Introduction to road safety

This is a brief lecture note on Introduction to Road Safety Engineering.

1. By Kamarudin Ambak, Ph.D

2. Road Safety is a Global Problem:
An Overview
 First death in a motor vehicle crashed was in
London 1896.
 Since then, it was estimated 30 millions lives.

4. Population, road traffic deaths
a
, and registered motorized vehicles,
by income group
Source : WHO, 2008

5. Source : WHO,2004

6.  1.2 million person are killed annually in road
accidents worldwide
 20 to 50 million person injured annually in road
accident worldwide
 Developing countries 20 – 200 deaths per
10,000 motor vehicles
 Developed countries 2 – 5 deaths per 10,000
motor vehicles
 Cost of accidents in developing countries is 1% - 2%
of the Gross Domestic Product
Source : World Bank & WHO

7. Huge loss in economy = 1.5% GDP in country
Statistical life of Malaysian Motorists
RM 1.2 million (Nor Ghani et al. 2011)
6,745 fatality x RM 1.2 million

8. Fatalities Road in Some Countries
190.00
185.00
140.00
48.00
32.50
15.20
9.108.40
5.445.305.175.074.302.811.901.811.80 1.441.80
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
160.00
180.00
200.00
Eu to ph i a
Afri ca n Re p ul i c
In d ia
C hi n a
Pa kist an
Tu rki
In d on e sia
Th a il a nd
Sw ize rl an d
Be lg i um Ma la ysi a
It al y
Si ng a po re
Ja pa n
U SA
Fi n la n d
Gre a t Bri ta i n
Ge rma ny
N ew Z ea l an d
Fatalities/10,000 vehs Data: 2001

9. Some Road Accidents Picture

10. Road Accidents

11. Road Accidents

12. Road Accidents

13. Road Accidents Statistic in Malaysia

14. Road Fatality Statistics in Malaysia 0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000
25000000
1 99 1 1 99 2 1 99 3 1 99 4 1 99 5 1 99 6 1 99 7 1 99 8 1 99 9 2 00 0 2 00 1 2 00 2 2 00 3 2 00 4 2 00 5 2 00 6 2 00 7 2 00 8 2 00 9 2 01 0 2 01 1
Year
Vehicle Registration
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Road Fatalities
Source : (PDRM,2012)

15. 1996 7,686,684 60,734 189,109 6,304 8.20 29.8 40.4
1997 8,550,469 63,382 215,632 6,302 7.37 29.1 36.3
1998 9,141,357 63,382 211,037 5,740 6.28 25.3 30.9
1999 9,929,951 64,981 223,166 5,794 5.83 25.5 28.7
2000 10,589,804 64,981 250,417 6,035 5.70 26.0 28.0
2001 11,302,545 64,981 265,175 5,849 5.17 25.1 25.5
2002 12,068,144 64,981 279,237 5,887 4.88 25.3 24.0
2003 12,868,934 71,814 298,651 6,282 4.88 25.1 24.0
2004 13,801,297 71,814 326,815 6,228 4.51 24.3 22.2
2005 14,816,407 72,400 328,268 6,200 4.18 23.7 20.6
2006 15,790,732 72,400 341,252 6,287 3.98 23.6 19.6
General Road Accident Statistics and Fatality Index in Malaysia
Year Vehicles Registered Road
Length
(Km)
Number of Fatality Index
Accidents Death Per 10,000
Vehicles
Per 100,000
Population
Per Billion
VKT
Radin Umar, 2007

16. Accident Record From 2002 to 2011
Source : (PDRM,2012)
Road Accident/Casualties in Malaysia
Year
Number of Registered
Vehicles
Total
Number of
Road
Accident
Casualties
Death Serious Minor
2002 12,068,144 279,711 5,891 8,425 35,236
2003 12,819,248 298,653 6,286 9,040 37,415
2004 13,764,837 326,815 6,228 9,218 38,645
2005 14,733,585 328,164 6,200 9,395 31,417
2006 15,790,73 341,252 6,287 9,253 19,885
2007 16,813,943 363,319 6,282 9,273 18,444
2008 17,733,084 373,071 6,527 8,868 16,879
2009 18,933,237 397,330 6,745 8,849 15,823
2010 20,006,953 414,421 6,872 7,781 13,616
2011 21,311,630 449,040 6,877 6,328 12,365

