Motorcycle Helmet Wearing Behavior among Naresuan University Students - พฤติกรรมการสวมหมวกนิรภัยสำหรับรถจักรยานยนต์ของนิสิตมหาวิทยาลัยนเรศวร

Abstract

         Helmets were reported to be an effective equipment to reduce the severity of head injuries in motorcycle-related accidents. This cross-sectional preliminary study was carried out to survey (1) helmet wearing behavior among Naresuan University students and (2) their opinions regarding measures to encourage helmet wearing behavior. The survey tool was a self-administered questionnaire. The sample was 224 students. The data were collected between February and March of 2010 and analyzed by descriptive statistics. The results indicated that, during the past six months the majority of Naresuan University students never wore, or wore helmet sporadically such as when traveling long distance or when spotting the police. Very few reported wearing helmets whenever they traveled on motorcycles. The reasons given for not wearing helmets were traveling short distance for example within the campus; physical discomforts; and unnecessary. More than half of the sample agreed with compulsory helmet wearing on campus. In addition, they proposed various measures to encourage helmet wearing behavior such as providing helmet storages, providing standard helmets to students at reasonable price, and educating students about the importance of wearing helmets. For this reason, the university should consider multi-faceted approach to increase the rate of helmet wearing among students.