Motorcycle fatalities in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia has the highest road fatality risk (per 100,000 population) among the ASEAN countries and more than 50% of the road accident fatalities involve motorcyclists. This study has collected and analysed data from the police, government authorities, and national and international research institutes. Only fatality data are used due to the severe underreporting of severe injuries (up to 600%) and slight injuries (up to 1400%). The analysis reveals that the highest numbers of motorcycle fatalities occur in rural locations (61%), on primary roads (62%) and on straight road sections (66%). The majority are riders (89%), 16 to 20 years old (22.5%), and 90% of the motorcycles are privately owned. Of those involved in fatal accidents, 75% of the motorcyclists wear helmets, and 35% do not have proper licences. The highest number of fatalities by type of collision is ‘angular or side’ (27.5%). Although fatal motorcyclist crashes mostly involve ‘passenger cars’ (28%), motorcyclists are responsible for 50% of the collisions either by crashing singly (25%) or with other motorcyclists (25%). While male motorcyclists predominate (94% of fatalities), female motorcyclists aged 31 to 70, possessing ‘no licence’, not wearing helmets and travelling during the day, account for a higher percentage than male motorcyclists. Malaysia must acquire more motorcycle exposure data and establish an injury recording system and database based on hospital-records. To reduce motorcycle fatalities, it first has to understand why young male motorcyclists are prone to fatal crashes in the evenings and on weekends on rural primary roads, especially on straight road sections.

Full text

Motorcycle fatalities in Malaysia
Muhammad Marizwan Abdul Manan ⁎, András Várhelyi
P.O. Box 118, John Ericssons väg 1, 22100, Traffic and Roads Unit (Taffik och väg), Department of Technology and Society (Teknik och Samhälle),
Faculty of Engineering (Lunds Tekniska Högskola), Lund University, Lund, Sweden
abstractarticle info
Article history:
Received 29 June 2011
Received in revised form 8 February 2012
Accepted 10 February 2012
Keywords:
Motorcycle
Fatality
Malaysia
Malaysia has the highest road fatality risk (per 100,000 population) among the ASEAN countries and more
than 50% of the road accident fatalities involve motorcyclists. This study has collected and analysed data
from the police, government authorities, and national and international research institutes. Only fatality
data are used due to the severe underreporting of severe injuries (up to 600%) and slight injuries (up to
1400%). The analysis reveals that the highest numbers of motorcycle fatalities occur in rural locations
(61%), on primary roads (62%) and on straight road sections (66%). The majority are riders (89%), 16 to
20 years old (22.5%), and 90% of the motorcycles are privately owned. Of those involved in fatal accidents,
75% of the motorcyclists wear helmets, and 35% do not have proper licences. The highest number of fatalities
by type of collision is ‘angular or side’(27.5%). Although fatal motorcyclist crashes mostly involve ‘passenger
cars’(28%), motorcyclists are responsible for 50% of the collisions either by crashing singly (25%) or with
other motorcyclists (25%). While male motorcyclists predominate (94% of fatalities), female motorcyclists
aged 31 to 70, possessing ‘no licence’, not wearing helmets and travelling during the day, account for a higher
percentage than male motorcyclists. Malaysia must acquire more motorcycle exposure data and establish an
injury recording system and database based on hospital-records. To reduce motorcycle fatalities, it first has to
understand why young male motorcyclists are prone to fatal crashes in the evenings and on weekends on
rural primary roads, especially on straight road sections.
© 2012 International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Road injuries and fatalities are a growing concern in Malaysia,
with more than 6000 killed and over 25,000-recorded injuries
yearly for the past 5 years [1]. Road fatalities have shown a steady
increase of 4% per year in the last 7 years, rising to 6745 in 2009
[1]. More alarmingly, Malaysia has had the highest fatality risk,
i.e. death per 100,000 population, in the world since 1996! [2].
