A Comparative Study of Riding Behavior of Methamphetamine and Methadone Abuser Motorcyclist with Normal Motorcyclist in Tehran

  Accidents are one of the global concerns in public health. About 1.24 million people die in traffic accidents annually. Road accidents are the leading cause of years of life lost in Iran and motorcyclists are the riskiest group of road users. Drug abuse is one of the main causes of road traffic accidents and motorcycling is more popular in drug abusers. So, this study was conducted to compare the riding behavior of normal and drug abuser motorcyclists.

This historical cohort was performed in 411 motorcyclists in 3 study groups: 100 methadone consumer motorcyclists, 100 methamphetamine consumer motorcyclists, and 211 normal motorcyclists. The participants in three groups were matched for age and area of residence. A motorcycle riding behavior questionnaire was used to collect the data. Then, the collected data were analyzed with the SPSS (V-20) software using descriptive and analytic statistics. Multivariate linear regression was applied for statistical analysis.

There was a significant difference in the riding behavior score between normal motorcyclists and methamphetamine user and methadone user motorcyclists (P<0.0001), but the difference between drug user motorcyclists was not significant (P=0.292). The most frequent violation in all three groups was speeding.

the results showed speeding was the most frequent violation in all three groups followed by traffic errors. It was found that drug abuse (methamphetamine and methadone) could have an impact on motorcyclists’ riding behaviors as it could increase the riding behavior score in drug user motorcyclists compared to normal motorcyclists.