Mobile phone related crashes among motorcycle taxi drivers

Abstract In many countries, motorcycle taxis remain an important mode of travel due to their fast, flexible, and inexpensive service. The recent advent of ride-hailing services has led to dramatic growth in the fleet of motorcycle taxis and additional types of motorcycle taxi drivers. Furthermore, mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle is an emerging safety issue, particularly among ride-hailing motorcycle taxi drivers. This paper investigates mobile phone use while riding, crashes and mobile phone related crashes among ride-hailing, traditional, and hybrid motorcycle taxi drivers, using data from a survey in Hanoi, Vietnam. Results show that ride-hailing motorcycle taxi drivers had the highest prevalence of mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle taxi (95.3%), followed by hybrid (88.6%) and traditional taxi drivers (64%). Approximately 32.6%, 19.3%, and 9.7% of motorcycle taxi drivers reported being involved in a crash, injury crash, and mobile phone related crash respectively. Mobile phone related crashes represent 20.5% of all reported crashes. Logistic and negative binomial regression were used to explore factors influencing mobile phone use while riding and crash frequencies. Regression results indicate that ride-hailing taxi drivers were more likely to be involved in a mobile phone related crash. Delivery trips were found to be associated with increases in crashes whereas passenger trips were found to be associated with decreases in crashes. Policy implications are also discussed.