17. With average 6,000 Deaths (road
accidents) in Malaysia per year = 20
Jumbo Jet Crashed/year!!!!
Can We Imagine???

18. “Human Error is the main cause of Road Accident
in Malaysia”
 40% of the road accident were caused by the
following the cars in front closely,
 26% were due to dangerous cornering,
 13% were due to dangerous overtaking,
 12% were due to over speeding!
Source : Road Tranport Department of Malaysia

19. 0.48
4.06
2.83
22.83
8.71
61.09
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Bus DriverLorry DriverCyclist Car DriverPedestrianMotorcyclist
Road Users
Road
Fatalities ( %) (PDRM,2012)
Casualties by Type of Road User

20. Road Accidents
feeling of sorrow
and grief to loved
ones
Physical pain and
disfigurement
Congestion, travel time
delay on road and
inefficiency of logistic
services
Physical disabilities
Governments will have to
bear the costs of accidents
Financial
problems
ROAD ACCIDENTS: HOW
THEY AFFECT US

22. HUMAN FACTORS include:
 Perceptual Error
- driver or pedestrian looks but fail too see
- distraction or lack of attention
- misjudgement of speed or distance
 Lack of Skill
- inexperience
- lack of jugdement
- wrong action and decision
 Manner of execution
- deficiency in actions (e.g too fast, closed
following etc)
- deficiency in behaviour (e.g reckless,
aggressive, etc)

23.  Impairement
- alcohol, drug
- fatigue, illness, emotional stress

 Adverse Road Design
- unsuitable layout and intersections design
- poor visibility due to layout
 Adverse Environment
- slippery road
- flooded surface
- lack of maintenance
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS include:

24.  Inadequate Road Furniture or Marking
- insufficient and/or unclear road signs
- poor street lighting

 Unexpected Obstructions
- roadworks
- parking vehicles
VEHICLE FACTORS include:
 lack of regular maintenance
- defective brakes
- tyre blowouts

25. There are some of the driver errors that lead to motor
vehicle accidents:
• Driving faster than the posted speed limits
• Failing to adjust driving for the road and weather conditions
• Turning left from the far right lane in multi-lane traffic
• Tailgating/ closed following behaviour
• Ignoring Stop, Yield, and other traffic signs
• Rushing through yellow and red traffic lights
• Neglecting to signal before turning

26. Cont’d;
• Talking on a mobile phone when driving
• Punishing other drivers for their driving errors (e.g
immediately changing lane)
• Always using high-beam headlights when approaching
oncoming traffic
• Driving when tired or emotionallly upset
• Avoiding routine car maintenance

27.  Is a structured approach to accident prevention and casualty reduction
both in the urban and rural area.
Road Safety Approach & Strategy
 This may be achieved by the following two approaches:
i) Accident reduction and prevention approaches
ii) Injury reduction approaches
 The accident reduction and prevention approaches involved;

REDUCTION – The application of appropriate road engineering and traffic
management schemes on hazardous location or “blackspot”

PREVENTION – The application of safety principles through road safety
auditing on existing road or new proposed road.

28. The injury reduction approaches involve:
application of appropriate safety policies, vehicle and road engineering,
medical & trauma management.
 These may be achieved by five strategies:
i) exposure control
ii) crash prevention
iii) behavior modification
iv) injury control
v) post-injury management
Road Safety Approach & Strategy

29. Road Safety Management & Strategy
There are at least four basic strategies for accident reduction through the
use of engineering countermeasures.

 Four strategies are:
i) Single site or blackspots treatment
ii) Mass action schemes
iii) Route action plans
iv) Area-wide schemes
Road Safety Approach & Strategy

30. Road Safety Management & Strategy
 Single Site Technique
 Mass Action Schemes
Based on identification of sites with higher than average number of
accidents. These approaches provide a technique for reducing
accidents at high risks sites.
The application of a remedy to locations or areas with a common
accident problem. Some example of these problems with the worst
accident records of wet skidding, on crest hills, pedestrians and
motorcycles.
Road Safety Approach & Strategy

