by 1.2% of the cases and 4.7% of the controls. 5.7% of the cases and 6.0% of the controls did not wear a helmet. 32.7% of the cases and 77.4% of the controls had their helmets fixed. Motorcyclists with ejected helmets were five times as likely to sustain head injury [adjusted odds ratio, AOR 5.73 (95% CI 3.38-9.73)] and four times as likely to sustain severe head injury [AOR of 4.83 (95% CI 2.76-8.45)]. The half head and open face helmets had AOR of 0.24 (95% CI 0.10-0.56) for severe head injury when compared to motorcyclists who did not wear a helmet.
CONCLUSION: Helmet fixation is more effective than helmet type in providing protection to the motorcyclists.