Fig. 1 shows that the majority of road accident fatalities involve
motorcyclists, constituting more than 50% of the total number of
fatalities. In 2009 alone, motorcycle fatalities reached 4070, which
is the highest for the last 10 years [1].Fig. 1 also shows that motor-
cycle fatalities are 3 times higher than car fatalities, 6 times higher
than pedestrian fatalities and nearly 50 times higher than bus pas-
senger fatalities.
Road accident statistics based on police injury records are proba-
bly inadequate and insufficient due largely to underreporting [3–5].
Comparing Malaysian accident statistics to a highly developed
motorised country like Sweden (see Table 1), it can be concluded
that there are 9 severe injuries for each fatality in the Swedish statis-
tics, while there are only 1.4 severe injuries per fatality according to
the Malaysian statistics. The rate of slight injuries per fatality in
Sweden is 57 to one, while according to statistics in Malaysia it is 4
to one. Concerning motorcycle injuries and fatalities, the rate of
underreporting of injuries in Malaysia is similar. Due to the unreliable
injury statistics in Malaysia, further analysis of road safety problems
can only be based on fatalities, and including injury data in the
analyses would induce bias in inferences and the marginal impacts
of a variety of factors could be overestimated [6].
As the total of motorcycle billion kilometres travelled in Malaysia
increased from 1999 to 2008, motorcycle fatalities increased as well;
see Fig. 2, which indicates that motorcycle casualties are affected by
the increase in exposure.
Motorization in Asian countries is growing fast and the motorcycle
is the dominating transport mode. The number of motorcycles per
thousand people averaged over several major Asian cities is approxi-
mately 196, which is 7 times the average of the rest of the world [11].
For example, the number of registered motorcycles in Taiwan com-
prises 50% of the total number of registered vehicles; in Thailand it
is 63%, in Cambodia 84%, in Vietnam 95%, in Lao 79% and in Indonesia
73% [12–14]. Malaysia, with a population of 27.6 million, is not an
exception [15,16]. According to The Road Transport Department of
Malaysia, the total number of motorcycles in 2009 was 8,940,230
IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39
⁎Corresponding author.Tel.: + 46 046 222 9125,+ 46 076 233 5775 (HP no);fax: + 46
046 222 9100.
E-mail addresses: mmarizwan@gmail.com (M.M. Abdul Manan),
andras.varhelyi@tft.lth.se (A. Várhelyi).
0386-1112/$ –see front matter © 2012 International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.iatssr.2012.02.005
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
IATSS Research

(47% of all motorised vehicles), which was 5% more than passenger
cars [16,17].
The proportion of the motorcycle population on Malaysian roads
varies from state to state. In less developed states such as Perlis and
Kelantan (northern part of Malaysia), the motorcycle population is
more than three-quarters of the total motor vehicle population
[18,19]. In more developed states such as Selangor (Western part of
Malaysia), motorcycles constitute one-third of the total motor vehicle
population. The motorcycle is the major mode of personal transport
for the low-income urban community [20].
In general, motorcycles are the major contributor to road fatalities
in the country, with no sign of declining in the near future [19–24].
Moreover, motorcyclists have a higher fatality rate per distance trav-
elled than other vehicles; for example, in 2004, there were 32.2 fatal-
ities per billion kilometres travelled whereas for passenger cars it was
8.39 fatalities per billion [9].
2. Aim
The aim of this paper is to analyse the causality risk of motorcy-
clists, including both riders and passengers, in order to find the
factors contributing to motorcycle crashes and subsequently build
a base for further research on how to improve the situation of
motorcyclists.
3. Method
The motorcycle fatal accident data is analysed in terms of frequen-
cy and pattern by type of location, area, road, time, crash type, gender,
age, ownership and type of licence. The data comes from various
sources, such as the Malaysian Royal Police Department, Malaysian
Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), Department of Statistics
[15], Highway Planning Unit [16], Road Transport Department (JPJ),
Department of Road Safety (JKJR), Public Works Department (JKR)
and World Health Organization (WHO) reports. The main core of
the fatal motorcycle accident data, however, comes from the Malay-
sian Royal Police Department.
