Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

An analysis of Malaysia road traffic death distribution by road environment

  • Published:
Sādhanā Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Various initiatives, strategies and programmes have been taken by the Government of Malaysia to resolve issues pertaining to road traffic deaths. Nevertheless, the implementation of the programmes outlined in Malaysian Road Safety Plan 2006 needs to be enhanced in order to achieve the set targets. In this regard, it is imperative for all parties concerning road safety to determine the factors that significantly contribute to road traffic deaths. According to the Ministry of Works, Malaysia, the blackspot treatment programme (which is centred on the elimination of road hazards by engineering approaches) is successful in reducing the number of injuries due to road traffic accidents up to a certain extent. This study is focussed on analysing road traffic deaths caused by various road environment elements recorded by the police from 2000 to 2011 in order to determine their distribution, proportion and relationship with fatal accidents. The Chi-square test and Marascuilo procedure with 5% level of significance are used in this study. Based on locality, the number of road traffic deaths in rural area (66%) is significantly higher compared with that in urban areas (34%). Based on road category, the number of road traffic deaths is the highest for federal roads, whereas the highest rate of fatalities per kilometre is recorded for expressways. Based on road segment, the number of road traffic deaths is the highest for straight road segments, followed by bends. In addition, the number of road traffic deaths is the highest for Y/T junctions, followed by cross junctions. The lowest number of road traffic deaths is recorded for interchanges and roundabouts. The results show that only 11.25% of the total road traffic deaths are related to road defects. The highest proportion of deaths due to road defects (48.6%) is associated with lack of street lighting provision, whereas road shoulder edge drop-off and potholes contribute 15.4% and 11.2% of road traffic deaths, respectively.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. AASHTO 2010 Highway safety manual. Washington, DC: AASHTO

    Google Scholar 

  2. Austroads 2002 Road safety audit, 2nd edn. Sydney, NSW: Austroads

    Google Scholar 

  3. Azwan E A and Amirullah Z S M 2009 Low cost countermeasure at accident blackspots: Malaysian experience. In: Proceedings of the 13th REAAA Conference, September 23–26, 2009, Incheon City, Korea

  4. Clark D E and Cushing B M 2004 Rural and urban traffic fatalities, vehicle miles, and population density. Accident Anal. Prev. 36(6): 967–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Crawford T and McGrowder D 2008 Road traffic injury epidemic in Jamaica: implications for governance and public policy. Asian Soc. Sci. 4(10): 182–191

    Google Scholar 

  6. Das A and Abdel-Aty M 2010 A genetic programming approach to explore the crash severity on multi-lane roads. Accident Anal. Prev. 42(2): 548–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Department of Statistics 2001–2012 Statistic yearbook Malaysia 2000–2011. Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics Malaysia, Prime Minister’s Office

  8. Department of Statistics 2010 Statistics on cause of death, Malaysia, 2008. Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics Malaysia, Prime Minister’s Office

    Google Scholar 

  9. Department of Statistics 2011 Population statistics. Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister’s Office

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dumbaugh E 2006 Design of safe urban roadsides: an empirical analysis. Transport. Res. Rec.: J. Transport. Res. Board 1961: 74–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Elvik R, Alena Høye A, Vaa T and Sørensen M 2009 The handbook of road safety measures, 2nd edn. UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. Glennon J C 2005 A primer on roadway pavement edge drop offs. Website: <http://www.crashforensics.com/papers.cfm?PaperID=26>

  13. HPU 2012 Road traffic volume Malaysia 2011. Kuala Lumpur: Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works Malaysia

  14. Isebrands H N, Shauna L, Hallmark M, Li W, McDonald T, Storm R and Howard P 2010 Roadway lighting shows safety benefits at rural intersections. J. Transport. Eng. 136(11): 949–955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jones A P, Haynes R, Kennedy V, Harvey I M, Jewell T and Lea D 2008 Geographical variations in mortality and morbidity from road traffic accidents in England and Wales. Health Place 14(3): 519–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mani K K C, Yusoff M F M, Umar R, Melhuish C, Ross A and Goodge M 2005 The cost of road accident in Malaysia. Accident Costing Report AC 5. Malaysia: Asian Development Bank-Association of Southeast Asian Nations

  17. MoT 2010–2012 Transport statistics Malaysia 2009–2011. Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Transport Malaysia

  18. NIST/SEMATECH 2014 e-Handbook of statistical methods. Website: <http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/>

  19. O’Cinneide D and Troutbeck R J 1995 At-grade intersections: Worldwide review. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design Practices, Transportation Research Board, August 30–September 1, 1995, Boston, Massachusetts

  20. PDRM 1991–2012 Annual road accident statistics report 1990–2011. Kuala Lumpur: Royal Malaysian Police

  21. Rakauskas M E, Ward N J and Gerberich S G 2009 Identification of differences between rural and urban safety cultures. Accident Anal. Prev. 41(5): 931–937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Travis L L, Clark D E, Haskins A E and Kilch J A 2012 Mortality in rural locations after severe injuries from motor vehicle crashes. J. Safety Res. 43(5–6): 375–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Vernon D D, Cook L J, Peterson K J and Michael Dean J 2004 Effect of repeal of the national maximum speed limit law on occurrence of crashes, injury crashes, and fatal crashes on Utah highways. Accident Anal. Prev. 36(2): 223–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. WHO 2004 World report on road traffic injury prevention. Geneva: World Health Organization

    Google Scholar 

  25. WHO 2009 Global status report on road safety: time for action. Geneva: World Health Organization

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wilmot C G and Khanal M 1999 Effect of speed limits on speed and safety: a review. Transport Rev. 19(4): 315–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Yannis G, Antoniou C and Evgenikos P 2010 Comparative analysis of junction safety in Europe. In: Proceedings of the 12th WCTR, July 11–15, 2010, Lisbon, Portugal

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Transportation Research, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Yusria Darma, Mohamed Rehan Karim & Sulaiman Abdullah

  2. Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Syiah Kuala, 23111, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

    Yusria Darma

Authors
  1. Yusria Darma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohamed Rehan Karim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sulaiman Abdullah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yusria Darma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Darma, Y., Karim, M.R. & Abdullah, S. An analysis of Malaysia road traffic death distribution by road environment. Sādhanā 42, 1605–1615 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-017-0694-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-017-0694-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation