Citation

Yadav AK, Choudhary SS, Pawar NM, Velaga NR. Int. J. Inj. Control Safe. Promot. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17457300.2022.2112235

PMID

35972894

Abstract

Mobile phone distraction is a significant contributor to pedestrian injuries. However, mobile phone engagement among pedestrians has been scarcely explored in a developing country like India. The present study utilized the beliefs-based theory of planned behaviour to examine the association between pedestrian beliefs towards distracted walking (behavioural, normative, and control) and their mobile phone use frequencies. Based on a survey of 560 pedestrians (64.6% males), it was found that the major use of mobile phones was for listening to music (30.7%), followed by receiving a call (25%), making a call (18.9%), texting (9.8%), navigation (8.5%) and internet browsing (7.1%). A series of multivariate ANOVAs and logistic regression models were developed to investigate the relationships between the beliefs and frequencies of mobile phone use in hands-free and hand-held conditions. Significant multivariate differences were found for behavioural and normative beliefs in hands-free conditions and all three types of beliefs in hand-held conditions. The frequency of mobile phone use was significantly predicted by normative beliefs (p < 0.001) in the hands-free condition, and by behavioural (p = 0.041) and normative beliefs (p = 0.004) in the hand-held condition. The findings may assist the road safety countermeasures in addressing the issue of pedestrian distraction.

Language: en

Keywords

mobile phone; Beliefs; distracted pedestrians; theory of planned behaviour