Unhelmeted Riding, Drunk Riding, and Unlicensed Riding among Motorcyclists: A Population Study in Taiwan during 2011-2016

Yen-Hsiu Liu; Bayu Satria Wiratama; Chung-Jen Chao; Ming-Heng Wang; Rui-Sheng Chen; Wafaa Saleh; Chih-Wei Pai

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021412

Unhelmeted Riding, Drunk Riding, and Unlicensed Riding among Motorcyclists: A Population Study in Taiwan during 2011-2016

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 12;20(2):1412. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021412.

Authors

Yen-Hsiu Liu¹, Bayu Satria Wiratama^{1

2}, Chung-Jen Chao³, Ming-Heng Wang⁴, Rui-Sheng Chen^{1

5}, Wafaa Saleh⁶, Chih-Wei Pai¹

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
² Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta City 55281, Indonesia.
³ Department of Traffic Science, Central Police University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Traffic Management, Taiwan Police College, Taipei 116, Taiwan.
⁵ 2nd District Headquarters, Yongji Station, Fire Department of Taipei City, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
⁶ Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH11 4DY, UK.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the association between drunk riding, unhelmeted riding, unlicensed riding, and running-off-road (ROR) crashes. Multiple logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) by using the National Taiwan Traffic Crash Dataset for 2011-2016. The results revealed that unhelmeted riding was associated with 138% (AOR = 2.38; CI (confidence interval) = 2.34-2.42) and 47% (AOR = 1.47; CI = 1.45-1.49) higher risks of drunk riding and unlicensed riding, respectively. The risk of unhelmeted riding increased with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), and riders with the minimum BAC (0.031-0.05%) had nearly five times (AOR = 4.99; CI = 4.74-5.26) higher odds of unlicensed riding compared with those of riders with a negative BAC. Unhelmeted riding, drunk riding, and unlicensed riding were associated with 1.21 times (AOR = 1.21; CI = 1.13-1.30), 2.38 times (AOR = 2.38; CI = 2.20-2.57), and 1.13 times (AOR = 1.13; CI = 1.06-1.21) higher odds of ROR crashes, respectively. The three risky riding behaviours (i.e., unhelmeted riding, drunk riding, and unlicensed riding) were significantly related to ROR crashes. The risk of unhelmeted riding and ROR crashes increased with BACs.

Keywords: ROR crashes; drunk riding; unhelmeted riding; unlicensed riding.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Accidents, Traffic
Alcoholic Intoxication* / epidemiology
Alcoholism*
Head Protective Devices
Humans
Motorcycles
Taiwan / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 110-2410-H-038-016-MY2 and MOST 109-2314-B-038-066).