4. Analyses
4.1. Malaysian motorcycle fatalities in comparison to ASEAN countries
Malaysia's motorcycle fatalities are not among the worst in the As-
sociation of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN. Motorcycles constitute
approximately 58% of the vehicles in ASEAN countries, and over the
last decade the motorcycle has been the major contributor, with
52%, to road traffic fatalities [14]. If we compare motorcycle fatalities
per 10,000-registered motorcycles in each country, Malaysia ranks
seventh as seen in Table 2. The three highest are Cambodia (75.1),
Table 1
Road accident severity in Sweden and Malaysia in 2008 [7,8].
Fatalities Severely
injured
Slightly
Injured
Severe:
Fatal
Slight:
Fatal
Sweden
All types of accidents 397 3657 22,591 9:1 57:1
Motorcycle accidents
(rider and passenger)
51 341 898 7:1 17:1
Malaysia
All types of accidents 6527 8868 25,747 1.4:1 4:1
Motorcycle accidents
(rider and passenger)
3898 5472 10,326 1.4:1 2.6:1
3410
3519
3369
3429
3548
3500 3591
3693 3646 38984070
80.84 85.2 89.23 92.94 98.06
104.54
111.47
118.63
126.35
137.42
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Motorcycle Fatalities Motorcycle Total KM Travel (billion)
Motorcycle Fatalities
Motorcyle Total KM Travel
(Billions)
Fig. 2. Total motorcycle kilometres travelled and motorcycle fatalities between 1998 and 2009 [8–10].
Motorcycle
60%
Car
22%
Pedestrian
9%
Bicycle
3%
Lorry
3%
Van
1%
Others
1%
Bus
1%
Fig. 1. Fatality distribution by mode of transport [1].
31M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

Lao P.D.R (9.6) and Singapore (7.1) in terms of motorcycle fatalities
per 10,000 registered motorcycles [14] (see Table 2). However,
Malaysia has the highest number of road fatalities per 100,000 popu-
lation (see Table 2)[14].
4.2. Motorcycle crashes by location
Malaysia's west coast states have the highest number of motorcy-
cle fatalities and fatality rate per 100,000 population, as seen in
Table 3. The east coast region, with a lower motorcycle population
and less built-up density, has the highest fatality rate per 10,000
motorcycles [1]. Meanwhile, the Federal Territories, which have the
highest population density, record the lowest rate in motorcycle
fatality per 10,000 registered motorcycles.
Overall, police records show that 61% of these fatalities occur in
rural areas while cities record only 8%, as seen in Fig. 3 [1]. Looking
deeper into the type of area, motorcycle fatalities are mostly recorded
on motorways and primary roads (62%). Apart from this, motorcycles
fatalities are also found more in residential areas (20%), as compared
to other types of areas, see Fig. 3.
Table 4 shows that the majority of motorcycle fatalities occur on
arterial or primary roads, [1,26]. Related to the road length, the high-
est fatality rate per 100 km and per 100,000 motorcycles also occurs
along primary or arterial roads. Moreover, there are more motorcycle
fatalities per 100 km of Malaysian primary roads than on secondary
roads, local streets and minor roads combined. Unfortunately, data
on traffic volumes for the different types of roads is not available;
hence, we cannot relate motorcycles crashes to their exposure on
these roads.
Table 3
Motorcycle fatality rates by region in Malaysia in year 2009 [1,15,16].
Region of
Malaysia
a
Population Population density
(per km
2
)
Registered
motorcycles
Motorcycle
fatality
Motorcycle fatality/100,000
population
Motorcycle Fatality/10,000
motorcycles
West Coast 4,044,205 730 2,452,630 1031 25.5 4.2
East Coast 3,919,135 215 1,047,225 707 18.0 6.8
Southern 3,233,434 168 1,701,272 673 20.8 4.0
Northern 3,637,266 1926 1,777,419 672 18.5 3.8
East Peninsular 5,540,049 62 689,916 174 3.1 2.5
Federal Territories 1,780,408 9020 1,271,768 95 5.3 0.7
Total 27,565,821
b
83 8,940,230 3352
c
––
a
Malaysia consists of 14 states —3 in the North, 3 in the West and East coast, 3 Federal territories and 2 in the East Peninsular.
b
Including 5,411,324 population count based on DOSM 2010.
c
Excluding 718 unknown cases.
