The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012 No 126... · The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year...

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012: a Comparison with Previous Ops

Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January to 30 January 2012

MRR No. 126

Jamilah Mohd Marjan, PhDSharifah Allyana Syed Mohamed RahimWong Shaw Voon, PhD

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012: a Comparison with Previous Ops Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January 2012 to 30 January 2012 Editors: Jamilah Mohd Marjan, PhD Sharifah Allyana Syed Mohamed Rahim Wong Shaw Voon, PhD

_______________________________________________________________________________________MIROS © 2014. All rights reserved.

Published by:

Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) Lot 125-‐135, Jalan TKS 1, Taman Kajang Sentral, 43000 Kajang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Cataloguing-‐in-‐Publication Data

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012 : a Comparison with Previous Ops : Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January 2012 to 30 January 2012 / Editors: Jamilah Mohd Marjan, Sharifah Allyana Syed Mohamed Rahim, Wong Shaw Voon Bibliography: pages 58 ISBN 978-‐967-‐5967-‐50-‐4 1. Traffic accidents––Research––Malaysia. 2. Traffic safety––Research Malaysia. I. Jamilah Mohd Marjan. II. Sharifah Allyana Syed Mohamed Rahim. III. Wong, Shaw Voon. 363.1256

Printed by: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research

Typeface : Calibri Size : 11 pt

DISCLAIMER None of the materials provided in this report may be used, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or the use of any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from MIROS. Any conclusion and opinions in this report may be subject to reevaluation in the event of any forthcoming additional information or investigations.

The Evaluation of OPS Chinese New Year 2012: a Comparison with Previous Ops Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January 2012 to 30 January 2012

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Project Leaders and Contributors Project: Accident Scenario during CNY Project Leader: Sharifah Allyana bt Syed Md Rahim Project: Traffic Volume Project Leader: Nor Aznirahani Mhd Yunin Project: Speed Project Leader: Syed Tajul Malik Syed Tajul Arifin Project: Road Safety Advocacy Project Leader: Maslina Musa Project: Perception of Being Caught for Bus Drivers Project Leader: Nor Fadhilah Mohd Soid Project: Study on the Perception of Being Caught among Road Users Project Leader: Noradrenalina Isah Project: Seatbelt Use Among Vehicle Occupants in Selected Areas in Malaysia Project Leader: Mohamad Suffian Ahmad Project: Compliancy of Helmet Use Project Leader: Azzuhana Roslan Project: Overtaking Project Leader: Sharifah Allyana Syed Md Rahim

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012: a Comparison with Previous Ops Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January 2012 to 30 January 2012

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Table of Contents Page List of Tables vii List of Figures ix Acknowledgement xi Executive Summary xiii 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Accident Scenario during Ops CNY 2

2.1 Introduction 2 2.2 Hypothesis 2 2.3 Findings 3 2.3.1 General Evaluation 3 2.3.2 Evaluation by Type of Road User 4 2.3.3 Comparison between Ops CNY 2012 to Ops CNY 6

2011 and 2010 2.4 Summary 8

3.0 Traffic Volume 9

3.1 Introduction 9 3.2 Hypothesis 9 3.3 Findings 10 3.3.1 Average Daily Traffic Volume 10

3.3.2 Banning of Heavy Vehicles 12 3.4 Summary 13


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4.0 Specific Studies Related to the Ops 14

4.1 Speed 14 4.1.1 Introduction 14 4.1.2 Hypothesis 15 4.1.3 Findings 15 4.1.4 Summary 18 4.2 Road Safety Advocacy 18

4.2.1 Introduction 18 4.2.2 Hypothesis 19 4.2.3 Findings 19 4.2.4 Summary 24 4.3 Perception of Being Caught (POBC) among Bus Drivers 25

4.3.1 Introduction 25 4.3.2 Hypothesis 26 4.3.3 Findings 26 4.3.4 Summary 29 4.4 Study on the Perception of Being Caught (POBC) among 30

Road Users 4.4.1 Introduction 30

4.4.2 Hypothesis 31 4.4.3 Findings 31 4.4.4 Summary 37 4.5 Seatbelt Use among Vehicle Occupants in Selected Areas in 38

Malaysia 4.5.1 Introduction 38

4.5.2 Hypothesis 41 4.5.3 Findings 41 4.5.4 Summary 44 4.6 Compliance in terms of Helmet Use 44

4.6.1 Introduction 44 4.6.2 Hypothesis 45 4.6.3 Findings 45 4.6.4 Summary 49 4.7 Overtaking 49

4.7.1 Introduction 49 4.7.2 Hypothesis 50 4.7.3 Findings 50 4.7.4 Summary 52


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5.0 Conclusion 53 6.0 Recommendations 57 References 58 Appendices 60 Appendix A 60 Appendix B 61 Appendix C 65


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List of Tables Table 1 ANOVA output for total accidents, fatal accidents, fatalities and 8

motorcyclist fatalities Table 2 Traffic volume along the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia 11 Table 3 Mean speed 15 Table 4 Mean speed during the Ops 16 Table 5 Mean speed after the Ops 17 Table 6 Percentage of road users who exceeded the 80 km/h speed limit 17 Table 7 Other findings in relation to bahaviour change 22 Table 8 Analysis in bus drivers’ overall POBC for three main periods 27 Table 9 Comparison of bus drivers’ POBC for three main periods 27 Table 10 Analysis in bus drivers’ overall POBC for the two time periods 28 Table 11 Comparison of bus drivers’ POBC for two time periods 28 Table 12 Effectiveness of traffic enforcement methods conducted by 29

respective agencies Table 13 Comparison of mean scores POBC between the respective 29

enforcement agencies Table 14 Analysis in road users’ overall POBC during 2008 until 2012 32

Chinese New Year festival periods Table 15 Comparison of road users’ overall POBC between Ops for each 33

Chinese New Year (Years 2008–2012) Table 16 Comparison of overall POBC between motorists and motorcyclists 35 Table 17 Comparison of road users’ overall POBC during daytime and 36

at night Table 18 Comparison of enforcement visibility scores for the three periods 37 Table 19 Likelihood of driver’s seatbelt use status during and after the Ops, 43

as compared to before it Table 20 Relative risk of helmet use rate during Ops vs before and after Ops 46 Table 21 Chi-‐square analysis for illegal overtaking 52


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Table B1 List of media monitored by the monitoring agency 61 Table B2 Data collection period 63 Table B3 The respondents’ breakdown by ethnicity 64 Table C1 Numbers of occupants observed according to study phase and 66 type of occupant


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List of Figures Figure 1 Daily statistics for accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities during 4

Ops CNY 2011 Figure 2 Fatalities during Ops CNY 2012 by road user type 5 Figure 3 Fatalities and accident distributions by road type 6 Figure 4 Fatalities, motorcyclist fatalities and total accidents during Ops 7

CNY 2010, 2011, 2012 Figure 5 Overall traffic volume profile along the federal roads in Peninsular 10

Malaysia Figure 6 Comparison of overall heavy vehicle volume along federal roads in 12

Peninsular Malaysia Figure 7 Dosage of road safety information 20 Figure 8 Quantity of road safety messages received by respondents 21

throughout the three phases of data collection Figure 9 Level of awareness of road users between phases 22 Figure 10 Media exposure and behaviour change 24 Figure 11 Percentage of visibility of traffic enforcement at all locations 37 Figure 12 Nationwide seatbelt use rate (Overall) December 2008–June 2010 40 Figure 13 Overall seatbelt use rate among vehicle occupants during the 42

three periods of the Ops Figure 14 Helmet use compliance 46 Figure 15 Helmet use rate by user type 48 Figure 16 Use of full-‐type (open-‐face) helmet 49 Figure 17 Traffic volume by route number 51 Figure A1 Site with a speed limit sign 60 Figure A2 Site without a speed limit sign 60


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Acknowledgement Ops CNY 2012 involved the concurrence, cooperation and input from of several government agencies, non-‐governmental agencies and the private sector. The government agencies involved were the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), Ministry of Transport Malaysia, Ministry of Works Malaysia, Road Transport Department (RTD), Road Safety Department (RSD), Public Works Department (PWD), Malaysian Highway Authority, Seremban District Police Headquarters, Kedah Contingent Police Headquarters, Perak Contingent Police Headquarters, Negeri Sembilan RTD, Kedah State RTD, Perak State RTD, PLUS Expressways, MTD Prime Sdn Bhd, Kajang-‐Seremban Highway (LEKAS), South Intergrated Terminal, Klang Sentral Terminal Management, Hentian Putra Management, Hentian Duta Management, and Perbadanan Pengurusan Terminal 1 Seremban. The editors would like to express their gratitude to all these agencies and individuals for their invaluable time and the important role they played in shaping this comprehensive report. We are confident that this study will offer several compelling reasons for the continuation of the intervention strategies and to enhance road safety in our nation.


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Executive Summary The typical scenario in a multi-‐racial country like Malaysia is the exodus of residents out of the cities to the rural areas before and after any major festive seasons like the ‘Hari Raya’ or Eid Festival for the Malays/Muslims, the Chinese New Year celebration for the Chinese, Deepavali festival for the Indians and several other festivals for the other groups. Due to this increase of travellers during the festive seasons, the enforcement agencies like the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) and the Road Transport Department (RTD) increase their enforcement to ensure higher standards of safety on the road with lesser violations to the traffic rules from the road users. The Malaysian Institute of Road Research (MIROS) once again was given the task to evaluate the effectiveness of the operation. The integrated operation over the 2012 Chinese New Year celebration (Ops CNY 2012) took place between 16 January to 30 January. The objective of the Ops was to ensure that the safety on all roads including expressways before, during and after the festive seasons was maintained to the highest standards, amidst the anticipated increase in traffic on all road networks. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the operation, several researches were proposed to be conducted before, during and after the festive date. The research includes the speed study, media advocacy, the perception of being caught (POBC) among bus drivers and also road users, the rate of helmet use, the seatbelt use rate and road users who overtake at areas where overtaking is prohibited. The accident situation and traffic volume on federal roads were also monitored. The approach to enforcement this time around is different from the approach employed during Ops 24 for the 2011 Hari Raya. The strategy for the Ops CNY 2012 is to issue summonses to as many traffic violators as possible, unlike in the previous Ops whereby only the advocacy method was used.


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Generally, the total number of fatalities over the Ops CNY 2012 was only 168. The fatalities in the last two Ops CNY were 201 in 2010 and 199 in 2011. This shows a decreasing trend. Motorcyclist fatalities were also down from 136 in 2011 to 92 in 2012. It is also lower than the fatalities in Ops 21 in 2010, with 122 fatalities. This shows progress over the years. The level of behavioural change (cognitive, affective and conative) generally has shown an upward trend during the pre, during and post festive season. This can be attributed to the higher amount of road safety information provided throughout the period. The bus drivers responded more effectively to the RTD enforcement activities as compared to those conducted by counterparts from RMP and Land Public Transport Commissioner (LpTC). The POBC still remained at 56% in the daytime and 53% at night time. The POBC of road users were at 42.5%, 55.6% and 50.1% before, during and after the Ops CNY respectively. Whereas 52–61% of respondents viewed medium enforcement visibility on federal roads and expressways. However, both POBC and visibility of enforcement seemed higher during the Ops as compared to the before and after periods. The speed study shows that the 10 km/h reduction in speed on expressways, federal and state roads was not adhered to by the road users. Even with the Ops, more than 50% of drivers drove beyond the new speed limit of 80 km/h during the Ops period. The Ops had no effect on the behaviour of the road users in reducing speed. As for helmet use, there is no difference in the use in sub-‐urban and rural areas. The percentage of helmet use was not significantly higher during Ops, proving that the Ops do not have an effect in increasing the helmet use rate among motorcyclists. Likewise, the rear seatbelt use rates are still very low as compared to the rate of front seatbelt use. This is not expected to change unless strict enforcement is implemented. It is not possible to conclude that the Ops is effective in addressing all problems during the festive season. However, there must be a consistency in the enforcement activities if the behaviour of road users are to be changed.


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1.0 Introduction The Chinese New Year 2012 integrated operation (Ops CNY 2012) commenced on 16 January 2012 and ended on 30 January 2012. As opposed to the Ops Hari Raya 2011, the enforcement strategy for this current Ops CNY was not of advocacy, but to issue as many summonses as possible to road users who violated road traffic regulations. Every year, the number of fatalities during the Ops CNY period is lower than the fatalities that take place during the period of Ops Hari Raya. This year the fatalities during the Ops CNY period was 168, as compared to the fatalities of two previous Ops CNY in 2011 and 2010, at 199 and 201 respectively, which shows a decreasing trend. The fatalities during Ops Hari Raya 2011 and 2010 were 289 and 248 respectively. From this fact, it can be seen that the two festive seasons cannot be compared directly. This could be due to the simple reason that the vehicle kilometre travelled (VKT) during Hari Raya is higher than the VKT amassed during Chinese New Year. Other factors may also have to be determined for future Ops Hari Raya studies in order to understand and evaluate the higher number of fatalities that occur during the Hari Raya festival. The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) has carried out several studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ops CNY 2012. This includes speed study, the monitoring of media advocacy, and the perception of being caught (POBC) among bus drivers and road users. Helmet use rate among motorcyclists, seatbelt use rate and the illegal overtaking activities of road users were also evaluated.


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2.0 Accident Scenario during Ops CNY

2.1 Introduction

The accident data for the 15-‐day period of the Ops CNY 2012 was obtained daily from the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) website. The data gathered were total accidents, total fatal accidents, total fatalities, and total fatalities by vehicle type. The data collected within this period is considered as preliminary data as it may differ slightly from the data obtained officially from RMP at the end of the year. The preliminary data may be lower as compared to the official data obtained at the end of the year which includes all deaths within the 30 days instead of the daily data obtained during the Ops period. The vehicle type in the preliminary data is classified into nine main categories. The categories for vehicle types are car, motorcycle, pedestrian, lorry, bus, van, jeep, bicycle and others.

2.2 Hypothesis

The evaluation was performed to confirm the hypotheses below. • The number of fatalities during Ops CNY 2012 is lower than the data collected during

a 15-‐day-‐period of non-‐festive days in 2011. • The number of motorcycle fatalities during Ops CNY 2012 is higher than the data

collected during a 15-‐day-‐period of non-‐festive days in 2011. • The numbers of overall fatalities and motorcycle fatalities during Ops CNY 2012 are

lower than the numbers recorded during the Ops Raya 2011.


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2.3 Findings

2.3.1 General Evaluation

The numbers of total accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities distribution during the Ops CNY 2012 are shown in Figure 1. During this 15-‐day Ops CNY period, the total number of accidents recorded was 17,294. The total accident figure is in the range of 890 and 1,652 daily. The highest number of accidents was recorded on the fifth day of the Ops CNY 2012(1,652) which is conjectured as the day that most travellers started travelling back to their hometowns due to the long holiday in the following week. The high number of accidents on the fifth day of the Ops dropped slightly to 1,535 on the following day and further decreased and stayed below 1,200 accidents daily between the seventh day until the last day of the Ops. The lowest number of accidents was 890, which was recorded on the second day of CNY.

Meanwhile the total numbers of fatal accidents and fatalities during the Ops period were 155 and 168 respectively. The highest numbers of fatal accidents and fatalities were recorded on the first day of the Ops with 17 cases for both categories. Between 8 and 13 fatal accidents took place daily after the first day of the Ops, while the number of daily fatalities for the rest of the Ops period was between 8 and 15. The lowest number of daily fatal accidents and the lowest daily number of fatalities during this Ops period was recorded on 19 January, with eight fatal accidents which resulted in eight fatalities. In Figure 1 it could be observed that there were nine days during which the number of fatal accidents was equal to the number of fatalities. This indicates that each fatal accident only resulted in one fatality as compared to the other six days of the Ops.


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Figure 1 Daily statistics for accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities during Ops CNY 2011

2.3.2 Evaluation by Type of Road User

From a total of 168 deaths during this Ops, the road user group that is involved in the most road accidents and the resulting deaths is the motorcyclists with 54.8% of the overall number of fatalities. Figure 2 shows the number of daily fatalities by type of road users. Car occupants recorded the second highest fatality rate after motorcyclists; contributing to 31.0% of the overall fatalities. There were 11 fatalities among pedestrians, which is the third highest contributor to the statistics during the Ops. There was no fatality among taxi and other vehicles’ occupants recorded during these Ops.

Throughout the Ops CNY 2012, the highest number of fatalities for motorcyclists was recorded on the first day of the Ops with 10 fatalities. On the third and fourth days of the Ops there were only three motorcyclist fatalities recorded and this number is the lowest throughout the Ops period. However, on the third day, when motorcycle fatalities were at the lowest, the fatalities among car occupants were at the highest; at eight fatalities. There was no car occupant fatality on the twelfth day of the Ops.


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Figure 2 Fatalities during Ops CNY 2012 by road user type

Figure 3 indicates that the highest number of accidents and fatalities did not happen exclusively on a few types of roads only. A majority of these accidents occurred on municipal roads, 39.6% of the overall accidents; meanwhile federal roads recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 42.7% of the overall fatalities during the Ops. Both total accidents and fatalities were lowest on other types of roads. Only 11.4% and 12.5% of the total accidents and fatalities respectively occurred on expressways. Hence it can be concluded that federal roads are more dangerous to road users during the Ops seasons because the highest number of fatalities occurred there although the number of total accidents recorded was very much lower. Meanwhile accidents which occurred on municipal roads were less severe as compared to those that occurred on federal and state roads.


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Figure 3 Fatalities and accident distributions by road type

2.3.3 Comparison between Ops CNY 2012 to Ops CNY 2011 and 2010

The numbers of accidents, fatalities and motorcycle fatalities during Ops CNY 2010, 2011 and 2012 are shown in Figure 4. The total number of accidents for Ops CNY 2010 is 14,185. This figure is 21.9% less than that of Ops CNY 2011; 17,294. However there is a slight decrease of 1.5% in the total number of accident cases between Ops CNY 2011 and Ops CNY 2012. During the Ops CNY 2010 the number of fatalities recorded was 201; a reduction of two cases to 199 during Ops CNY 2011. Fatalities during the Ops CNY 2012 had decreased by 15.6% as compared to that of the Ops CNY 2011. Meanwhile, 122 motorcyclist fatalities were recorded during the Ops CNY 2010; an increase by 14 cases during the Ops CNY 2011. The figure later decreased tremendously by 32% to 99 cases during the Ops CNY 2012.

A one-‐way ANOVA test was performed to compare the mean difference of the three variables during Ops CNY 2012 to the two previous Ops CNYs (Table 1). The increase in the number of total accidents during Ops CNY 2012 as compared to the Ops CNY 2010 is

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statistically significant (p<0.05). In comparing the total number of accidents during the Ops CNY 2012 with Ops CNY 2011, the decrease in the total number of accidents was not found to be statistically significant (p>0.05). The motorcyclist fatalities reduction for Ops CNY 2012 as compared to Ops CNY 2011 was found to be statistically significant (p<0.10) but the reduction was not found to be statistically significant (p>0.10) as compared to Ops CNY 2010.

Figure 4 Fatalities, motorcyclist fatalities and total accidents during Ops CNY 2010, 2011, 2012

201 199

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122 136

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17294 17037

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Table 1 ANOVA output for total accidents, fatal accidents, fatalities and motorcyclist fatalities Variable Period Period Mean difference Significant Total accident Ops CNY 2012 Ops CNY 2011 -‐17.13333 .962

Ops CNY 2010 190.13333 .014 Fatal accident Ops CNY 2012 Ops CNY 2011 -‐1.86667 .421

Ops CNY 2010 -‐1.60000 .527 Fatalities Ops CNY 2012 Ops CNY 2011 -‐2.06667 .458

Ops CNY 2010 -‐2.20000 .414 Motorcyclist fatalities

Ops CNY 2012 Ops CNY 2011 -‐2.93333 .053 Ops CNY 2010 -‐2.00000 .242

2.4 Summary

The increase in the total number of accidents during Ops CNY 2012 is significant when compared to the number recorded during Ops CNY 2010 but there is a slight reduction as compared to Ops CNY 2011. Unlike the total number of accidents, there was a downward trend in the number of fatalities from Ops CNY 2010 to Ops CNY 2012. However the reduction was found not to be significant. Motorcyclist fatalities show a significant reduction (p<0.1) during Ops CNY 2012 as compared to Ops CNY 2010.


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3.0 Traffic Volume

3.1 Introduction

It is common for Malaysians to take advantage of the long break during the festive seasons to go back to their hometowns to visit their parents and loved ones. This tradition has generated high volume of traffic on all highways and major roads nationwide, creating higher exposure to accidents. Therefore, it is important to observe the traffic trend just before and during the festive seasons, in order to reduce the number of future crashes.

The data obtained for this study was provided by the Highway Planning Unit (HPU), the Ministry of Works. The data obtained for the analysis comprised the classified traffic volume along federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia for the period of 1 January until 30 January 2012. The vehicle count was performed on a daily basis based on the number of vehicles passing through counting stations located at various locations in the Peninsular Malaysia.

3.2 Hypothesis

The main objective of this study is to observe the effects of the festive seasons on the traffic volume trend especially the effectiveness of the policy of banning heavy vehicles. In this study the following hypotheses were tested. • There is an increase in traffic volume along federal roads during the Ops period as

compared to before Ops period. • The strategy of banning heavy vehicles during the Ops period is effective.


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3.3 Findings

3.3.1 Average Daily Traffic Volume

The traffic volume data along federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia was obtained. Figure 5 shows the overall classified traffic volume data on the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia. Class 1 vehicles, consisting of motor cars, taxis, small vans and utilities (light two-‐axles), were the biggest group of vehicles among the traffic fleet along the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia. There was an increase in traffic volume during the Ops CNY as compared to before the Ops. The variation in traffic volume during normal days and during the Ops period at each station is shown in Table 2.

