Roadside observation of secondary school students’ commuting to school in Vientiane, Laos

Ichikawa, Masao; Nakahara, Shinji; Phommachanh, Sysavanh; Mayxay, Mayfong; Kimura, Akio · 2013 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/17457300.2013.843570

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Summary

This study investigates the commuting modes and unsafe driving practices of secondary school students in Vientiane, Laos, addressing the dual public health challenges of rising road traffic injuries and declining physical activity in rapidly motorizing low- and middle-income countries. With traffic fatalities in Laos increasing significantly and motorcycles involved in the majority of crashes, the authors sought to quantify how students travel to school and assess compliance with safety regulations, particularly regarding helmet use and underage driving. The researchers conducted a roadside observation at a public lower secondary school in central Vientiane during the morning rush hour (7:00–8:30) on a single day in December 2011. Using two video cameras positioned to capture traffic entering the school gate, they recorded the travel mode, gender, and safety behaviors of 544 students aged 11–14. Data collection focused on identifying whether students drove or rode as pillion passengers, helmet usage among drivers and passengers, and the number of riders per motorcycle. Inter-rater reliability was high, with Kappa statistics ranging from 0.91 to 0.97 for gender, age, and helmet use. The study also compared roadside observations with in-class attendance tallies to validate the data. The results indicated that walking was the most common mode of transport (43%), followed by motorcycle (36%), bicycle (14%), car (7%), and tuk-tuk (0.4%). Among the 195 students commuting by motorcycle, 23% drove themselves, while 77% were pillion riders. Of the pillion riders, 23% were driven by other children or students, and 77% by adults. Helmet use was critically low: only 3% of students and 7% of other children wore helmets, compared to 66% of adults. A significant disparity was observed where adult drivers often wore helmets while leaving student pillion riders unhelmeted. Additionally, overcrowding was frequent, with 31% of adult drivers carrying two or three pillion riders, violating local traffic laws that restrict motorcycle occupancy. The study concludes that unsafe commuting behaviors, including underage driving, lack of helmet use, and overcrowding, are widespread among secondary students in Vientiane. The authors highlight a specific vulnerability where children are exposed to greater risk than adults due to inconsistent helmet enforcement. They argue that current traffic regulations are largely ignored or unknown to the public. The findings underscore the urgent need for stricter enforcement of traffic laws, particularly regarding helmet use and driver age, as well as interventions to promote safer active commuting or public transportation options to mitigate both injury risks and physical inactivity.

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• passenger effects

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• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence