EFFECT OF ROAD DESIGN ON HAZARD ANTICIPATION BEHAVIOR AMONG MOTORCYCLISTS DURING MERGING IN TRAFFIC
Author: Muhammad Asyraf MOHD NOR HISHAM, Ammar ADNAN, Radin Zaid RADIN UMAR, Siby SAMUEL, Mohd Hanafi ANI, Malek HAMID
Abstract: Road accident is one of the top contributing factors for human fatalities around the world. Among the road users, motorcyclist is considered one of the most vulnerable road user group that contributed to a large number of road crashes. For this study, the focus is on the effect of merging road design on hazard anticipation behavior of motorcyclist during merging in traffic. The objectives are: (i) to evaluate hazard anticipation behavior among motorcyclist during merging into an urban expressway and; (ii) to evaluate the effect of merging road design on motorcyclists hazard anticipation behavior during merging into an urban expressway. An observational study was conducted in which three thousand-two hundred of motorcyclists were observed at sixteen scenarios locations – eight scenarios for each straight and curved road. Dependent variable for this study was the percentage of hazard anticipation behavior performed by motorcyclist. If a motorcyclist turns his or her head towards the target zone while in the launch zone, he or she was scored 1, else 0. Overall, only 46.5% of motorcyclists do practise safe riding behavior by anticipating hazard during merging in traffic [χ2 (1) = 15.680, p = < 0.0001]. Comparing the motorcyclists’ hazard anticipation between the straight and curve merging road, it was found that motorcyclists tend to anticipate hazard less at the straight road [M=29.94; SD=1.16] than at the curve road [M=63.69; SD=17.50], and the difference is significant [t (8)-3.68, p=0.02]. These findings suggest that the merging road design does affect motorcyclists’ hazard anticipation performance, and it can be recommended to the road construction authority in designing future merging road. In addition, because the percentage of hazard anticipation among the motorcyclists can be considered as low (46.5%), thus, a recommendation can be made to the respective authority to improve the current riding education program such as to promote and provide more information about hazard anticipation.
Keywords: Hazard Anticipation, Merging Road, Motorcyclists, Expressway, Observational Study, Road Safety