Preliminary analysis of motorcycle accidents: Short-term impacts of the running headlights campaign and regulation in Malaysia.
Abstract
A preliminary investigation of motorcycle fatalities showed that riding a motorcycle is 17 times more dangerous than driving a passenger car. About 50% of motorcycle accidents in Malaysia occur at junctions and 38% of incidents involve other vehicles crossing motorcycles' paths. In most cases, motorcycles are found to be moving straight ahead. Daytime accidents constitute about 73% of the motorcycle accidents and about two-thirds of the riders involved in multiple accidents are on their right-of-way.
Based on this analysis, improved motorcycle conspicuity was proposed, and a nation-wide \"running headlight\" Campaign and Regulation were implemented in July and September, 1992, respectively. Detailed analysis on the impact of running the headlight campaign and regulation in the districts of Sereban and Shah Alam revealed that there had been a sizeable drop (6.9%) in multiple vehicle-day time motorcycle accidents in the study areas. The percentage of riders switching on their lights increased sharply just after the campaign and remained at about 82% by the end of 1992. Conspicuity-related accidents while motorcycles are going straight or turning on the right of way, MSTOX, were found to have dropped significantly immediately after the campaign by about 22%. Statistical tests done before and after the campaign confirmed that the \"running headlight\" Campaign and Regulation had a significant impact (p
Citation
Radin Umar, R.S.; Mackay, G.M.; Hills, B.L. Preliminary analysis of motorcycle accidents: Short-term impacts of the running headlights campaign and regulation in Malaysia. Journal of Traffic Medicine (1995) 23 (1) 17-28.