Motorcycle helmet attitudes, behaviours and beliefs among Cambodians

Abstract

Motorcycle fatalities are increasing at an alarming rate in many South-East Asian countries, including Cambodia. Through brief face-to-face roadside interviews in Phnom Penh and four other Cambodian provinces, this article assesses Cambodian motorcyclists' attitudes, behaviours and beliefs related to motorcycle helmets. Out of 1016 motorcyclists interviewed, 50% were drivers, 40% were older passengers and 10% were child passengers. More drivers (50%) reported consistently wearing helmets, compared with older passengers (14%). Saving their life in the event of a crash was the impetus for drivers and older passengers to wear a helmet (96% and 98%, respectively). The top barriers to helmet use were: (1) ‘depends on where I drive,’ (2) ‘I forget’ and (3) ‘inconvenient’ or ‘uncomfortable’. These descriptive findings were instrumental in shaping the Cambodian Helmet Vaccine Initiative passenger campaign to reduce the motorcycle-related injuries and fatalities to support the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.

Keywords:

• motorcycle
• helmet
• road safety
• Cambodia

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mr Chariya Ear and Dr Ann Dellinger for their thorough review of the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Notes

^†drivers versus older passengers, p < 0.001; driver versus proxied child passengers, p < 0.001; older passengers versus proxied child passengers, p = 0.021.

* Regular helmet-wearers: Self-reported ‘always’ wear a helmet (driver n = 254; older passenger n = 57).

** Irregular helmet-wearers: Self-reported ‘frequently,' ‘sometimes,' or ‘rarely/never’ wear a helmet (driver n = 255; older passenger n = 352).

*** Respondents can select more than one response.

†drivers versus older passengers, p < 0.001; driver versus proxied child passengers, p < 0.001; older passengers versus proxied child passengers, p < 0.001.