| The objectives of this survey research are to investigate the motorcycle accident prevention behavior and to study the personal factors related to the accident prevention behavior of Kheungnaiphitthayakarn High School students, Kheungnai District, Ubon Ratchathani. Sampling was carried out by means of lottery method. A sample of 300 students responded to the valid questionnaires (Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient > 0.80).
The results show that the majority of the sampled students were female (65.30%). The average age, weight and height were 16.6 years old, 50.7 kg. and 162 cm. respectively. Most of them were of proportional build with an average body mass index of 18.5-24.9. Ninety seven percent of the sample did not have eyesight problems. The majority (36%) were in Mathayom 4 (comparable to Grade 10 in the US) with the average GPA of 2.95. Most of them (99.7%) resided in Khueungnai District. The average distance from the residence to the school was 9.52 km. The majority (92.7%) came to school on their family’s motorcycles. Eighty five percent of them did not have a driver’s license. More than half (64.3%) had safety-helmets. Most of these students learned to operate a motorcycle around the age of twelve (12.29 years old) with the average driving experience time of 4.35 years. The average speed was 55.18 km/hour. During the past year, 19.30% of them had been arrested or had received a ticket for the reason of not wearing a safety helmet as the major cause (79.30%). Most of them (78%) had never had a motorcycle accident. Among the students who had accidents (22%), most of them (69.7%) had one accident and most of these (75.8%) were operators of the motorcycles. The type of motorcycle accidents most often found was a slip and fall case (42.4%). The accidents was frequently occurred at daytime (74.2%); and, in over a half of these accidents (63.6%), there were counterparts. Most of the injuries was minor, both in those student motorcyclists (75.8%) and their counterparts (64.3%). Eighty eight percent of the students had received information about motorcycle accidents; around half (51%) was informed only once in a while. Radio and television were the major sources of information (84.2%). Most of the information related to the accident prevention (86%). Eighty three percent of the students need to get more information on this topic, especially topic related to safety riding. Most of the students had a high level of awareness of the traffic laws with an average score of 16 (or 77.70%). The accident prevention behavior of these students was rated as ‘fair’ with the average score of 83 or 48.3%.
The relationship study indicated that female students had better accident prevention behavior than the male (p-value = < 0.001). Mathayom 6 students had better accident prevention behavior than Mathayom 4 and Mathayom 5 with Mathayom 5 students being better than Mathayom 4 in terms of accident prevention behavior (p-value = 0.049). Students with high GPA’s had better accident prevention behavior than those with low GPA’s (p-value = < 0.001). Students who used their personal or family’s motorcycles had better accident prevention behavior than those who borrowed motorcycles from others (p-value = 0.021). Students with a driver’s license had better accident prevention behavior than those without one (p-value = 0.004). Students wearing a safety helmet while riding had better accident prevention behavior than those not wearing one (p-value = 0.004). Students who learned to drive a motorcycle at an older age had better accident prevention behavior than those who learned at a younger age (p-value = < 0.001). Students with little experience had better accident prevention behavior than those with much motorcycling experience (p-value = 0.004). Students with a high level of awareness of the traffic laws had better accident prevention behavior than those with a low level of awareness of the traffic laws (p-value = < 0.001). |