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Impact of Distracted-Driving Education on Mobile-Phone Use while Driving among Commercial Drivers in Nigeria

Abstract

Distracted driving is an important road safety and public health concern in Nigeria, particularly among commercial drivers who spend extended periods on the road and transport large numbers of passengers. The use of mobile phones while driving can divert visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driving task and may increase the risk of road traffic crashes and injuries. Commercial drivers may use mobile phones for calls, text messages, navigation, social communication, or other activities while driving, potentially increasing exposure to distraction-related road hazards. Distracted-driving education provides commercial drivers with information about the dangers associated with mobile-phone use while driving, relevant traffic regulations, the effects of visual, manual, and cognitive distraction, safe alternatives to mobile-phone use, defensive driving, and strategies for maintaining attention while operating a vehicle. Mobile-phone use while driving refers to the engagement in activities such as making or receiving calls, texting, browsing, social media use, or other non-driving mobile-phone activities while the vehicle is in motion. In Nigeria, mobile-phone use while driving may be influenced by inadequate awareness of its risks, occupational communication demands, established habits, perceived convenience, pressure from passengers or employers, and inconsistent enforcement of traffic regulations. Effective distracted-driving education may improve drivers' knowledge, risk perception, attitudes, and compliance with safe driving practices. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of distracted-driving education on mobile-phone use while driving among commercial drivers in Nigeria. The study is anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Knowledge-Attitude-Practice framework. The Health Belief Model explains preventive safety behaviour through perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action, providing a basis for understanding commercial drivers' decisions to avoid mobile-phone use while driving. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes the interaction between knowledge, self-efficacy, social influences, behavioural capabilities, and environmental conditions in shaping driving behaviour. The Knowledge-Attitude-Practice framework provides a basis for examining how improved knowledge and attitudes resulting from distracted-driving education may influence mobile-phone use while driving. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how distracted-driving education may influence mobile-phone use among commercial drivers in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental research design. Primary data will be collected from commercial drivers operating in selected urban, intercity, and highway transportation routes in Nigeria using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and, where feasible, an observational distracted-driving checklist. A multistage sampling technique will be employed to select states, transport terminals, motor parks, commercial routes, transport associations, and eligible commercial drivers. Where feasible, selected driver groups or transport terminals will be assigned to intervention and comparison groups. Drivers in the intervention group will receive structured distracted-driving education covering the risks associated with mobile-phone use while driving, visual, manual, and cognitive distraction, relevant traffic regulations, safe alternatives to mobile-phone use, defensive driving, attention management, and strategies for handling necessary communications without compromising driving safety. Mobile-phone use while driving will be assessed using indicators such as making or receiving calls while driving, sending or reading text messages, browsing the internet or social media, operating mobile applications, and other forms of non-driving mobile-phone activity while the vehicle is in motion. Where feasible, self-reported behaviour will be supplemented with observational assessment to improve measurement accuracy. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize drivers' sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, distracted-driving knowledge, exposure to education, and mobile-phone-use practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, paired-sample tests, independent-sample tests, and logistic or multiple regression analysis, will be used to determine the impact of distracted-driving education on mobile-phone use while driving. Where appropriate, observed mobile-phone-use rates will be compared before and after the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability of the research instrument, model assumptions, goodness of fit, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that distracted-driving education has a significant negative impact on mobile-phone use while driving among commercial drivers in Nigeria, meaning that increased exposure to appropriate education is expected to reduce unsafe mobile-phone use during driving. Drivers exposed to structured distracted-driving education are expected to demonstrate improved knowledge of distraction-related crash risks and greater compliance with recommended safe-driving practices. Education may improve awareness of the dangers of texting and calling while driving, strengthen drivers' risk perception, reduce misconceptions about the safety of brief mobile-phone use, and encourage the use of safer alternatives for necessary communication. However, education alone may not completely eliminate mobile-phone use because commercial drivers may continue to experience occupational communication demands, established behavioural habits, passenger or employer pressures, and inconsistent enforcement of traffic regulations. Consequently, distracted-driving education is expected to be most effective when supported by consistent enforcement, transport-company policies, driver monitoring, appropriate penalties, public awareness campaigns, and alternative communication arrangements that do not require drivers to handle mobile phones while driving. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on distracted driving, road safety, commercial driver behaviour, occupational safety, road traffic injury prevention, health education, transportation safety, and public health in Nigeria by providing empirical evidence on the impact of distracted-driving education on mobile-phone use while driving among commercial drivers. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Road Safety Corps, Federal Ministry of Transportation, state transport authorities, commercial transport associations, transport companies, driver training institutions, road safety professionals, public health practitioners, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for reducing distracted driving. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening distracted-driving education, integrating mobile-phone safety into commercial driver training, improving enforcement of mobile-phone-use regulations, strengthening transport-company safety policies, promoting driver monitoring systems, and reducing preventable road traffic crashes and injuries associated with distracted driving across Nigeria.

Keywords: Distracted-driving education, mobile-phone use while driving, commercial drivers, distracted driving, road safety, road traffic injuries, driver behaviour, traffic safety, occupational safety, health education, injury prevention, transportation safety, public health, Nigeria.