31. Road Safety Management & Strategy
 Route Action Schemes
 Area-Wide Measure
The application of various treatments over a wide area of town/city.
Including traffic management and traffic calming in areas bounded
by links on a network or housing areas having higher accidents.
The application of remedies along a route with a high accident rate.
An example of this initiative is the provision of an exclusive
motorcycle lane along the Federal route F002 between Kuala
Lumpur and Klang.
Road Safety Approach & Strategy

32.  In 1990, The Cabinet Committee of Road Safety was formed to
formulate a national road safety target in reducing road accident
and fatalities. The earlier target was established to monitor the rates
of fatalities due to traffic accident which is commonly defined as
death within 30 days of following an accident per 10,000 vehicles.
NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY TARGET
 An earlier national road safety target was to reduce deaths rate
to 4 traffic accident deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles by the
year 2010. This target was based on the statistical model developed
by Road Safety Research Centre of Universiti Putra Malaysia
which predicted 9,127 deaths in year 2000 if the traffic continued
to increase at the continuing linear growth with 1989 as its base
year.

33. 1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
0
2
4
6
8
10
Ribu
Tahun
Kematian

Forecast (9,127)
Target
(6,389))
Actual Deaths
Death = 2289{exp
0.00007.Vehicle. Population.Road
} {exp
0.2073 Data Collection
System
}


Reduction
30%


FATALITY MODEL AND SAFETY TARGET
IN MALAYSIA
Radin Umar, 1998

34. In 2006, the National Road Safety Plan 2006-2010 was launched by
the Prime Minister. This Plan encompasses a total of nine strategies.
Among the strategies are early childhood safety education, electronic
enforcement, safety legislation, road engineering programs and
community based programs.
Strategic Plan for Road Safety 2006-2010
The objectives are to achieve the nation’s road safety goal, as follow:

(i) To reduce 52.4 per cent of deaths per 10,000 vehicles from 4.2 in 2005 to 2.0
in 2010;
(ii) To reduce deaths per 100,000 population from the existing 23 (2005) to 10
deaths;
(iii) To reduce deaths per billion VKT from the current 18 (2005) to 10 deaths.

37. Fatality per 10,000 Vehicles - Estimated and Projected (Years 1986-2010)

38. Deaths per 100,000 population in Malaysia

39. Deaths per Billion Vehicle-Kilometer Travelled in Malaysia

40. In order to objectively address the national safety targets, 15 KPIs were drawn up for the
following sectors:

1. Management of Road Safety
2. Road Accident and Injury Database
3. Road Safety Funding
4. Safe Planning and Design of Roads
5. Improvements to Hazardous Locations
6. Road Safety Education
7. Driver Training and Testing
8. Road Safety Campaigns

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of Road safety
9. Vehicle Safety and Standards
10. Traffic Legislation
11. Traffic Law Enforcement
12. Emergency Assistance to Road
Accident Victims
13. Road Safety Research
14. Road Accident Costing
15. Partnership in Road Safety

42. Event
Factors
Pre Crash Crash Post Crash
HUMAN Education
Campaign
Enforcement
Complaince to
Safety Devices
Skill of paramedic
and first
respondents
VEHICLE Type approval
Roadworthiness
Active Safety
Devices
Installation of
Passive Safety
Devices
Rescue tools
ENVIRONMENT Blackspot Program
Road Safety Audit
Forgiving Road
Furniture
Trauma centres
and management

44. Strategic Road Safety Intervention Program 2007-2010
Program % Intervention coverage Potential
reduction
No. of
death
invovled/
year
Expected
no. In
fatality
reduction
2007 2008 2009 2010
AES-speed
Cameras red light
Lane discipline
Helmet program
Rear Seat belt
Air bag
Driver training
RSE and CBP
M/cycle lanes
Black spot
Others
20
20
0
30
20
10
10
10
10
10
10
60
60
20
65
40
20
30
20
20
20
20
100
90
60
100
60
40
50
50
30
30
30
100
90
80
100
80
60
60
80
40
40
40
30
40
40
50
20
30
10
20
80
30
20
1400
150
150
1500
450
400
300
400
500
500
350
420
54
72
750
84
72
18
64
160
60
28
Total 6300 1278
Note: AES- Automatic Enforcement System, RSE- Road Safety Education,
CBP- Community Based Program

