Working and health conditions of accident free and accident repeater taxi drivers in Singapore

Abstract

A study was conducted on the working conditions and health status of 256 male taxi drivers. One hundred and twenty-two of these drivers were accident free for the preceding 15 months, while the remaining 134 drivers had three or more reported accidents within that same period. No differences in age, ethnic group, education level, hours of work or distance travelled were found between the two groups of drivers. The drivers studied worked an average of 65 hours and travelled 1,560 kilometres per week. The prevalence of raised blood pressure readings was 27% and that of glucosuria was 15%. A significantly higher prevalence of undiagnosed high blood pressure was noted among the accident repeater drivers. Twenty-one per cent of the drivers studied had poor visual acuity, and this was more prevalent among the older drivers. Common symptoms among the taxi drivers were musculoskeletal complaints (42%) (especially low backache (29%), and cervicobrachial ache (13%)) and sleeplessness (11%).