Figure 5 Overall traffic volume profile along the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia


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Table 2 Traffic volume along the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia Region Station Period Average daily

traffic Difference in traffic volume

(%) Central PS 66 Normal day 12,668 6.20

During Ops 13,454 PS 69 Normal day 14,379 12.15



During Ops 11,017 Northern PS 48 Normal day 7,527 -‐3.12



During Ops 26717 PS 64 Normal day 11,294 26.76

During Ops 14,316 Southern PS 85 Normal day 11,002 30.18

During Ops 14,322 Eastern PS 94 Normal day 3,092 24.53





During Ops 19,860


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3.3.2 Banning of Heavy Vehicles

Heavy vehicles were banned from using the roads during two periods; on 21 and 22 January, and 28 and 29 January. Figure 6 shows the volume profile of heavy vehicles on the federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia, before and during the Ops.

According to the HPU vehicle classification, heavy vehicles were classified into two classes. Class 2 vehicles refer to lorries with heavy two axles and large vans, while Class 3 vehicles refer to heavy lorries with three axles and above; as well as buses.

It was observed that the volume of Class 3 vehicles showed no difference, whereas Class 2 vehicles showed a slight drop of 2% from 16 January to 30 January 2012. This indicates that the ban on heavy vehicles was not adhered to by most lorry companies that use the federal roads to travel.

Figure 6 Comparison of overall heavy vehicle volume along federal roads

in Peninsular Malaysia


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3.4 Summary

The evaluation of the traffic volume over the Ops period was only carried out on federal roads. No evaluation was performed on the expressways due to the unavailability of data from the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM). It was observed that there is an increase in the overall traffic volume during the Ops period along the federal roads. From the observation, it was also seen that the strategy of banning heavy vehicles during the period of 21 and 22 January, and 28 and 29 January was not effective, with only a 2% reduction observed in the total heavy vehicle volume, during the observation period.


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4.0 Specific Studies Related to the Ops

4.1 Speed

4.1.1 Introduction

As in during the previous Ops and festive seasons, the national federal and state road speed limit was reduced by 10 km/h. This study will evaluate the effects of the speed limit sign to the road user’s speed choice. The effect is determined by comparing speed profiles of sites with speed limit signs (SLS) with sites without a speed limit sign. The hypothesis of this study is that the presence of a speed limit sign has a significant effect on drivers’ speed choice. This study collects vehicle speeds for a period of two weeks during and after Ops CNY 2012. A total of seven study locations in the Peninsular Malaysia were identified. The locations are Kluang (F50), Kuala Selangor (F5), Kapar (F5), Alor Setar (F7), Alor Setar (F1), Lumut (F5) and Slim River (F1). All of the study locations are federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia. The locations were chosen based on past accident records obtained from the MIROS Road Accident Analysis and Database System (M-‐ROADS) location with 90 km/h posted speed limit. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the presence of a speed limit sign (SLS); and the lack of it on speed behaviour. Comparison of speed data during the two weeks’ period was then made to determine any significant speed changes on the speed profile. An analysis on speed limit compliance was also carried out to supplement this study.


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4.1.2 Hypothesis

The hypotheses for this study are as follows. • The mean speed at areas with speed limit signs is lower than the mean speed at

areas without a speed limit sign. • The mean speed during the Ops is higher than the mean speed after the Ops.

4.1.3 Findings

4.1.3.1 Speed During and After the Ops

Table 3 below shows the mean speed at all the study locations during and after the Ops. During the Ops, the national speed limit for federal roads was reduced from 90 km/h to 80 km/h which also included all these seven study locations.

Table 3 Mean speed Location During Ops (km/h) After Ops (km/h) Kluang 86 78 Kuala Selangor 89 85 Kapar 84 81 Alor Setar 80 78 Alor Setar 73 74 Lumut 85 85 Slim River 90 86 Overall 84 81

Generally, the mean speed results in Table 3 reveals that the speed during the Ops is higher compared to the speed after the Ops. A statistical analysis on the mean speed was then carried out to determine the significant difference in the speed during and after the Ops. From the statistical analysis, it was found out that generally, the mean speed during the Ops is significantly higher than the mean speed after the Ops (p < 0.05). This increase in the mean speed during the Ops could be attributed to the road users’ rush in reaching their destinations to celebrate Chinese New Year.


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4.1.3.2 Speed at Areas Without and With Speed Limit Signs

Tables 4 and 5 show a comparison of the mean speed between sites with SLS and without SLS during the Ops period. Generally, there is not much difference in the speed at the sites with SLS and sites without SLS. A statistical analysis which was carried out showed that the mean speed at sites with SLS and without SLS displays no significant difference (p > 0.05). This indicates that the speed limit signs have no significant impact on road users with respect to their speed behaviour. However, two sites consistently showed positive responses in terms of speed behaviour with the presence of SLS. These sites are Alor Setar (F7) and Slim River (F1). For both of these sites, the statistical analysis indicates that the location with SLS displays a significantly lower mean speed than locations without SLS.

Table 4 Mean speed during the Ops Location Without SLS (km/h) With SLS (km/h)

Kluang (F50) 89 83 Kuala Selangor (F5) 88 89 Kapar (F5) 86 83 Alor Setar (F7) 78 82 Alor Setar (F1) 66 78 Lumut (F5) 86 83 Slim River (F1) 89 92 Overall 83 84


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Table 5 Mean speed after the Ops Location Without SLS (km/h) With SLS (km/h)

Kluang (F50) 79 77 Kuala Selangor (F5) 86 85 Kapar (F5) 83 80 Alor Setar (F7) 76 79 Alor Setar (F1) 72 73 Lumut (F5) 84 85 Slim River (F1) 85 88 Overall 81 81

4.1.3.3 Percentage of Drivers Who Exceeded the Speed Limit

Additionally, speed compliance evaluation was also carried out. Table 6 shows the percentage of road users exceeded the speed limit (> 80 km/h) at all locations, during and after the Ops. Generally, 55% of the road users exceeded the speed limit during the Ops when the speed limit had been reduced to 80 km/h. Whereas only 23% of the road users drove over the speed limit after the Ops when the speed limit was increased back to 90 km/h.

Table 6 Percentage of road users who exceeded the 80 km/h speed limit Location Road users who exceeded

the speed limit during the Ops (%)

Road users who exceeded the speed limit after the

Ops (%) Kluang (F50) 61 18 Kuala Selangor (F5) 64 34 Kapar (F5) 58 29 Alor Setar (F7) 42 14 Alor Setar (F1) 21 4 Lumut (F5) 63 28 Slim River (F1) 76 34 Overall 55 23


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The highest percentage of road users travelling above the speed limit was recorded at Slim River. This may be due to the type of road in Slim River; dual carriageway road. Dual carriageway roads with more and wider lanes; and a physical separator encourage speeding and provide extra room for overtaking. On the other hand, Alor Setar shows the lowest percentage of road users who exceeded the speed limit. This may be due to the fact that the road at the location is a single carriageway road which usually inhibits speeding. There are some limitations to the study. One of the limitations is on the selection of the observation locations. It was found out that it is difficult to select the perfect observation spot due to differences in the road geometry at the study locations. In addition, it is challenging to conceal the data collection activity from road users and this may affect road users’ behaviour, which will then affect the results.

4.1.4 Summary

This study indicates that the presence of a speed limit sign has no significant effect on the road users’ speed choice. This study also shows that the speed during the Ops is significantly higher as compared to the speed after the Ops. This may be due to the fact that road users were in a rush to get to their destinations to celebrate Chinese New Year. This shows that the strategy of reducing the speed limit by 10 km/h during Ops CNY 2012 was not successful.

4.2 Road Safety Advocacy

4.2.1 Introduction

During this Chinese New Year period, many road safety interventions were conducted to raise awareness on road safety among road users. Interventions such as the visibility of enforcement activities, reduction of speed limit, seatbelt use, helmet use, the ban on goods vehicles from the road and advocacy campaigns are conducted specifically during festive seasons. These integrated interventions are conducted throughout the festive periods to provide a safer and more comfortable journey for road users.


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In addition, road users are always reminded through various mediums; especially the media to be safe on the road. This is where advocacy campaigns play their role. Advocacy campaigns act to remind and raise road safety awareness among road users. Advocacy campaigns come in various forms. It could be in the form of advertisement, news, articles, speeches, on-‐site campaigns, exhibitions, flyers or pamphlets distribution, banners and buntings, and many more. Like the previous festive seasons, during this Chinese New Year period, advocacy programmes were conducted to increase awareness on road safety among road users, with the aim of changing their behaviour. The advocacy programmes carried out, however, were too large to measure as they were carried out nationwide. Therefore, the scope of this study was narrowed down to cover only on the media coverage or the media dosage. This study also aims to learn how much the media coverage on road safety information reached the intended recipients and how much it affected the behaviour change. In short, this study aims to determine the effects of road safety information among road users during the Chinese New Year period. In order to measure its effect on road users, the dosage of road safety information is quantified and the awareness level among road users is identified. Data collection for this study was collected at two locations (Kampar, Perak and Melaka Tengah, Melaka) in three phases (before, during and after period) of Ops and a total of 400 respondents answered the questionnaires.

4.2.2 Hypothesis

• There is an increase in media exposure of road safety during the Ops period. • Media exposure increases the road safety awareness level (cognitive, affective and

conative) among road users.

4.2.3 Findings

The result in the following paragraph is based on the two methods of data collection conducted. In quantifying the dosage of road safety information, secondary data was also obtained.


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Figure 7 shows the dosage on road safety information throughout the study period. The graphs show that the highest dosage of road safety information was disseminated before the Ops with an average of 42.8 per day. The number declined by 16.4% during the Ops and continued to decrease by 33.2% after the Ops. The lowest number was recorded on 24 January during the Chinese New Year, due to some sections of the print media taking the day off from publishing.

Figure 7 Dosage of road safety information

To analyse the effects on road users’ behaviour, a questionnaire which asked questions on the road users’ exposure to road safety messages was distributed. The questions touch on six different issues namely seatbelt use, helmet use, speeding, misuse of the emergency lane, the running of traffic light and other road safety aspects. Figure 8 shows the percentage of respondents who received road safety messages based on the different issues. Comparison between the phases is also shown in the same figure whereby it shows that most of the respondents received a larger quantity of road safety messages during the Ops period.


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Figure 8 Quantity of road safety messages received by respondents throughout the three phases

of data collection

From the questionnaire, the statements provided in section B (refer to Appendix B) were then analysed to determine the effects of road safety information received. The statements are divided into three different stages of behaviour change; namely the cognitive (knowledge/awareness), affective (readiness to change) and conative (act of behaviour change). Figure 9 shows that for each stage of behaviour change (cognitive, affective, conative), there is an increase in score from before to after the Ops period. As the study shows that the conative level has the highest score, it indicates that road users do change their driving behaviour upon receiving information on road safety.

