Passenger Drivers’ Behaviour, Car Maintenance Practices, Safety Procedure Knowledge, and Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement in a Selected Region of Ghana
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Abstract
Abstract
Background: Motor vehicle crash involvement normally results in a wide range of injuries and often in permanent disability.
Objective: In line with this, the current study attempts to investigate the extent to which passenger drivers’ behaviour, car maintenance practices, and safety procedure knowledge influence motor vehicle crash involvement in a selected region of Ghana.
Methods: The study made use of a cross-sectional descriptive design and lends itself to a positivist approach. Data were solicited from 720 participants and were processed with SPSS version 27. Frequency distribution, chi-square test, and binary logistic regression were used to summarise the data. The frequency distribution was used to summarise participants’ responses into proportions, and the chi-square test was used to test the hypotheses postulated in the study, either to confirm or reject the null hypotheses. However, the binary logistic regression was used to assess the effects of the explanatory variables on the outcome variable.
Results: The study found that ensuring headlights and other indicators function correctly was positively correlated with motor vehicle crash involvement in the selected region of Ghana. It emerged that a relationship existed between passenger drivers’ behaviour (p < 0.001), car maintenance practices (p < 0.001), as well as drivers’ safety procedure knowledge (p < 0.001), and motor vehicle crash involvement in the selected region of Ghana.
Conclusion: The current study established a significant relationship between motor vehicle crash involvement and factors such as functional headlights and their indicators, drivers’ behaviour, car maintenance practices, and safety procedure knowledge in the selected region of Ghana. Based on this, the study recommends that targeted interventions should be implemented to improve vehicle maintenance, enhance driver education on road safety procedures, and promote responsible driving behaviour to reduce motor vehicle crash involvement in the region.
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