City
8% Town
12%
Small
town
19%
Rural
61%
Residential
20% Office
5%
Shopping
3%
Industrial/Con
struction
4%
Bridge/Foot
Bridge
3%
School
3%
Other
(Motorways
& Primary
Roads)
62%
Fig. 3. Motorcycle fatality based on area type [1].
Table 2
Road traffic safety data from ASEAN countries [14,25].
No ASEAN
countries
Population
(2007)
Registered motorcycle
(2007)
Reported fatalities
(2007)
Road fatalities
per 100,000
population
Motorcycle fatalities
per 10,000 registered
motorcycles
Total (million) (%) Total (%)
1 Brunei 390,056 0.01 4 54 11 13.8 4.9
2 Singapore 4,436,281 0.14 17 214 48 4.8 7.1 (3)
3 Lao P.D.R. 5,859,393 0.51 79 608 80 10.4 9.6 (2)
4 Cambodia 14,443,679 0.13 84 1545 63 10.7 75.1 (1)
5 Malaysia 26,571,879 7.91 47 6282 58 23.6 (1) 4.6
6 Myanmar 48,798,212 0.68 65 1638 10 3.4 2.4
7 Thailand 63,883,662 16.14 63 12,492 70 19.6 (2) 5.4
8 Vietnam 87,375,196 21.78 95 12,800 80 14.6 (3) 4.7
9 Philippines
a
87,960,117 2.65 48 1185 37 1.3 1.7
10 Indonesia 231,626,978 46.22 73 16,548 61 7.1 2.2
Total 571,345,453 96.17 58 53,366 52
() ranking within category, MC: motorcycle
a
Data from 2006.
32 M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

The great majority of motorcycles fatalities are reported on
straight road sections, see Fig. 4 [8]. Fatal accidents involving motor-
cycles are three times as high on straight road sections compared to
the curved sections. Staggered junctions, interchanges and round-
abouts have the lowest number of fatalities, recording less than 1.0%
fatalities each in 2009 [1].
4.3. Motorcycle fatalities by time and weather conditions
For the period 2000 to 2009, motorcycle fatalities are evenly dis-
tributed over the months of the year, see Fig. 5 [1]. Motorcycle fatality
records are highest from Saturday to Tuesday, as seen in Fig. 6. The
highest motorcycle fatalities occur between 4 pm and 10 pm, as
shown in Fig. 7. On average, there have been 243 motorcycle fatalities
Table 4
Motorcycle fatality by road type in Malaysia in 2009 [1,8,26].
Road hierarchy Road length ADT
(million)
MC
fatalities
MC fatal/
100 km
MC fatal/
100,000
MC
km % Veh MC N %
Expressway 1635 1.3 20.6 * 121 3.0 7.4 *
Primary/arterial 16,939 13.6 12.8 2.6 2021 49.7 11.9 76.7
Secondary/collector 54,681 43.9 6.3 1.6 672 16.5 1.2 42.0
Local street 43,363 34.8 * * 755 18.6 1.7 *
Minor roads 8038 6.4 * * 501 12.3 6.2 *
Total 124,656 100 ––4070 100 3.3 –
ADT —average daily traffic, Veh —vehicle, MC —motorcycle,
(*) —data is not available.
The traffic count (ADT) covers 70% of each road hierarchy in Malaysia.
0.4% 0.4% 0.5%
5.0%
13.5% 14.3%
66.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
staggered
junction
interchanges roundabout cross junction t - junction bend/curve straight
Fig. 4. Percentage motorcycle fatality on various parts of the road network in 2009 [1].
9.0%
7.9%
8.6%
7.9%
8.6% 8.0%
8.7% 9.1%
7.9% 8.4% 7.8% 8.2%
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
10.0%
Fig. 5. Cumulative percentages of motorcycle fatalities by month from 2000 to 2009 [1].