.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

Seat belt wearing

Helmet wearing

Speed Emergency lane

Bea`ng traffic light

Other road safety

messages

67.3

59.8

54.0

37.4

56.3

47.0

67.6

58.4 62.3

41.9

59.4

48.6

62.0 60.8 58.8

41.3

59.0

52.3

Percen

tage (%

)

Road Safety Messages Before During Aier


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Figure 9 Level of awareness of road users between phases

Apart from the overall positive change on road users’ behaviour, below are other interesting findings in relation to behaviour change.

Table 7 Other findings in relation to behaviour change No Statements Average mean

Before During After 1 Gambar-‐gambar kemalangan jalan raya yang

disiarkan menimbulkan rasa insaf agar lebih berhati-‐hati di jalan raya.

7.91 7.78 8.22

2 Apabila saya mendengar nasihat DJ radio mengenai sebarang maklumat keselamatan jalan raya semasa memandu, saya akan terus ubah cara pemanduan saya ke cara lebih selamat.

7.51 7.59 7.79

6.20

6.40

6.60

6.80

7.00

7.20

7.40

7.60

Cogni`ve Affec`ve Cona`ve

6.65

7.17 7.15

6.85

7.12

7.26

7.06

7.28

7.50

Mean

Level of awareness Before During Aier


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Table 7 Other findings in relation to behaviour change (continued) No Statements Average mean

Before During After 3 Papan tanda had laju yang dipasang di tepi jalan

membuatkan saya memperlahankan kenderaan mengikut had laju.

7.77 7.89 8.05

4 Laporan kemalangan jalan raya di media membuatkan saya berhati-‐hati di jalan raya.

8.04 7.71 8.31

5 Saya percaya saya mampu mengubah sikap saya setelah mendapat maklumat berkenaan keselamatan jalan raya.

7.70 7.48 8.16

6 Saya merancang perjalanan saya dengan melihat kepada jadual perjalanan yang disediakan oleh PLUS.

6.89 6.93 7.24

7 Saya sentiasa bergerak pada waktu tengah malam untuk mendapatkan diskaun tol yang diberikan oleh PLUS.

5.18 5.69 5.53

In comparing the road safety information received with the state of behaviour change level, Figure 10 shows the high dosage of information received contributes to an increase in the level of awareness (cognitive) and also through change of behaviour (conative). Interestingly, although the amount of information received was reduced after the Ops, the level of awareness continued to increase. As the road users’ awareness increase, the need for safety also increases, resulting in a change in the driving behaviour.


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Figure 10 Media exposure and behaviour change

4.2.4 Summary

The study shows that despite the inconsistency in the number of media dosage of the road safety information just before the festival as indicated by Media Monitors, the respondents indicated that there was a build up in the media dosage near the festive season and which subsequently declined. Nevertheless, the level of behaviour change (cognitive, affective and conative) generally has shown an upward trend during the pre-‐, during and post-‐festive season. This can be attributed to the higher dosage of road safety information throughout the period. This is particularly true during the festive week, as reflected by the highest percentage scored. The level of media exposure among the road users during the festive week primarily revolved around seatbelt use, speed, and running of traffic lights. Generally, the issue of seatbelt use received the most coverage during the three stages of the Ops.

6.65

6.85

7.06 7.17

7.12

7.28 7.15 7.26

7.50

53.64

56.37

55.67

52.00 52.50 53.00 53.50 54.00 54.50 55.00 55.50 56.00 56.50 57.00

6.20

6.40

6.60

6.80

7.00

7.20

7.40

7.60

Before During Aier

Percen

tage (%

)

Mean

Phases

Cogni`ve Affec`ve Cona`ve Dosage


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4.3 Perception of Being Caught (POBC) among Bus Drivers

4.3.1 Introduction

One of the most conventional practices in Malaysian road safety during festival periods in Malaysia is traffic enforcement activities (Ops Bersepadu since 2001), which are carried out by enforcement activities over the Chinese New Year period of 2012, in an attempt to reduce traffic violations and crashes. For this Ops, the Road Transport Department (RTD) and Land Public Transport Commissioner (LpTC) conducted enforcement operations of public transport in bus depots and terminals nationwide while the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) focused on road traffic offences as a whole. As for the RTD, their enforcement operations were conducted over a period of 30 days beginning 15 January until 15 February 2012. Their enforcement activities started with technical inspections of vehicles in depots and bus terminals beginning two weeks before Chinese New Year. This year they focused more on: (i) the profile of the bus drivers (those with pending summonses) and vehicles––brake and tyre inspections; (ii) the utilisation of undercover officials on random express buses; (iii) random urine tests for bus drivers in collaboration with the National Anti-‐Drugs Agency; and (iv) prohibition of freight vehicles from using the road on 21 and 22 February, and 28 and 29 February. While the strategies employed by LpTC involved: (i) concentrated enforcement activities in bus terminals; (ii) inspection of compliance with the approved permit (LPS); and (iii) the reduction of ticket touts. This study focuses on the perceived risk of detection among bus drivers for the three main periods of Ops Bersepadu. This study also concentrates on the perceived risk of detection for two time periods. In order to gain an insight into public views on the effectiveness of these approaches, bus drivers’ perception of being caught for committing traffic violations has to be evaluated. Basically, an increase or decrease in their perception between the Ops periods (before, during and after) and time periods (daytime and at night) will gauge the efficacy of the methods. Besides that, the bus drivers’ perception towards the effectiveness of the traffic enforcement methods throughout the Ops was also measured.


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4.3.2 Hypothesis

• There is a significant difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences between the three main periods of the implementation of the Ops (before, during and after).

• There is a significant difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences between the two time periods (daytime and at night).

• There is a difference in current enforcement methods in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences during Ops CNY.

4.3.3 Findings

4.3.3.1 Mean Scores of Overall POBC for Traffic Offences for Three Main Periods (Before, During and After the Implementation of Ops Bersepadu)

The pattern of perception of being caught for committing traffic offences among the bus drivers throughout the implementation of the Ops Bersepadu was observed. The collected data was categorised into three main periods; namely before, during and after Ops Bersepadu. The percentage of bus drivers’ perception of being caught was determined for each period. Table 8 shows the analysis in bus drivers’ overall perception of being caught for three main periods. As expected, the mean scores of overall POBC was low before the Ops period; at 54%. During the Ops, the overall POBC among the bus drivers increased to 65% and decreased to 59% after the Ops Bersepadu ended. From the finding, it can be seen that bus drivers perceive a higher risk of detection during the implementation period of Ops Bersepadu; at 65% as compared to the other two periods of the Ops. A Kruskal-‐Wallis analysis was carried out to compare the mean scores of bus drivers’ overall POBC for traffic offences for the three main periods. It can be observed that the increase in the mean scores of the overall POBC between the three main periods (before, during and after the Ops) is significant (p<0.05) as shown in Table 9. The value of the mean ranking indicates that bus drivers’ perceived higher mean scores of POBC


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during the Ops period (275.53) as compared to the other periods (before Ops: 203.73, after Ops: 273.60).

Table 8 Analysis in bus drivers’ overall POBC for three main periods Period Percentage (%) Before Ops 53.6 During Ops 64.8 After Ops 59.3

Table 9 Comparison of bus drivers’ POBC for three main periods

Period Mean rank p-‐value Mean score POBC

Before Ops 203.73 0.0001 During Ops 275.53 After Ops 273.60

4.3.3.2 Mean Scores of Overall POBC for Traffic Offences between the Two Time Periods (Daytime and At Night)

For this study, time periods’ association with bus drivers’ POBC for traffic offences is also looked into. The bus drivers’ perception of being caught for traffic offences were recorded for both daytime and at night. Table 10 shows the analysis of bus drivers’ overall perception of being caught for the two time periods. Throughout the implementation of the Ops, the overall daytime POBC for traffic offences produced a rate of 57% while at night it was only 54%. From the findings, it can be concluded that the overall perception among bus drivers was slightly lower by 3% at night as compared to the daytime period.

A Mann-‐Whitney test was run on the overall POBC for the time periods. However, the results revealed a non-‐significant interaction in the overall POBC between daytime and at night (p-‐value=0.067). This result indicates that the overall POBC for traffic offences are the same regardless of the time period. Even though the test does not show any significant difference, the result shows that the overall POBC among bus drivers for daytime is higher than at night.


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Table 10 Analysis in bus drivers’ overall POBC for the two time periods Time period Percentage (%) Daytime 56.6 At night 53.5

Table 11 Comparison of bus drivers’ POBC for two time periods

Period Mean rank p-‐value Mean scores POBC Daytime 520.27 0.067

At night 486.73

4.3.3.3 Effectiveness of Traffic Enforcement Methods Conducted by Respective Enforcement Agencies

Table 12 illustrates the mean scores of bus drivers’ perception on the effectiveness of traffic enforcement methods conducted by the respective enforcement agencies which included the RMP, RTD and LpTC. The respondents were asked to rate respective traffic enforcement methods based on the level of effectiveness. The bus drivers perceived that the enforcement methods conducted by the RTD were more effective (7.37) as compared to those conducted by other enforcement agencies (RMP: 7.04, LpTC: 6.59). Bus drivers perceived that bus inspections in depots and bus terminals (7.91), patrols by enforcers in bus terminals/crash-‐prone areas (7.75) and placement of enforcers in bus terminal areas (7.72) were the most effective traffic enforcement methods conducted by RTD. While the utilisation of undercover enforcers on public transports was ranked the least effective (6.09). Referring to Table 13, a Kruskal-‐Wallis analysis indicates that there is significant difference in the mean scores of current enforcement methods for the three enforcement agencies (p<0.05). It can also be seen that the RTD has the highest mean rank of 800.65. Thus, bus drivers perceived that enforcement methods conducted by the RTD are the most effective as compared to the other two enforcement agencies (RMP and LpTC). This is probably due to the nature of RTD enforcement methods that focus more on bus terminals which are more visible to the bus drivers rather than the methods employed by the RMP. While the methods employed by LpTC were rated as


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the least effective probably because this organisation was still a relatively recent agency and bus drivers have yet to see its enforcement activities.

Table 12 Effectiveness of traffic enforcement methods conducted by respective agencies

Enforcement agencies

Methods Mean Overall mean score

RMP Enforcers in observation towers 6.74 7.04 Enforcement patrols in crash-‐prone areas 7.71 Placement of enforcers in crash-‐prone areas 6.73 Enforcement cameras in crash-‐prone and dangerous areas

6.96

RTD Plain-‐clothes (undercover) enforcers on public transports

6.09 7.37

Enforcement patrols in bus terminal /crash-‐prone areas

7.75

Placement of enforcers in bus terminal areas 7.72 Bus inspections in depots and bus terminals 7.91

LpTC Enforcement patrols in bus terminals /crash-‐prone areas

6.61 6.59

Placement of enforcers in bus terminal areas 6.57

Table 13 Comparison of mean scores POBC between the respective enforcement agencies Enforcement agencies Mean rank p-‐value

RMP 734.08 0.015 RTD 800.65 LpTC 730.87

4.3.4 Summary

There is a significant difference in the mean scores of the overall POBC for traffic offences for the three main periods (before Ops, during Ops and after Ops). Moreover, there is a significant difference in the mean scores of current enforcement methods for


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the three enforcement agencies during Ops CNY 2012. However, there is no significant difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences for the two time periods (daytime and at night).

