Evaluation Of Motorcyclists’ Hazard Anticipation Behavior At Unsignalized Roundbaouts: On-Campus Vs. Off-Campus

• Main Authors: Ahmad Rahman, Ahmad Hanif, Adnan, Ammar, Radin Umar, Radin Zaid, Samuel, Siby, Ani, Mohd Hanafi, Hamid, Malek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Human Factors And Ergonomics Society Malaysia (HFEM) 2017
• Subjects: T Technology (General); TE Highway engineering. Roads and pavements
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/20954/2/Paper-8-EVALUATION-OF-MOTORCYCLISTS-HAZARD-ANTICIPATION-BEHAVIOR-AT-UNSIGNALIZED-ROUNDBAOUTS-ON-CAMPUS-VS.-OFF-CAMPUS.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/20954/; http://hfem.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Paper-8-EVALUATION-OF-MOTORCYCLISTS-HAZARD-ANTICIPATION-BEHAVIOR-AT-UNSIGNALIZED-ROUNDBAOUTS-ON-CAMPUS-VS.-OFF-CAMPUS.pdf

Annually, more than 1 million teenagers and young adults died in road traffic crashes, and road traffic accident is one of the alarming causes of mortality rate in Malaysia. Motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable road users and this is mostly due to improper riding behavior. This study focuses on improper behavior – performance of the hazard anticipation – of motorcyclists when entering the roundabout. The objectives of this study were; (i) to evaluate the percentage of overall hazard anticipation behavior among motorcyclists during entering roundabouts; (ii) to compare the hazard anticipation behavior among motorcyclists during entering roundabouts with different road environment – on-campus vs. off-campus roundabouts. A naturalistic observation was done at eight scenarios – four at on-campus roundabouts and four at off-campus roundabouts. Dependent variable for this study was the percentage of hazard anticipation among motorcyclists before entering the roundabouts. If a motorcyclist anticipated hazards towards the target zone (the area which the potential hazard may merge) while in the launch zone (the area of two second before merge onto the roundabout). On average, only 54.5% of the motorcyclists anticipated the hazards, while the other 45.5% did not anticipated the hazards. The data was then analyzed by using the chi-square goodness of fit test. The null hypothesis – the equal performance – was rejected, χ2(1) = 6.480, p = 0.011. Comparing the effect of the road environment where the roundabouts are located, the result shows that there was a significant difference in the percentage of hazard anticipated for on-campus scenarios (M=30.75%, SD=13.28) and off-campus scenarios (M=78.25%, SD=11.18) conditions: t(6) = -5.474, p=0.002. Thus, the null hypothesis for this comparison – the equal performance – was rejected. This result suggests that location of the roundabout (either on-campus or off-campus) do effect the hazard anticipation behavior among motorcyclists. In general, these findings suggest that an improvement in the current riding education program is needed, as well as to facilitate more awareness program to promote concern on hazard anticipation among motorcyclists.