15.3% 14.3% 13.4% 13.3% 13.2%
14.7% 15.8%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
18.0%
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Fig. 6. Cumulative percentages of motorcycle fatalities by day from 2000 to 2009 [1].
33M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

per month, 60 fatalities per week and 8 fatalities per day over the last
10 years in Malaysia.
Motorcycle fatalities occur more often during clear weather
(93.0%) and during the day (55.6%), see Table 5 [1].Thepercent-
age of fatalities occurring during the day in clear weather is
52.5%. Fatalities at night also occur mostly in clear weather condi-
tions (34%).
4.4. Motorcycle fatalities by type of collisions
The largest group of motorcycle fatalities by type of collision is
‘Angular or Side’, see Fig. 8. Over the years, this ‘Angular or Side’col-
lision has been consistently highest, followed by the ‘Out of Control
and Head-on’type of collision [1]. The ‘Out of Control’group is
described by the Royal Police of Malaysia (PDRM) as ‘single vehicle
accidents’[1], because motorcycles are often found lying off-road
and by themselves [1].‘Squeezed’and ‘overturned’are among the
lowest, accounting for less than 0.5%.
4.5. Motorcycle fatalities by collision with vehicle type
The most frequent fatal traffic collision is between a motorcycle
and passenger car, see Fig. 9 [1]. Collisions between motorcycles are
common, as are ‘single-motorcycle-accidents’, accounting for up to
25% each. ‘Single-motorcycle-accidents’do not involve any other
type of vehicle, but the police categorizes them as collisions with
other vehicles [1,10]. Evidently, motorcyclists themselves contribute
to 50% of the fatal collisions either in ‘single accidents’or with other
motorcyclists.
8.3%
4.5% 3.9%
8.8%
7.7%
6.7%
8.2% 8.3%
10.2%
12.4% 12.7%
8.5%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
Fig. 7. Cumulative percentages of motorcycle fatality by time of the day from 2000 to 2009 [1].
Table 5
Motorcycle fatalities by weather and light conditions [1].
Weather Light conditions Total %
Day Dawn/
dusk
Night with
street light
Night without
street light
Clear 1760 289 593 477 3119 93.0
Windy 1 1 1 1 4 0.1
Foggy 4 15 0 10 29 0.9
Rain 90 14 37 41 182 5.4
Other 8 6 2 2 18 0.5
Total 1863 325 633 531 3352
a
100.0
% 55.6 9.7 18.9 15.8 100
a
Excluding 718 unknown cases.
0.4% 0.4% 1.0% 1.1% 1.2% 1.3% 1.9%
8.9%
14.8%
19.9%
21.4%
27.5%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
Fig. 8. Cumulative percentages of motorcycle fatality by type of collision from 2000 to 2009 [1].
34 M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

4.6. Motorcycle fatalities by gender, occupancy (rider/passenger) and
age groups
Table 6 shows that on an average of 5 years, 92% of motorcycle
fatalities are males and 89% of the total motorcycle fatalities are riders
[1]. The table also indicates that, on average, riders are eight (8) times
more involved in fatal accidents, and that males are eleven (11) times
more involved than females [1].
According to PDRM (2009), the age group 16 to 20 (22.5%) was
most involved in motorcycle fatalities in the period 2000 to 2009[1].
Fig. 10 shows that motorcycle fatalities are highest for 16 to
20 year-old males, and that they are 10 times more involved in fatal
motorcycle accidents than females. However, the ratio of males to
females is highest (12 and 13) for males aged 21 to 25 and 26 to 30,
respectively. More alarmingly, the ratio is even higher (21) for
males over the age of 75. Meanwhile, looking at the percentage of
males and females involved in fatal accidents, as per Fig. 11, male
motorcyclists aged 16 to 30 have higher percentages than their
female counterparts. However, female motorcyclists aged 31 to 40,
46 to 50 and 56 to 70 have a higher percentage than male motorcy-
clists in the same age groups.
