SOCIAL VARIABLES AND ROAD SAFETY PRACTICES AMONG TAXI DRIVERS IN UYO METROPOLIS, AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

The study was conducted to investigate the influence of social variables on road-safety practices among taxi drivers in Uyo Metropolis of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically, the influences of age, educational qualifications, marital status, income level, family size and beliefs about causes of road traffic accident on road-safety practices of taxi drivers were examined. Six research questions and six hypotheses were generated to guide the study. A survey design was used for the study. A sample size of 147 (30%) were selected using simple random sampling technique at the Drivers’ Union meeting-hall through the co-operation of their leaders. The instrument for data collection was a researcher’s constructed questionnaire titled ‘‘Social Variables and Road Safety Practices Questionnaire (SVRSPQ)’’ The instrument was pretested using Cronbach’s alpha statistics and a reliability coefficient of .78 was obtained. Simple percentage was used to answer the research questions while Chi-square was used for test of hypotheses at .05 probability level of significance. Findings revealed that age, educational qualification, marital status, income level, family size and beliefs about causes of road traffic accident all had positive influences on the road-safety practices of taxi drivers in Uyo metropolis. Intensive road-safety/health education campaign was recommended to inculcate safety-consciousness among all drivers and other road users in Uyo Metropolis and other parts of the state. Keywords : ROAD SAFETY, SOCIAL VARIABLES DOI : 10.7176/JCSD/46-08 Publication date :March 31 st 2019