ABSTRACT
Background: Alcohol has been reported to be frequently used among commercial drivers in western societies. The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of alcohol use among long distance commercial drivers in Benin City.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among commercial drivers from randomly selected parks in major local government (Egor, Oredo and Ikpoba Okha) in Benin City. Data was collected using a well-structured, questionnaire developed from previous literatures review. The instruments consist of different parts, namely demographic; prevalence of use of alcohol and reasons for alcohol use, analysis was mainly descriptive.
Results: Majority (83.78%) used alcohol. Most of the reported alcohol used was spirit (67.57%), beer (15.54%). Those (77.7%) with income rate less than N50,000 tends to consume spirit while those (9.5%) with income rate of N100,000 and above tends to consume more of beer. Less than half (42.6%) of the respondents reported to have injured as a result of drinking.
Conclusion: The findings of the study demonstrated that large population of drivers consume alcohol prior to driving and this has negative impact on the safety and health status of the drivers. It should be recommended that the sale of alcohol in the bus parks should be prohibited and defaulters should be punished.