4.4 Study on the Perception of Being Caught (POBC) among Road Users

4.4.1 Introduction

In order to instil discipline among road users, various initiatives and preventive measures with regard to the enforcement aspect have been undertaken by various government agencies. As a result, the RMP, together with RTD and LpTC had conducted an Integrated Safety Ops to coincide with the Chinese New Year holiday season by combining several enforcement programmes which included enforcement operations along expressways, federal roads and state roads; technical inspections on public vehicles in depots and bus terminals throughout the Peninsular; reduction of ticket touts; speed limit reduction initiative; and prohibition of freight vehicles from using the federal roads. Ops CNY 2012 would be more assertive and use more uncompromising enforcement strategies. This was reflected in the increase of the number of summonses issued by the police to 315,949 throughout the Ops period. The number of summonses issued is rather high as compared to the total number of summonses issued in the previous Ops; 167,868.

The focus of this study is on the enforcement aspect of the authorities. The main purpose is to measure the effectiveness of enforcement activities conducted by the authorities throughout the duration of the Ops. For this study, it only focuses on road users’ perception of the probability of being caught (POBC) covering the three main periods; before, during and after the implementation of the integrated enforcement activities for the 2012 Chinese New Year celebration.


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4.4.2 Hypothesis

• There was a difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences for the periods of before, during and after the implementation of the Chinese New Year Ops annually, from 2008 to 2012.

• There was a difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences for motorists and motorcyclists throughout the Chinese New Year Ops each year, from 2008 to 2012.

• There was a difference in the mean scores of overall POBC for traffic offences for two time periods; daytime and at night, throughout the Chinese New Year Ops each year; from 2008 to 2012.

• There was a difference in road users’ perception on traffic enforcement visibility before, during and after the Ops.

4.4.3 Findings

4.4.3.1 Mean Scores of Overall POBC for Traffic Offences during Ops CNY for the Years 2008–2012

In order to observe the pattern of POBC, the collected data was categorised into three main time periods, namely before the Ops, during the Ops and after the Ops. The percentage of road users’ POBC was determined for each Ops period of the festive seasons.

Table 14 illustrates the summary of the percentage of road users’ POBC during the annual Ops CNY periods from year 2008 to 2012. Before the Ops, the percentages of road users’ POBC were very low for Ops CNY of years 2008, 2010 and 2012 as compared to the other periods (during and after the Ops). There were increments in road users’ POBC for the three years (2008, 2010 and 2012); 52%, 53% and 56% during the Ops. This might be due to road users’ awareness of the actual increase or the expectation of increased enforcement activities. Subsequently, the road users’ POBC diminished dramatically after Ops CNY ended. In Ops CNY 2009, road users perceived that the probability of being caught for committing


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traffic offences was somewhat similar for the periods before, during and after the implementation of the Ops, with only a 1% variance. This is in contrast with Ops CNY 2011, whereby the percentage of road users’ POBC before the Ops (45%) was slightly the same as compared to during the Ops (43%). The percentage increased to 55% right after Ops CNY 2011 ended.

Table 14 Analysis in road users’ overall POBC during 2008 until 2012 Chinese New Year festival periods

Period Ops CNY

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Before Ops 40.8% 49.1% 49.3% 44.5% 42.5% During Ops 52.4% 49.8% 53.3% 43.0% 55.6% After Ops 45.7% 50.9% 49.3% 54.5% 50.1% The percentage collected was from 0 to 100% whereby 0% indicates POBC at all while 100% indicates a sure POBC.

The percentages of road users’ perception level of being caught were compared before, during and after the launch of the Ops.

A one-‐way between-‐group analysis of variance was performed to investigate whether there is a difference in mean scores of road users’ overall POBC for each year’s Ops CNY. An ANOVA test in Table 15 reveals that there are statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the overall POBC for traffic offences for three main periods of each year (Ops CNY years 2008 to 2012). Road users’ overall POBC scores during the Ops were higher than before and after the Ops for years 2008, 2010 and 2012. Meanwhile, for Ops CNY years 2009 and 2011, road users’ overall POBC scores after the Ops were higher than before and during the Ops. Thus, the road users’ overall POBC for traffic offences were affected by the implementation of Ops CNY. Although findings from the inferential statistics of the POBC study show a significant difference, the percentage rate over five years on each Ops CNY which began from year 2008 to 2012 was still at a moderate level. This shows that the discipline of road users in terms of compliance with traffic rules is still low. This does not bode well because road


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users appear to perceive that they are free to commit traffic offences and that no enforcement is around to monitor them.

Table 15 Comparison of road users’ overall POBC between Ops for each Chinese New Year (Years 2008–2012)

Mean SD ANOVA test CNY 2012 F (2,1197) = 28.568, p = .0001

Before Ops 4.2536 2.68859 During Ops 5.5529 2.10671 After Ops 5.0642 2.53448

CNY 2011 F (2,1197) = 19.780, p = .0001


CNY 2010 F (2,1794) = 4.103, p = .017


CNY 2009 F (2,8097) = 3.513, p = .030


CNY 2008 F (2,10797) = 180.679,

p = .0001 Before Ops 4.0810 2.46086 During Ops 5.2407 2.53278 After Ops 4.5723 2.78934


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4.4.3.2 Mean Scores of Overall POBC for Committing Traffic Offences for Motorists and Motorcyclists throughout Ops CNY 2012

The data on traffic offences was obtained by asking the respondents to rank the probability of being caught for committing 11 traffic offences based on their experience and knowledge. These offences are: (a) speeding; (b) running of traffic lights; (c) queue-‐jumping; (d) overtaking at a double line; (e) illegal use of the emergency lane; (f) dangerously cutting into traffic; (g) failure to use the front seatbelt while driving; (h) failure to use the rear seatbelt; (i) failure to use a crash helmet while riding; (j) using the mobile phone while driving; and (k) tailgating.

Despite the fact that road users’ POBC for committing specific traffic offences increased throughout the Ops periods, the road users felt that the probability of being caught was higher for committing some offences than for others. Here they are in a descending order: the failure to use a crash helmet while riding, speeding, using mobile phone while driving, running of traffic lights and failure to use the front seatbelt while driving were perceived as five offences which carry the highest probability of being caught.

In addition, the POBC for committing specific traffic offences among motorists and motorcyclists were taken into consideration. This study had identified 10 types of traffic offences for motorists and seven types of traffic offences for motorcyclists. For motorists, in descending order: speeding, using mobile phone while driving, running of traffic lights, failure to use the front seatbelt while driving and overtaking at a double line were perceived as posing the five highest probability of being caught. Meanwhile, the failure to use a crash helmet while riding, running of traffic lights, using mobile phone while driving, speeding and overtaking at a double line were perceived as posing the highest probability of being caught for motorcyclists.

An independent-‐samples t-‐test was conducted to compare the mean scores of road users’ overall POBC for the Chinese New Year Ops periods for motorists and motorcyclists. Based on Table 16, it can be seen that there is no significant difference in scores for motorists (M = 4.83, SD = 2.400) and motorcyclists, M = 5.08, SD = 2.615; t (1198) = 1.701, p = .089.


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The study concluded that overall POBC for traffic offenses between both types of road users is the same, where the overall POBC for traffic offences among motorists is at 56% while the POBC for motorcyclists is slightly higher by 3%, at 59%. Studies show that for both categories of road users, the perceptions of law enforcement are the same. This also raises the question to researchers whether the target of enforcement presently should be more concentrated on one category of road users only. This is proposed in the near future, as due to man power constraints among law enforcement, the authorities can come up with an alternative or a new strategy which focuses more on one category of road users only, to see the extent of changes within the POBC of the category of road users concerned. This ensures that in percentage terms the POBC can be increased, should the new strategy is implemented.

Table 16 Comparison of overall POBC between motorists and motorcyclists Mean SD Independent-‐samples t-‐test Motorists 4.83 2.400 t (1198) = 1.701, p = .089 Motorcyclists 5.08 2.615

4.4.3.3 Mean Scores of Overall POBC for Traffic Offences for Two Time Periods Daytime and At Night of Ops CNY 2012

Table 17 illustrates the mean scores of road users’ overall POBC for committing traffic offences for two time periods; namely daytime and at night throughout Ops CNY 2012. The findings reveal that there is a significant difference in the scores for daytime (M = 4.96, SD = 2.511) and at night M = 4.48, SD = 2.601; t (2398) = 4.602, p = .0001. The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = .48, 95% CI: .276 to .685) is very small (eta squared = 0.01). Although the result shown is significant, the percentage difference between daytime and at night is only by 5%. This clearly shows that road users tend to think that the probability of being fined by traffic enforcement officials in the daytime is slightly higher than at night if they commit traffic offenses. However, there is not much difference in the percentage.


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Table 17 Comparison of road users’ overall POBC during daytime and at night Mean SD Independent-‐samples t-‐test t (2398) = 4.602, p = .0001 Daytime 4.96 2.511 At night 4.48 2.601

4.4.3.4 Traffic Enforcement Visibility to Road Users’ Perception throughout the Ops Periods

Figure 11 presents the results of traffic enforcement visibility to road users’ perception before, during and after the Ops on expressways and federal roads. From the results, 52% and 54% of the respondents from expressways and federal roads respectively reported medium visibility of traffic enforcement activities before the Ops.

Moreover, the percentages increased to 61% and 58% along the expressways and federal roads during the Ops. It was found out that a majority of the respondents stated that there was medium visibility of enforcement activities during the enforcement programme. However after the Ops, there was a decrease in percentages for the expressway users (to 53%); and the federal road users was (to 56%). Therefore, throughout the Chinese New Year Ops 2012, respondents perceived that the visibility of enforcement activities was at a medium level especially along the federal roads (54%, 58% and 56%); and expressways (52%, 61% and 53%). Throughout the Chinese New Year Ops, respondents perceived that the visibility of enforcement activities were low especially along the federal roads (36%, 30% and 32%); and expressways (31%, 16% and 27%).

A Kruskal-‐Wallis test was performed to test the difference in the enforcement visibility scores for each Ops CNY period. The test revealed a statistically significant difference in enforcement visibility scores across the three main periods (before the Ops, n = 400; during the Ops, n = 400; and after the Ops, n = 400), p = 0.004. The period of during the Ops recorded a higher mean rank score (638.55) than the other two main periods


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(before and after the Ops). This is in line with the POBC decision whereby road users have the opinion that the visibility of enforcement before, during and after the Ops is moderate.