4.7. Motorcycle fatalities by time associated with gender
The distribution of fatalities for female motorcyclists, during the
hours of the day, is highest (70%), from 8 am to 8 pm; for males, the
highest fatalities (46.5%) occur from 8 pm to 8 am, i.e., from evening
to early morning, see Fig. 12 [1].
4.8. Motorcycle fatalities by motorcycle ownership and licence type by
gender
In ninety percent (90%) of the fatality cases, the motorcycle is pri-
vately owned as seen in Fig. 13 [1]. Thirty five percent (35%) of these
do not have a valid licence [1]. Although the majority of the fatalities
are ‘full licence’holders, the share of motorcycle fatalities with more
licence years (>5 years) is larger than the share of those with fewer
licence years [1]. Moreover, Fig. 14 shows that the fatality percentage
for female motorcyclists with ‘no licence’and ‘less than 5 licence
years’is higher than for males [1].
4.9. Motorcycle fatalities by type of helmet worn and by gender
As seen in Fig. 15, seventy six percent (76%) of those involved in
motorcycle fatalities wear helmets, and 4% wear helmets not strapped
properly [1]. The percentage of female motorcyclists involved in fatal
accidents and not wearing helmets (24%) is slightly higher than for
males (20%), see Fig. 16 [1].
4.10. Motorcycle fatalities by type of injury
The most frequent injury type sustained by motorcyclists in fatal
accidents is injury to the head (63%), as seen in Fig. 17 [1]. Other
types of single injuries constitute less than 10%, while multiple inju-
ries comprise 20%.
Passenger Car
28%
Motorcycle
with
motorcycle
25%
Single m/c
accident
25%
Trucks /
Lorries
14%
Van / SUV
5%
Bus
2%
Trishaw /
Bicycle
1%
Fig. 9. Motorcycle fatalities by collision with vehicle type [1].
Table 6
Motorcycle fatality by motorcycle occupancy and gender [1].
Year Rider Passenger R:
P
Males Females M:F Total
Total % Total % Total % Total %
2005 3181 88.6 410 11.4 1:8 3223 89.8 368 10.2 1:9 3591
2006 3243 87.8 450 12.2 1:7 3360 91.0 333 9.0 1:10 3693
2007 3197 87.7 449 12.3 1:7 3426 94.0 220 6.0 1:14 3646
2008 3459 88.7 439 11.3 1:8 3587 92.0 311 8.0 1:11 3898
2009 3640 89.4 430 10.6 1:8 3820 93.9 250 6.1 1:15 4070
Average 3344 88.5 436 11.5 1:8 3483 92.1 296 7.9 1:11
R—rider, P —passenger, M —males, F —females
12
4
10
12
13
7
5
9
4
9
5
6
8
12
21
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70 71-75 >75
Male Female Male : Female
Fig. 10. Motorcycle fatality by age, gender and gender ratio [1].
35M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

0.5%
0.3%
4.7%
23.1%
17.3%
9.4%
6.4%
4.8%
5.5%
4.4%
5.1%
4.0%
4.2%
3.7%
3.8%
2.9%
3.8%
1.4%
8.4%
18.2%
11.1%
6.0%
7.0%
7.0%
5.1%
8.4%
4.3%
6.5%
5.4%
3.8%
2.4%
1.1%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70 71-75 >75
% Male % Female
Fig. 11. Motorcycle fatality by age, gender and gender percentage [1].
7.7%
4.9%
2.5%
9.2%
8.1%
7.5%
7.3%
8.9%
10.9%
10.8%
12.9%
9.3%
3.5%
0.8%
0.8%
8.4%
9.2%
11.9%
10.5%
12.1%
13.5%
12.4%
8.1%
8.9%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
(%) Male (%) Female
Fig. 12. Percentage of motorcycle fatality by hours of the day and by gender [1].
‘L’ Licence is Learners licence or probational licence
Personal
90%
Goods
6%
Services
3%
Government
1%
No
Licence
35%
Full
Licence
> 5
years
34%
Full
Licence
< 5
years
29%
'L'
Licence
2%
Fig. 13. Motorcycle fatality by motorcycle ownership and type of licence [1].
