Abstract
In Nigeria, nearly a quarter of road crashes are linked to mobile phone use while driving. The strong desire to use phones while driving may supersede the attention to driving among heavy phone users. This study seeks to assess the relationship between mobile phone addiction proneness and self-reported road accidents among urban drivers in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Ibadan, Oyo State. Participants were recruited if they possessed a valid driving license, a mobile phone, were above 18 years of age, and have a history of driving a vehicle within a month from the time they were interviewed. The outcome variable is the self-reported mobile-phone-related road accident. The independent variable was mobile phone addiction proneness defined using the Smartphone Addiction Survey- Short Version (SAS-SV). Logistics regression analysis was performed to measure the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of self-reported road accidents among those that prone to mobile phone addiction. About 88% of the Nigerian drivers were prone to mobile phone addiction, and about 65% reported having a road accident that was related to their mobile phone use while driving. After adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational level, and years of driving, respondents who were prone to mobile phone addiction were 2.47 times (95%CI: 1.28 - 4.75) more likely to have experienced mobile phone-related road accident. Proneness to mobile phone addiction may be a significant risk factor to self-reported road accidents among Nigerian drivers.
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Acknowledgments
The author wishes to acknowledge Jessica Hoyle, Department of Public Health Sciences; Tasha Gill, Department of Public Health Sciences; and Neema Olagbemiro, Department of Health Services Research, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, for their roles in proof-reading this manuscript.
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Adeyemi, O. The Association of Mobile Phone Addiction Proneness and Self-reported Road Accident in Oyo State, Nigeria. J. technol. behav. sci. 6, 486–491 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-021-00193-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-021-00193-8