Figure 11 Percentage of visibility of traffic enforcement at all locations

Table 18 Comparison of enforcement visibility scores for the three periods Period Mean rank p-‐value Enforcement visibility scores

Before Ops 558.49 0.004 During Ops 638.55 After Ops 604.46

4.4.4 Summary

There are significant differences in the mean scores of the overall POBC for traffic offences for three main periods of before, during and after the implementation of the Ops CNY for years 2008–2012.


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There is no significant difference in the mean scores of the overall POBC for traffic offences for motorists and motorcyclists throughout the 2012 Integrated Chinese New Year Ops. Nevertheless, there is a significant difference in the mean scores of the overall POBC for traffic offences for two time periods; daytime and at night, throughout Ops CNY 2012. The traffic enforcement visibility, in road users’ perception before, during and after the Ops enforcement programme was at a medium level.

4.5 Seatbelt Use among Vehicle Occupants in Selected Areas in Malaysia

4.5.1 Introduction

In Malaysia, the mandatory law of seatbelt use of the rear seatbelt has taken effect since 1 January 2009. This mandatory law had been introduced to mitigate the risk of severe injuries due to road crashes and to reduce the number of fatalities due to these severe injuries. The number of vehicles is growing rapidly as the world is moving through development and monetary capitalisation process. The same scenario is taking place in this country, with the number of vehicles on the road getting bigger by the year. In 2010 the total number of registered vehicles were 20,188,565 and out of this figure, 44% were four-‐wheel vehicles (RTD 2010). This indirectly reflects the magnitude of people travelling by car. As the number of vehicles on the road is growing, so is the number of crashes, due to the increase in the risk of crashes when the number of vehicle increases on the road relatively (MIROS 2007). This huge number of car occupants requires a specific and proven intervention such as the use of seatbelt as a measure to improve their safety and reduce the probability of severe injuries and death. The compliance with seatbelt law is important due to the fact that it can prevent severe injuries and reduce the number of fatalities (Elvik and Vaa 2004). The seatbelt has been proven to effectively reduce the number of deaths and


39

injuries when it was first introduced in Victoria in 1970 (Trinca and Dooley 1975). In addition, Robertson (1975) found that deaths occur only 50% less often to belted compared to non-‐belted vehicle occupants in crashes, according to previously unanalysed data from three U.S. states during that year. According to a study done by a group of researchers from University of UAE, the results show that the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) scores for thorax, back, and lower extremity were significantly higher in unrestrained occupants as compared to those of restrained occupants’ with p = 0.001, p = 0.036 and p = 0.045 respectively. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score recorded was significantly lower in unrestrained than in restrained occupants with p = 0.006 and more surgical operations were performed on the unrestrained occupants with p = 0.027 (Fikri et al. 2011). Furthermore, from a study undertaken by a researcher (Diana et al. 1991) to measure the reduction of injuries before and after the implementation of seatbelt use law, it was found out that seatbelt use helps reduce the number of injuries among vehicle occupants. Furthermore, the study also found out that after the law was implemented, the front occupants were less likely to receive medical treatment as compared to before its implementation. In addition, the reduction in the number of injuries was greater for passengers in the right front seat than those of the drivers’ and the number decreased for frontal crashes among other types of crashes. From the same study, the injury reduction effects occurred primarily through reductions in the number of head and face injuries, particularly those that occur from contacts with the windshield and the instrument panel (Diane et al. 1991). These results from both studies highlighted and indicated the importance of seatbelt use in reducing and minimising the severity of injuries among vehicle occupants who are involved in road traffic collisions. Since the regulation for rear seatbelt use took effect on 1 January 2009, many concerted efforts have already been made by various agencies to promote the use of rear seatbelt. However, the lack of consistency in these efforts may have reduced its effectiveness in increasing and maintaining the rate of rear seatbelt use. A study by Norlen et al. (2010) shows that the Ops was significantly effective in increasing the use of seatbelt among front passengers and drivers. However, after six months of the Ops, compliance rate


40

decreased for both types of vehicle occupants. In addition, as shown in Figure 12, the compliance rate for drivers and front passengers were consistent from December 2008 until June 2010. In comparison, the compliance rate of rear passengers shows a decreasing pattern starting from March 2009 until June 2010.

Figure 12 Nationwide seatbelt use rate (Overall) December 2008–June 2010

As part of this concerted effort, the integrated enforcement, the ‘Ops Bersepadu’ during festive seasons is regularly implemented by various agencies. This Ops CNY was the sixth Ops since the regulation for rear seatbelt use had taken effect. Out of these Ops, three were evaluated in terms of vehicle occupants’ compliance with the rear seatbelt use regulation. The last Ops in August 2011 did not show encouraging results in regards to the rear seatbelt use. As a matter of fact, the Ops recorded a slight reduction as compared to the baseline rate from before the Ops. The more lenient strategy of focusing more on advocacy instead of enforcement of the law, which was used during the August 2011 Ops was claimed to be the factor for these negative results. As part of the continuous improvement, the strategy of the Ops 2012 had been revised to put more emphasis on enforcement as opposed to advocacy.


41

Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of the current Ops in terms of car occupants’ compliance of seatbelt use among car occupants in Malaysia in selected areas, and especially on the compliance of rear seatbelt use. The hypothesis of the study is that the current Ops will improve the seatbelt use rate of not only rear passengers, but also the front seat occupants’.

4.5.2 Hypothesis

The percentage of seatbelt users would be higher with the presence of more enforcement activities.

4.5.3 Findings

4.5.3.1 Overall Seatbelt Use Rate among Vehicle Occupants by the Phase of the Ops

The percentages of the overall seatbelt use rate among vehicle occupants during the three periods of the Ops were shown in Figure 13. From this chart, it can be seen that the seatbelt use rate for drivers for during the Ops is the highest among the three periods. The percentage for during the Ops was 91.50%, as compared to 90.01% before the Ops; and 89.32% after the Ops. This is similar with the pattern of seatbelt use rate of front passengers and rear passengers. For front passengers, the percentage increased from 80.52% to 87.09% before and during the Ops respectively, but decreased to 83.56% after the Ops period. Meanwhile, the percentages for rear passengers’ seatbelt use rate were 9.18%, 13.45% and 12.21% during the three periods of the Ops.


42

Figure 13 Overall seatbelt use rate among vehicle occupants during the three periods of the Ops

4.5.3.2 Relative Risk on Vehicle Occupants’ Seatbelt Use Status during the Three Periods of Ops

Drivers, front passengers and rear passengers’ seatbelt use rates increased during the Ops period as compared to before and after the Ops (Table 19). The increase in seatbelt use rate among drivers however is not statistically significant. For front and rear passengers, there is a significant increase in the seatbelt use rate during the Ops period as compared to before the Ops. However, the magnitude of changes is small, as shown by the relative risk of 1.08 (1.04, 1.13) and 1.46 (1.21, 1.78) for front occupants and rear passengers respectively. After the Ops period, the seatbelt use rates for drivers, front passengers and rear passengers decreased as compared to during the Ops. Nevertheless, the results are not statistically significant with the Relative Risk (95% CI) of 0.98 (0.95, 1.00) for drivers, 0.96 (0.92, 1.00) for front passengers and 0.91 (0.76, 1.08) for rear passengers (Table 19).

90.01 91.50 89.32

80.52 87.09 83.56

9.18 13.45 12.21

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

90.00

100.00

Before During Aier

Wearin

g Ra

te (%

)

Phase of OPS CNY

Driver Front Passenger Rear Passenger


43

Table 19 Likelihood of driver’s seatbelt use status during and after the Ops, as compared to before it

Seatbelt use Use status Before

Ops During Ops After Ops

N N RRa (95% CI) N RRa (95% CI) Driver Overall Belted 793 958 1.02c

(0.99,1.05) 953 0.98c

(0.95,1.00) Unbelted 88 89 114 Non-‐expressways

Belted 378 475 1.01 (0.97,1.06)

498 1.02 (0.98,1.06)

Unbelted 45 50 43 Expressways Belted 415 483 1.02

(0.98,1.06) 455 0.93 (0.90,

0.97) Unbelted 43 39 71 Front passenger

Overall Belted 715 877 1.08b (1.04,1.13)

783 0.96c (0.92,1.00) Unbelted 173 130 154

Non-‐expressways

Belted 381 431 1.03 (0.98,1.09)

401 0.97 (0.92,1.02)

Unbelted 66 59 68 Expressways Belted 334 446 1.14b

(1.07,1.21) 382 0.95 (0.90,1.00)

Unbelted 107 71 86 Rear passenger Overall Belted 152 228 1.46b

(1.21,1.78) 209 0.91c

(0.76,1.08) Unbelted 1503 1467 1503 Non-‐expressways

Belted 96 122 1.27 (0.99,1.63)

95 0.77 (0.60,0.99)

Unbelted 761 734 766 Expressways Belted 56 106 1.80b

(1.32,2.45) 114 1.06 (0.83,1.36)

Unbelted 742 733 737 aRelative risk of 2 by 2 table analyses, bSignificant, cNot Significant


44

4.5.4 Summary

The approaches employed by relevant enforcement agencies during Ops CNY 2012 were different from those taken during the previous Ops. The previous Ops focused more on advocacy and educating road users whereas in this Ops, more emphasis was given on the enforcement activities. The presence of the enforcement officers was also made more pronounced. From the results, it can be seen that the overall seatbelt use rate for drivers, front passengers and rear passengers had shown an increase during the Ops as compared to before. Then, the seatbelt use rate for all vehicle occupant shows a decreased after the Ops compared to during. This shows that the current Ops activities have a positive impact on the compliance of seatbelt use among vehicle occupants, although this impact is not sustained well. The findings also support the notion that if the enforcement activities are increased, the compliance rate of seatbelt use would also increase, but decline when the enforcement activities are reduced over time (Norlen et al. 2010). Ops CNY 2012 was effective in improving the seatbelt use rate among vehicle occupants in Malaysia but the magnitude of change was still very small. One limitation of this study is that the observations were restricted to daytime. Therefore the results do not represent the pattern of seatbelt use by time of day.

4.6 Compliance in terms of Helmet Use

4.6.1 Introduction

In Malaysia, head injury is still the leading cause of motorcyclist fatalities; killing more than 2,000 motorcycle riders annually for the past six years (RMP 2010). In 2004, WHO reported that the implementation of helmet use law in Malaysia has reduced motorcyclist fatalities by 30%. However, a recent trend shows an increase in head injury-‐associated deaths among Malaysian motorcyclists. Studies on the compliance rate of helmet law have found a gap in the rate of helmet use between motorcyclists in sub-‐urban and those in rural areas. For example, Kulantayan et al. (2001) reported that compliance in rural area was as low as 30%.


