Malaysia is listed as one of Asia's developing countries with high-road accidents rate. The accident involves the most between the motorcyclist and other vehicles such as a passenger car which is 17 times safer than the motorcyclist. Current research reveals that the three major forms of incidents in Malaysia are single-motorcycle incidents, passenger car crashes and cars–motorcycles crash. In general, the lack of accuracy of road geometric design, traffic volumes and overlapping movements of vehicles was the main cause of road accidents in Malaysia, which caused drivers to make mistakes and errors due to road geometric characteristics and traffic environments. However, during our recent COVID-19 pandemic, the traffic volumes are relatively low in the whole country as the government announces the movement control order in March 2020. The country was almost completely lockdown (people and vehicles' movements were controlled). In contrast with the reduction of the traffic volumes, the number of crashes shows relatively high numbers. This phenomenon can be derived so that other factors cause vehicle crashes and fatalities should be considered. Several factors related to road geometric such as lane width, shoulder width, access point, curve length and tangent length are considered in developing profiles of operating speed for motorcycles and cars formed of tangents and curves. The analysis of the geometric factors and traffic environments took place at federal road F0050 from 21 to 25 km in Johor, Malaysia. This study was carried out using GPS (DG-200) where the data (vehicles tracked movements) on the continuous speed profiles used a current method of analysis to determine the profiles of road design consistency for motorcycles and cars. The profiles are used to measure the importance index of the integrated design consistency model of the road. The model depends on parameters such as the confine region of speed profiles, average speed, and velocity deviation standard of the profiles. Therefore, a special software of ACAD was used to build the profile of the consistency model. The design accuracy of the speed profile in traffic and safety assessments are affected by the integrated-consistency model. The highest number of accidents has been identified at 24 km at F0050 based on the area design consistency where poor design is the integrated quality consistency model for car and motorcycle. The study shows that crashes and fatalities are not fully affected by traffic volumes but road design performances and driving behaviors.
As a government agency focusing on road safety research, MIROS has regularly involved in policy-making exercises which blend together the great understanding of technical, legislative and social framework. This paper recapped the development of a conceptual model of the Malaysian automotive ecosystem with special reference to car maintenance issues, particularly with regard to one of the NAP measures Gradual phase out of imported used parts and components. The methodology of the study was designed into two focus group discussions (FGD) and extensive literature reviews. Internal FGDs were conducted as the study precursor and external discussions involved other ministries and agencies reps. Extensive literature reviews include journals, proceedings, unpublished reports, as well as web-based sources. A conceptual model of the domestic automotive ecosystem is proposed in this paper together with the discussion on NAP measures and relevant future research within the models framework.
Traffic accidents at night are higher than in other periods, especially on a dark road. This study explores the impact of the dark road on driver behaviours when approaching a parked or slowed-moving vehicle at the front. An experiment was conducted on a racing track at night, with and without road lighting. Different sizes of obstacles were used to represent other vehicles as a lorry, a car, and a motorcycle. The results show that the obstacles can be detected by drivers much earlier with the help of road lighting, and they tend to increase their speed, probably preparing to overtake the obstacles.