This study explored Cognitive effects of dialogic in-vehicular music communication on driving behaviours: emerging facts among commercial motorists in South-East, Nigeria. The study was orchestrated by the steady rise of road traffic accidents and deaths statistics in Nigeria. 416 participants whose ages ranged from 27 to 59 years with a mean age of 39.50 years and standard deviation of 5.40 were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Anchored on Distraction theory by Mitchell and MacDonald (2006), four research questions were answered using mixed method design while Pearson correlation statistics, thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze survey, interview and observational data respectively. The result indicated that the prevalence of dialogic in-vehicular music communication is high at 68.4% whereas the awareness of the dangers posed by dialogic in-vehicular music communication is low at 45.2% among commercial motorist in South-East, Nigeria. Whereas dialogic in-vehicular music communication positively and significantly correlated hazard prone driving behaviours at r(1, 321) = .39, p < .01, awareness of the dangers posed by dialogic in-vehicular music communication negatively and significantly correlated hazard prone driving behaviours at r(1, 321) = -.20, p < .01. The findings were also supported by the themes which emerged from the analysis of the in-depth interview and descriptive analysis of the observational schedule. Considering the dangers of the low awareness level of dialogic in-vehicular music communication among commercial drivers, there is the need to deepen education and sensitization of the public regarding the associated hazards.
Keywords: Commercial, Dialogic in-vehicular music communication, Distraction., Drivers, Transportation, driving, hazard prone behaviour