45

This research is aimed at studying the effectiveness of enforcement activities in improving the rate of helmet use among Malaysian motorcyclists during Ops Chinese New Year 2012. The study was conducted over a period of three weeks; before, during and after the Ops period. Four locations representing rural and sub-‐urban areas in the state of Selangor were chosen as the data collection sites. At each data collection site, a four-‐hour observation session was conducted at a strategic point selected at the roadside of a two-‐lane, single carriageway road to observe the use of helmet among motorcyclists travelling on each direction of the road.

4.6.2 Hypothesis

• Helmet use rate among motorcyclists will increase during the Ops, paralleling the increase in enforcement activities during the Ops period.

• Helmet use rate in rural areas is lower than that of in sub urban areas.

4.6.3 Findings

4.6.3.1 Helmet Use

The rate of helmet use compliance during the Ops in rural areas increased by 0.53% and 0.16% in Semenyih and Kuala Selangor respectively; as compared to before the Ops. Although the compliance rate increased by 1.78% in sub urban areas of Semenyih, the opposite trend was recorded in Kuala Selangor where the compliance rate decreased by 5.43%, from 96.89% before the Ops, to 91.46% during the Ops. However the percentage of helmet use in a sub urban area of Kuala Selangor after the Ops then increased 6.29%. In overall, the average compliance rate in sub urban areas (96.43%) is higher than that of rural areas’ (87.02%), as shown in Figure 14.


46

Figure 14 Helmet use compliance

Table 20 Relative risk of helmet use rate during Ops vs before and after Ops

Location Helmet use status

Before Ops During Ops After Ops N N RR

(95% CI) N RR

(95% CI) Semenyih Rural Helmet

Yes 578 88% 818 88% 1.006

(0.97, 1.04)

998 91% 0.97 (0.94, 1.00)

Helmet No

81 109 98

659 927 1096

Urban

Helmet Yes

1015 97% 1961 99% 1.018 (1.01, 1.03)

1276 97% 1.01 (1.00, 1.02)

Helmet No

34 29 37

1049 1990 1313

75

80

85

90

95

100

Before Ops During Ops Aier Ops Before Ops During Ops Aier Ops

SEMENYIH KUALA SELANGOR

Helm

et Use Rate (%

)

RURAL SUB URBAN


47

Table 20 Relative risk of helmet use rate during Ops vs before and after Ops (continued)

Location Helmet use status

Before Ops During Ops After Ops N N RR

(95% CI) N RR

(95% CI) Kuala Selangor

Rural

Helmet Yes

636 85% 644 85% 1.002 (0.96, 1.04)

640 84% 1.01 (0.97, 1.06)

Helmet No

110 110 118

746 754 758

Urban

Helmet Yes

779 97% 1393 91% 0.944* (0.93, 0.96)

782 98% 0.94* (0.92, 0.95)

Helmet No

25 130 18

804 1523 800 RR – Relative Risk *significant at 95% CI

Table 20 describes the relative risk for helmet use rate for both Semenyih and Kuala Selangor areas. Observation for before the Ops and after the Ops is defined as control variables, as these two represent the time during which no enforcement activity is present. Percentage of helmet use rate was generally low before the Ops and increased slightly during and after the Ops. Whether or not the increment is significant, a 95% confidence interval on relative risk is provided. A significant increase in helmet use rate was observed in urban areas of Kuala Selangor (95% CI is 0.93, 0.96) for before-‐during the Ops, and (95% CI is 0.92, 0.95) for during-‐after the Ops. Whereas in Semenyih, none of the areas showed significant increase in the helmet use rate, for before and after, as compared to during the Ops.

4.6.3.2 User Type

Figure 15 shows that the compliance rate among child motorcyclists is still lower than 50% in both rural and sub urban areas, whereby the percentage of helmet use among


48

children decreased in rural areas. However, there was an overall increase (by 23.81%) in the compliance rate during the Ops in the sub urban areas of Semenyih. For adult motorcyclists, female riders recorded a higher increase in compliance rate as compared to the male riders during the Ops. The observation shows that on average, the compliancy rate among male and female is higher than 90%.

Figure 15 Helmet use rate by user type

4.6.3.3 Helmet Type

The use of full-‐type helmet (open-‐face) increased during and after the Ops. From the observation, more than 90% motorcyclists were observed to be using open-‐face helmets. However, the use of open-‐face helmets was more popular in rural areas than in sub urban areas (Figure 16).

0

20

40

60

80

100

Before Ops

Durin

g Ops

Aier Ops

Before Ops

Durin

g Ops

Aier Ops

Before Ops

Durin

g Ops

Aier Ops

Before Ops

Durin

g Ops

Aier Ops

RURAL SUB URBAN RURAL SUB URBAN


Helm

et Use Rate (%

)

Male Female Children


49

Figure 16 Use of full-type (open-face) helmet

4.6.4 Summary

There was a significant increase in helmet use, as observed in urban areas of Kuala Selangor (95% CI is 0.93, 0.96) for before-‐during the Ops, and (95% CI is 0.92, 0.95) for during-‐after the Ops. In Semenyih, none of the areas showed a significant increase in the rate of use for before and after, as compared to during the Ops. The average compliance rate in sub urban areas (96.43%) was higher than in rural areas (87.02%). Helmet use among children was still low (average 31.40%) as compared to adult male and female (94.17% and 93.29%). The use of full-‐type helmet (open-‐face) was over 90% during the observation.

4.7 Overtaking

4.7.1 Introduction

In the year 2010, head-‐on collisions made up 17% of the overall fatal accidents in Malaysia. Overtaking is one of the risky actions which could lead to severe impact if an overtaking vehicle collides with the oncoming traffic especially if both vehicles are

75

80

85

90

95

100

Before Ops During Ops Aier Ops Before Ops During Ops Aier Ops


Helm

et Use Rate (%

)

RURAL SUB URBAN


50

travelling at a high speed. Head-‐on collisions are mainly caused by inappropriate overtaking behaviours, especially on a single carriageway road. The effects of enforcement activities towards the number of illegal overtaking vehicles could be determined by comparing the number of illegally overtaking vehicles during and after the period of Ops CNY 2012.

The study was conducted at five locations in Perak and Selangor. Four locations were on the federal road and one location was on state road. The data from each location was collected at roads with double line marking, on which it is illegal for road users to overtake. For each observation, data was collected for three hours. All locations were single carriageway roads with one lane for each direction.

4.7.2 Hypothesis

• The Ops is effective in reducing the number of illegally overtaking vehicles in Malaysia.

4.7.3 Findings

The traffic volume count shows that the total volumes for three hours at all five locations were 11,797 vehicles for before the Ops period. The total volumes during the same duration at the same locations were 13,721 vehicles during Ops CNY 2012 period. This shows that there was an increase of 16.4% of traffic volume during the Ops period as compared to before the Ops period. The traffic volume later decreased by 8.6% after the Ops period. In terms of the traffic volume distribution at the study locations, the highest volume was observed at B0018 and the lowest at F0008 (Figure 17). The traffic compositions at all sites were almost similar. Cars were the biggest group at all sites which accounted for 52.3% of the overall traffic volume before Ops CNY 2011 period and increased to 55.5% during the Ops Raya 2011 period. The figure later dropped to 52.4% after the Ops period. The composition of vans and motorcycles during the Ops Raya 2011 were almost the same at about 16% for each vehicle type. The composition of lorry was 13.5% of the overall traffic before Ops CNY 2012 period and decreased to 9.5% during the Ops period and later decreased again to 13.2% after the


51

Ops period. The volume of buses at all study locations was less than 1% for both during and after Ops Raya 2011 period.

Figure 17 Traffic volume by route number

The percentage of illegally overtaking vehicles at all study locations was 3.5% (641) before Ops CNY 2012. During Ops Raya 2011 period, the figure of illegally overtaking vehicles dropped to 1.9% and remained at the same rate after the Ops period, at the same study locations. A simple Chi-‐square analysis shows the reduction in the number of illegal overtaking in relation with the total number of vehicles before, during and after the Ops period. From five of the study locations, three locations show that the reduction in the number of illegally overtaking vehicles during the Ops were parallel to the Ops activities. Hence there are effects of the Ops on the number of illegally overtaking vehicles at certain locations but there is no effect at the other locations, as shown in Table 21.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

B0018 F0009 F0008 F0001 F0058

Before During Aier


52

Table 21 Chi-square analysis for illegal overtaking Route number Period Volume Illegal

overtaking Chi-‐square test

B0018 Before 3291 76 Not significant During 3571 76 After 3476 53

F0009 Before 2485 104 Significant During 2645 45 After 2642 74


F0001 Before 2403 60 Not significant During 2638 55 After 2205 27


4.7.4 Summary

In general, the Ops had an effect on the reduction of illegal overtaking at certain locations along different routes, however this is not true at some locations. The study shows that illegal overtaking among road users was rather infrequent as compared to the total volume of vehicles. However this issue shouldn’t be neglected because the outcome of crashes resulting from overtaking is usually very severe.


53

5.0 Conclusion The conclusion for each study is summarised below. 5.1 The number of accidents increased during Ops CNY 2012 as compared to Ops

CNY 2010. Although there is an increase in the number of accidents, the number of fatalities shows a decrease when comparing Ops CNY 2010 to Ops CNY 2012. The reduction however was found not to be significant.

5.2 Traffic volumes are expected to increase during the festive seasons, contributing

towards a higher vehicle-‐kilometre travelled (VKT) among road users, which would eventually translate into a higher risk of crash. Therefore it is important to observe the relationship between volume and the crash in traffic management planning, in the effort to reduce the number of crashes in the future. However, due to some delays from a relevant party, no relationship could be observed from this report.

5.3 It can be concluded that Ops Sikap 2011 is not fully effective in influencing road

users to travel at a lower speed during the Ops campaign. This can be seen from the higher percentage of road users exceeding the speed limit during the Ops. Almost half of the road users travelled over the speed limit during the Ops.

5.4 This study indicates that the presence of a speed limit sign has no significant

effect on the road users’ travelling speed. This study also shows that the speed during the Ops is significantly higher as compared to after the Ops. This may be due to the road users’ rush to get to their destinations to celebrate Chinese New Year. This shows that the strategy employed during Ops CNY 2012 to reduce speed was not successful. The study also indicates that the behaviour change actually takes place during the post festive season where the conative level is at its peak. This shows that


54

the advocacy blitz tactic through the media delivers its accumulative effect at the end of the campaign. Therefore, the media, regardless of the channel, should be encouraged to continue promoting road safety messages to the public as it is proven that the longer the campaign, the more effective it is in changing road users’ behaviour.

5.5 It is apparent that the implementation of Ops Bersepadu conducted during this

Chinese New Year was effective in influencing bus drivers’ overall POBC for traffic offences. The bus drivers’ overall POBC for traffic offences are the same regardless of the time period. It was shown that the bus drivers’ overall POBC for traffic offences is not affected neither by the time of day. Moreover, it was found out that the enforcement methods employed by the RTD during this festive season were effective in increasing the overall bus drivers’ POBC for traffic offences.