45. The “3E” Solution
 Education
 Enforcement
 Engineering

46. ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING
Road Accidents
 Education
• early childhood road training to initial
driver training.
• attitude changing programs
• road safety education in school
• exercises in pedestrian and cyclist safety
• driver training courses
• safety programmes for the eldery
• campaigns (anti-speeding, seatbelt,
helmet, drink driving etc)

47. ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING
Road Accidents
 Enforcement
• Based on Road Transport Act 1987/1999.
• Imposing traffic summons (drank drivers,
non-wearing seatbelt, helmet, speeding etc)
• enforcing speed traps
• speed limits on all roads
• Installation of automated speed cameras
for AES
• introduced public service as penalty

48. ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING
Road Accidents
 Engineering
• Technology changes to motor vehicles:
- automatic transmission
- visibility systems
- Anti-breaking systems
- injury attenuation systems (seatbelt, air bag, etc.

49. ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING
Road Accidents
 Engineering (cont’d)
• Road and traffic developments:
- Access control
- improved geometric design
- improved lighting and carriageway delineation
- improved road signing
- separation of vulnerable road user
- identify and treatment for a blackspots

50. Road Safety Signage

GENERAL INTRODUCTION ON TRAFFIC SIGNS
Traffic signs are installed to relay messages about the road system to
all road users. They comprise instructions for the road users to obey,
warnings of hazards which are not self evident, information about
highway route, directions, destinations and points of interest.

51. Road Safety Agency
PDRM, Traffic Branch

-To carry out enforcement activities regarding
Road Traffic Act 1987 & Road Traffic Ordinance
1958.
-To conduct road traffic accident investigation i.e
record, collection & reporting accident data.
-To implement road safety discipline among road
users through Ops Sikap, Ops Pacak.

52. HPU, Ministry of work

-Highway Planning Unit is under the Ministry of Work, Malaysia.
-The main functions & activity are:
To outline the policies for National roads / expressway network
that is efficient, economical and safe.
To conduct traffic census and studies to collect information
about route operation characteristics .
To collect and analyse accident data to identify accident-prone
areas and propose repairment measure concepts.
To conduct Enviromental Impact Studies for the planned road
projects.
To stipulate the direction of the Intelligent Transport System in
the country.

Road Safety Agency

53. JKR, Road Safety Unit

-Officially was established in 1997 as Road Safety Division,
then become Road Safety Unit under JKR Road Branch.
-The main functions are:
to carry out and coordinates Road Safety Audit to all road
projects.
to reviews and study on TIA report in term of safety
concern and the development.
to implement road safety programs
i. improve hazardous location
ii. Mass Action Plan program
iii. construction of motorcycle lane
to conduct accident forensic study at accident prone areas.

Road Safety Agency

54. Road Safety Agency
Road Safety Department, JKJR

-Established in 2007 under Ministry of Transport.

-JKJR is function as “One Stop Agency” with responsible:
to plans, research, developments, implementations and
coordination in all activities road safety involves education,
enforcement, environmental & engineering.

-To increase the awareness and understanding among road users
through inculcate and educate approach by:
i. media campaign (TV, radio, billboard etc)
ii. Road Safety Education in school
iii. Community Based Program, etc.
Road Safety Agency

55. Example of posters for campaign program

56. Example of Community Based Program

57. Road Safety Agency
Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research

-MIROS was established in 2007 under Ministry of
Transport.

-MIROS has three main Centre namely:
i. Road Engineering and Environment Research Centre ,
ii. Road User Behavioural Change Research Centre,
iii. Vehicle Safety and Biomechanics Research Centre.

- Also support by two other division; the Administration and
Finance Division and Publications & Knowledge
Management Division.

Road Safety Agency

58. Road Safety Agency
Function
 Conduct high impact research that will be translated into road safety
policies.
 Develop national objectives, policies, and priorities for the orderly
development and administration of road safety research.
 Enhance and increase knowledge based on new developments
issues related to road safety.
 Serve as an audit and accreditation agency in curriculum design and
standards on road safety.
 Propose evidenced based cost-effective interventions/ programmes.
 Serve as a repository of knowledge and linkage on road safety.
 Serve as a centre providing consultation and advice on road safety
issues.
Road Safety Agency