36 M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

4.11. Motorcycle facilities
Motorcycle lanes and motorcycle paths are provided to a certain
extent in Malaysia. During the last 10 years the Government has
made considerable efforts to reduce motorcycle crashes, e.g., the
National Motorcycle Safety Program (Program Keselamatan Motorsi-
kal Nasional) [22,27]. As part of this program, various facilities for
motorcyclists, such as paths and lanes (along the carriageway or on
the road shoulder) exclusively for motorcycles, have been provided
at “strategic”locations [28]. Still, this type of facility makes up less
than 1% of the whole length of primary roads (Federal Roads),
whereas paved road shoulders account for about 20% of the whole
primary road network [28].
It is not clear if non-exclusive motorcycle lanes can mitigate
motorcycle crashes on primary roads (federal roads). This kind of
motorcycle lane is an extra lane, which is built on the road shoulder
itself, with additional markings and warning signs. Nonetheless,
motorcycle fatalities on roads equipped with these non-exclusive
motorcycle lanes increased from 518 in 2006 to 589 in 2007 [8].
Motorcycle crashes have also occurred on motorways and primary
roads that are equipped with exclusive motorcycle paths. From 2006
to 2008, crashes involving motorcycles steadily increased along a pri-
mary road, designated as F2, which has an exclusive motorcycle path
alongside [8]. Furthermore, there were also cases where at least 5
collisions per year occurred on the exclusive motorcycle path itself
from 2006 to 2008 [8].
5. Discussion and conclusion
To analyse motorcycle rider fatalities (involving both drivers and
passengers) this paper uses fatality data, since fatality records are
found to be more accurate and consistent than injury data in police re-
cords [3]. Furthermore, due to underreporting, official police reports of
road accident statistics are incomplete, inaccurate and biased [29].A
comparison of Malaysian road accident statistics with those of Sweden
reveals that underreporting of severe injuries might be up to 600% and
for slight injuries up to 1400%. Studies have shown that many more in-
jured motorcyclists are identified through hospital databases than
through police crash databases [30]. Moreover, police records of
‘L’ Licence is Learners licence or probational licence
34.5% 34.6%
28.8%
2.1%
40.1%
24.1%
33.3%
2.5%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
No Licence Full Licence > 5 years Full Licence < 5 years 'L' Licence
(%) Male (%) Female
Fig. 14. Percentage of motorcycle fatality by gender and licence type [1].
Wearing Helmet
76%
Wearing helmet
but not strapped
4%
Not wearing
helmet
20%
Fig. 15. Motorcycle fatalities by type of helmet worn [1].
4.0%
20.0%
76.0%
3.2%
24.0%
72.9%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Wearing helmet but not
strapped
Not wearing helmet Wearing helmet
% Male % Female
Fig. 16. Percentage of motorcycle fatality by helmet worn and gender [1].
37M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

people injured in traffic and admitted to hospital are not representa-
tive with regard to the mode of transport and the age of the victims
[4].
Our analysis reveals that Malaysia's motorcycle fatalities per
10,000 registered motorcycles are still among the lowest in ASEAN
countries, i.e. seventh out of ten. However, Malaysia still holds the
record for having the highest road fatalities per 100,000 population.
The highest motorcycle fatalities are found in the West Coast Area
of Malaysia, which has the highest number of registered motorcycles
and population. Motorcycle fatalities are highest in rural locations
(61%), mostly on the roads (62%), especially primary or arterial
roads (62%), and the majority on straight road sections (66%). Motor-
cycle fatalities are higher from Saturday to Tuesday (60%) and
between 4 pm and 10 pm (35%). Most of the fatalities occur during
the day and in clear weather conditions. The highest number of
fatalities by type of collision is angular or side (27.5%). Although
fatal motorcyclist collisions are often with ‘passenger cars’(28%), mo-
torcyclists contribute 50% of the collisions either in single accidents
(25%) or colliding with other motorcyclists (25%). The highest motor-
cycle fatalities are recorded for riders (89%) 16 to 20 years old
(22.5%), and 90% of these motorcycles are privately owned. Of those
involved in fatal accidents, 75% of the motorcyclists wear helmets,
and 35% of them do not possess a proper licence. Male motorcyclists
are dominant (94%), but the numbers of female fatalities in the age
groups 31 to 40, 46 to 50 and 56 to 70 are larger compared to male
motorcyclists. Moreover, females are more involved in fatal accidents
during the day. Females possess no licence, or have a licence for less
than 5 years, and do not wear helmets to a slightly larger extent
than males.
