Factors affecting compliance with the non-smokers' health protection Act B.E.2535: A Case study of taxi cars

Public environment is an important issue for smoking regulation due to the concern of health equity. About 50-60 percent found that public car drivers have risky behavior such as smoking and alcohol drinking which shows that smoking in public transports causes harmful effects to others from exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS). The aim of this present study was to study personal factors, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and smoking experiences of drivers or passengers and to investigate the correlation between factors and the compliance with the Non-Smoking Health Protection Act B.E. 2535 in drivers and taxi passengers. The data were obtained from self-administered questionnaires responded by 450 taxi drivers and 250 passengers. Statistical analyses were performed for descriptive statistics (demographic data, smoking-related knowledge and attitudes) and Pearson correlation analysis for different factors and smoking behaviors. The results showed that the majority of questionnaire respondents have a sufficient knowledge in law on smoking prohibition and a greater knowledge on harmful effects of smoking. The analysis of factors affecting legal compliance, it is found that attitude to the dangers of smoking was statistically significant (p <0.030) in taxi drivers while smoking behavior of passengers was significantly affected the compliance with the Non-Smoking Health Protection Act (p = 0.001). For further smoking control regulation, the governmental legislation on anti-smoking in public vehicles should be continued. The knowledge of harmful health outcomes associated with smoking should also be promoted to change the attitude toward public smoking.