ABSTRACT
Road traffic injuries present a significant public health burden, especially in developing countries. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized global evidence on motorcycle helmet use prevalence by including 299 records across 249 articles involving 5,006,476 participants from 1982 to 2022. The findings revealed a declining trend in helmet use prevalence over the past four decades, with an overall prevalence of 48.71%. The meta-regression analysis did not find any statistically significant change in the overall prevalence. Subgroup analysis showed higher helmet use prevalence in observation/survey records (54.29%) compared to crashed patient records (44.84%). Riders/Motorcyclists demonstrated a higher likelihood of wearing helmets than passengers in both observation/survey records (62.61 vs. 28.23%) and crashed patient records (47.76 vs. 26.61%). Countries with mandatory helmet use laws had higher helmet usage prevalence compared to those without (52.26 vs. 37.21%). The African continent had the lowest helmet use rates, while Latin America and the Caribbean regions had higher rates. This study provides a comprehensive overview of global helmet use prevalence, emphasizing disparities between high and low-income countries, variations in law enforcement, and trends over four decades. Targeted interventions are necessary to improve helmet-wearing habits, especially among passengers and regions with low usage rates. Effective legislation and awareness campaigns are crucial for promoting helmet use and reducing road traffic injuries burden.
ABSTRACT
Speeding behaviour of drivers is highly correlated to their tangible consequence. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of telematics-based feedback and financial incentives in reducing speeding behaviors through a randomized controlled field trial. This randomized controlled trial included four groups of (1) control, (2) information-only, (3) gain-of-reward, and (4) loss-of-reward. While drivers of the control group were unobtrusively monitored using telematics devices, drivers of the information-only group received real-time, weekly, and monthly feedback via text message. In both groups with financial incentives, in addition to receiving feedback, drivers could receive payments at the end of each month based on observed speeding. The primary outcome was the distance traveled at speeds more than 10% (S10 + ) above the posted speed limit as a proportion of the total traveled distance. A total of 397 male taxi drivers consented to participate in the study. After the stratified randomization, the mean age of the participant was 46.0 (95% Confidence Interval: 43.8 to 48.2), 47.0 (44.7 to 49.3), 46.1 (43.7 to 48.5), and 48.8 (46.5 to 51.1) years for the control, the information-only, the gain-of-reward, and the loss-of-reward groups, respectively. The mean S10 + rate per 100 km was 0.9 (0.5 to 1.2) for the control, 0.8 (0.4 to 1.1) for the information-only, 0.7 (0.3 to 1.1) for the gain-of-reward, and 1.3 (0.4 to 2.2) for the loss-of-reward group at the start of intervention. During the intervention phase, the loss-of-reward group with 0.6 (0.5 to 0.7) had the lowest mean of S10 + rate, followed by the gain-of-reward group with 0.8 (0.7 to 0.8). The loss-of-reward and gain-of-reward groups were the most influenced groups by the intervention, with 38.0% (13.2 to 55.7; p-value < 0.01) and 29.4% (2.0 to 49.2; p-value = 0.04) less S10 + rate than the control group, respectively. It was figured out that providing information regarding drivers' behavior without appropriating motives or penalties would have a minuscule impact.In addition, the group of drivers who were treated with instant punishment was the most influenced group by the intervention.