Based on the findings from all the studies conducted on Ops Chinese New Year 2012, it could generally be concluded that effective and focused enforcement activities showed good results especially for POBC among road users. Meanwhile, enforcement activities on other aspects should be improved in the future to further reduce the number of crashes and fatalities in the country. Conclusions from each study are summarised as follows.

o The Ops Enforcement programmes conducted from 2008 until 2012 were

found to be effective in increasing overall road users’ perception of probability of being caught for committing traffic offences. However, the recorded perception levels for traffic offences for five years of Integrated Chinese New Year Ops were medium, in the range of 41% to 56%. Road users are of the opinion that despite committing traffic offences, their probability of being fined by the authorities is low.

o For this Ops, the percentage of road users' overall POBC showed the highest

percentage of the five-‐year study since it was first conducted during the 2008 Chinese New Year. This clearly shows a significant improvement in


55

tandem with enforcement strategies and the ‘no compromise’ stance that are adopted by the enforcement agencies for this year’s Ops CNY. The number of summonses issued by the RMP showed an increase of nearly one time more than the number of summonses issued during the implementation of the previous year’s Ops CNY, which amounted to 315,949. The RTD also issued 13,720 summonses in the implementation of the Ops. Indirectly, this is one of the main factors contributing to an increase in the percentage of the overall POBC during Ops CNY.

o Hopefully, the findings of this study can change the enforcement to be more

focused on specific road users or target enforcement only. This should be done with the intention of increasing the level of discipline among the road users, as well as to increase their level of POBC.

5.7 Findings from this study conclude that the current Ops have a positive impact

on the seatbelt use rate among drivers, front passengers and rear passengers. However, the seatbelt use rate was not sustained after the Ops. The magnitude of change was also small, suggesting that there is a need to have a more specific and continuous enforcement that focuses more on car occupants. Therefore, it is important to regularly publicise the enforcement activities to increase the perception of being caught among car occupants. At the same time, enforcement activities pertaining to seatbelt use should be increased and made more visible to the public.

The collective evidence has shown that the Ops was effective in increasing, but not in sustaining the seatbelt use rate.

5.8 The findings concluded that there is little change in the percentage of helmet use during the observation. This may be due to the already high percentage of helmet use rate (>80–90%) within the study area.

5.9 In general, the enforcement activities show some effects on the number of illegally overtaking vehicles during this Ops period. The study shows that the number of illegally overtaking road users was rather small as compared to the


56

total volume. However this issue can’t be neglected because the outcome of overtaking crashes is very severe.


57

6.0 Recommendations • Enforcement activities should be conducted throughout the year instead of by

season, so that the enforcement will be more visible to the public. • The RMP and LpTC should use the findings as indicator to enhance their

enforcement activities in order to make them more efficient. • New enforcement methods need to be conducted especially for bus drivers, to

make them adhere to all traffic regulations and also to reduce accidents involving bus express.

• The study of bus drivers’ perception of being caught should also be conducted on normal, non-‐festive days since bus trips do not only take place during festive seasons, but throughout the year.

• Serious enforcement on speed violators should be carried out since even with the reduction of speed by 10 km/h during the festive season, the percentage of speed violators are still high.

• The method employed in the Ops of giving out summonses to violators was effective in improving the seatbelt use rate among vehicle occupants in Malaysia, but the magnitude of change was still very small.


58

References Abu-‐Zidan, FM, Abbas, AK, Hefny, AF, Eid, HO & Grivna, M (2012), Effects of seat belt

usage on injury pattern and outcome of vehicle occupants after road traffic collisions: prospective study. World Journal of Surgery, 36(2): 255–259, DOI: 10.1007/s00268-‐011-‐1386.

Elvik, R & Vaa, T (2004), The handbook of road safety measures, Amsterdam: Elsevier Sciencedirect.

Lestina, DC, Williams, AF, Lund, AK, Zador, P & Kuhlmann, TP (1991), Motor vehicle crash injury patterns and the virginia seat belt law, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Va and Emergency Medical Services, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

MIROS (2007), The effectiveness of ops bersepadu conducted over the hari raya period 2007, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research.

M-‐ROADS (2012), Malaysian road accident and database system, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research.

Norlen M, Mohammad-‐Fadhli MY, Ilhamah O, Noradrenalina I, Wahida AB & Noor Faradila P (2010), Short-‐term and long-‐term effects of the enhance enforcement programmes on seatbelt wearing among front occupants in Malaysia, Journal of Community Health, 16(2): 47–56.

RTD (2010), Malaysia’s new car registration, 1998–2010, Putrajaya: Road Transport Department of Malaysia.

Robertson, LS (1976), Estimates of motor vehicle seat belt effectiveness and use: implications for occupant crash protection, American Journal of Public Health, 66(9): 859–864, doi: 10.2105/AJPH.66.9.859.


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Trinca, GW & Dooley, BJ (1975), The effects of mandatory seat belt wearing on the mortality and pattern of injury of car occupants involved in motor vehicle crashes in Victoria, Med J Aust., 31;1(22): 675–8.

WHO (2004), World report on road traffic injury and prevention, Switzerland, Geneva: World Health Organization.


60

Appendices

Appendix A

Speed Analysis

Figure A1 Site with a speed limit sign

Figure A2 Site without a speed limit sign


61

Appendix B

Road Safety Advocacy

Methodology

As mentioned earlier, this study was conducted to quantify the dosage of news that is related to road safety that has been broadcasted and published through traditional media; and also to measure the effects of road safety messages received by road users. The data collection for each study is conducted separately. In quantifying the dosage of road safety information, the data was obtained through a media monitoring agency called ‘Media Monitors’; subscribed to by the researchers. The agency monitors news on accidents and articles related to road safety that were broadcasted and published through newspapers, television and radio. The data was monitored for duration of six weeks (1 January–14 February 2012) to compare before, during and after the Ops. The media channels that were monitored are as listed in Table B1.

Table B1 List of media monitored by the monitoring agency

Media Television

Astro Awani Astro Bernama RTM 1

RTM 2 TV3 NTV7

8TV TV9


62

Table B1 List of media monitored by the monitoring agency (continued)

Media Newspaper

Berita Harian Malaysia Nanban Sin Chew Jit Poh

Berita Minggu Malaysian Reserve Sinar Harian

Borneo Post Sabah Metro Ahad Sunday Sun

Borneo Post Sarawak Mingguan Malaysia Tamil Nesan

China Press Mingguan Sarawak The Edge

Daily Express Nanyang Siang Pau The Edge Financial Daily

Guang Ming Daily New Sabah Times The Star

Harakah New Sarawak Tribune Utusan Borneo Sarawak

Harian Metro New Sunday Times Utusan Malaysia

Kosmo New Sunday Tribune

Kwong Wah Yit Poh Oriental Daily News

Makkal Osai See Hua Daily News Sabah

Malay Mail See Hua Daily News

Sarawak

Radio

Radio 24 Bernama Nasional FM Lite FM

Mix FM Hitz FM Radio 23

Era FM Sinar FM Hot FM

Xfresh FM My FM THR FM

Traxx FM Muzik FM Business FM

Minnal FM

As for the effect of media dosage on road users’ behaviour, a survey was used in the data collection. Road users were asked on their awareness on road safety information and how far the information received influenced their driving behaviour. The questionnaire is divided into three sections: (i) exposure to road safety messages; (ii)


63

effects of road safety messages; and (iii) demographic profile. In section A, the respondents are asked on whether they received any road safety messages on six different traffic offences; namely seatbelt and helmet use, speeding, beating traffic light, illegal use of the emergency lane and other road safety messages. Section B questions the effect of road safety messages received on their driving behaviour. The statements provided are categorised to measure their awareness level, whether at the cognitive, affective on conative stage. The respondents are required to choose their agreement between scales of 1 to 10 for each statement. As for section 3, the respondents are asked on their demographic profile such as age, gender, ethnic, education level, and income. The data was collected three times (before, during and after the Ops as shown in Table B2) at two different locations comprising of urban and rural areas. The location representing urban areas is Melaka Tengah, Melaka. Kampar, Perak was chosen as the site that represents rural areas. A total of 1,200 respondents volunteered to answer this survey. At each location, 200 respondents were selected. The breakdown of the respondents is shown in Table B3.

Table B2 Data collection period

Location Before Ops During Ops After Ops

Melaka Tengah, Melaka

9–12 January 2012 25–28 January 2012 8–11 February 2012

Kampar, Perak

The data collected through the survey was then coded and analysed using SPSS version 17. The data from the survey was then cross tabulated to observe any difference of awareness among different demographic profiles of the respondents.


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Table B3 The respondents’ breakdown by ethnicity

Location Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian &

others Total/phase

Melaka Tengah, Melaka

120 70 10 200

Kampar, Perak 62 114 24 200


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Appendix C

Seatbelt Use

Methodology

The study was conducted using the observation method for data collection; consisting of pre and post assessments. The observations were conducted during the 2012 Chinese New Year festive season in conjunction with Ops Bersepadu conducted by road safety enforcement agencies throughout the country from 3 January 2012 to 15 February 2012. In this study, the data collection was divided into three phases; before the Ops Bersepadu (3 January 2012–16 January 2012), during the Ops Bersepadu (17 January 2012–31 January 2012) and after the Ops Bersepadu (1 February 2012–15 February 2012). The data collection was done during the day and covered only the weekdays. The study was conducted in two districts (Peringgit and Kajang) and two expressways (R&R North and R&R South of PLUS expressways). The inclusion criteria for the observation sites were slow traffic flow (near to intersection, roundabout or junction), lack of hazard and safe surroundings for the observers to conduct the observation in. The data collection was carried out by two trained research assistants who were supervised by a research officer. The observations were recorded manually using a form. In order to reduce error in the measurement, the more experienced research assistants from the previous seatbelt use studies were assigned to conduct the observation. To be included as a sample, a vehicle must have at least one rear occupant and must not have heavily tinted windows and windscreen. The study excluded vehicles with more than eight rear passengers and only included the light vehicles inclusive of passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles, sports utility vehicle and light trucks. The trained observers were also reminded to count only vehicles with a visible interior. The data was then entered by trained officers into a database using the EPI-‐Info Statistical Software and the data was cleaned before the statistical analysis was performed. And then the frequencies data and cross-‐tabulations were performed. The 95% Confident Interval (CI) was also calculated. Then, the Chi-‐square analysis was


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carried out to compare the seatbelt use rate. Relative Risk (RR) and 95% CI were calculated. Table C1 shows the number of occupants who were observed during the three periods of the Ops.

Table C1 Numbers of occupants observed according to study phase and type of occupant

Type of occupants Phase of observation

Before Ops During Ops After Ops Driver 881 1047 1067 Front passenger 888 1007 937 Rear passenger 1655 1695 1712 Total 3424 3749 3716

Designed by: MIROS

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012: a Comparison with Previous Ops

Conducted over the Chinese New Year Period from 16 January to 30 January 2012

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ISBN 978- 967- 5967- 50- 4

The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year 2012 No 126... · The Evaluation of Ops Chinese New Year...

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