Author(s)

Ghislain Emmanuel Sopoh¹, Akouété Nicolas Gaffan², Charles Sossa-Jérôme³, Alphonse Kpozèhouen², Yolaine Glèlè-Ahanhanzo²

¹Health and Environment Department, Regional Institute of Public Health, Ouidah, Benin.
²Multidisciplinary Research Unity for Road Crashes Prevention (ReMPARt), Department of Epidemiology and Bio-statistics, Regional Institute of Public Health, University of Abomey-Calavi, Ouidah, Benin.
³Department of Health Promotion, Regional Institute of Public Health, University of Abomey-Calavi, Ouidah, Benin.

Background: In Benin, motorcycle taxi drivers make up a significant portion of road transport. The use of psychoactive substances, a behavior recognized as being at risk of road crashes, is frequent in this group. This study aimed to analyze the association between the consumption of psychoactive substances and the occurrence of road crashes among motorcycle taxi drivers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 430 motorcycle taxi drivers selected from motorcycle taxi stands in Cotonou (Benin) using a two-stage cluster sampling technique. An interview with a structured questionnaire was used to collect data, which took place in March and April 2019. Alcohol, tramadol, and tobacco were the psychoactive substances considered in this study and their daily use was investigated. A binary logistic regression was used for the analysis. Results: Among the motorcycle taxi drivers surveyed, 27.79% (95% CI = 23.71 - 32.25) were involved in a road crash. The prevalence of psychoactive substances daily use was: 30.41% (95% CI = 26.17 - 35.00) for alcohol, 28.50% (95% CI = 24.37 - 33.02) for tramadol and 4.03% (95% CI = 2.51 - 6.42) for tobacco. Alcohol daily consumption (AOR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.27 - 3.45, p = 0.004) was associated with a significant risk of road crashes. Conclusion: Interventions aiming to reduce psychoactive substances use should, therefore, be included in road safety policies, especially for this group.

Road Crash, Psychoactive Agent, Health at Work, Benin

Sopoh, G. , Gaffan, A. , Sossa-Jérôme, C. , Kpozèhouen, A. and Glèlè-Ahanhanzo, Y. (2021) Alcohol, Tobacco and Tramadol Daily Consumption and Road Traffic Crashes among Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Cotonou (Benin). Open Journal of Epidemiology, 11, 433-445. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2021.114035.