The Effect of Road Characteristic on Motorcycle Fatal Crashes Involving Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV): A Case Study in Malaysia

Abstract

Road characteristic is one of the main contributing factors for fatality to the motorcycle when involve in heavy goods vehicles (HGV) crash. In particular, the studies related to HGV and motorcycle crashes have been relatively limited and there are few studies on road characteristics. This article provides eight road characteristics that were identified in the crash between HGV and motorcycle in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to analyse the severity of a motorcycle crash when it is involved in an HGV crash in order to identify the contributing road factors of the crashes and to build a base for future research to improve Malaysian road conditions. The objective of this study is to exhibit the trend and identify the road characteristic for motorcycle-HGV crashes in Malaysia. The data of road crashes for the past three years was analysed using descriptive analysis and simple logistic regression analysis. The result reveals that the crash is more likely to occur on smooth surface and flat condition. Following the finding from simple logistic regression analysis, the corrugated surface and slope condition has more odds than the smooth surface and flat condition. Therefore, the outcomes of the result presented here need further analysis to identify the road characteristic and establish a prediction model. This finding will help in filling the gap for the research on road characteristic variable involve with the HGV crash.