A study by Radin Umar [31] also shows that primary roads or arte-
rial roads in Malaysia have the highest number of motorcycle fatali-
ties. Of the roads in Malaysia, 60% are primary roads, which are
partially access controlled, mostly non-segregated or single carriage-
way, with intrinsically dangerous features such as trees, open cul-
verts, access to rural houses and narrow road barriers [12,26,32,33].
That motorcycle fatalities are more frequent in rural areas may be
due to greater speeds made possible by lower traffic volumes and less
traffic control [21,34]. In rural areas, absence of rescue and the late
arrival of rescue at the scene of accidents may also contribute to fatal-
ity [21,35]. Moreover, helmet compliance is low in rural areas [36,37]
due to lack of enforcement and road safety awareness [38]. Besides,
a high motorcycle volume is typical in rural areas in Malaysia, com-
prising 25% to 55% of total traffic[12]. On the other hand, studies
have confirmed that fatal motorcycle crashes are likely to occur on
straight road sections [18,28] that encourage speeding [39].
Other studies have shown that males aged between 16 and 25
are among the most commonly involved in motorcycle fatalities
[18,34,35,40,41]. Most of them have no licences [1,18] or have less
than 3 years of experience [28]. Hence, young motorcyclists are
inexperienced, lack proper riding skills [42,43], are impulsive [44],
often show risky behaviour [43,45,46] and are mostly self-taught by
trial and error [43]. It has also been shown that young motorcyclists
ride for enjoyment, expression and thrill [34,46], and in doing so
they tend to violate traffic laws e.g., by not wearing helmets
[12,34,43] and exceeding the speed limit [45].
Female motorcyclists who are aged 31 to 70, possess ‘no licence’,
and travel during the day are involved in a higher percentage of all
female motorcycle fatalities compared to their male counterparts.
Despite the fact that female riders wear helmets to a larger extent
than male riders [36,37], this study has shown that, when not wear-
ing helmets, female fatalities are higher than male fatalities This phe-
nomenon might take place in rural environments where housewives
or single female parents, who are usually aged 31 to 70, often wear
‘Hijab’and frequently commute along primary roads during the day.
Their activities are varied, ranging from running small businesses to
fetching their children. However, these factors have not yet been
properly studied and proven.
This study points out 3 main types of crashes in Malaysia; colli-
sions with passenger cars (28%), collisions with other motorcycles
(25%) and single-motorcycle crashes (25%). Motorcycle accidents
with passenger cars are also reported in Pang et al. [28], Hsu et al.
[12] and Haque et al. [40]. Accidents are mainly due to the mixed traf-
fic conditions in Asian countries, where motorcyclists share the roads
with cars and are the most vulnerable users [12,47]. Motorcycle
single-vehicle accidents are also frequently reported [32,33,35,48]
and are associated with poor control [49] coupled with inappropriate
riding speeds [50]. Fatal motorcycle crashes involving roadside
barriers and sharp surface objects are predominantly single vehicle
crashes [32,33].
Other studies support the assertion that motorcycle fatal crashes
occur in the evening [35,40], especially during weekends and in
clear weather [32,40,51]. Krantz [49] and Yau [48] find that single-
vehicle accidents occur mostly on weekends and often at night, due
mainly to inadequate visibility at night, which worsens the non-
conspicuity of motorcycles [52].
Injury caused in motorcycle fatalities is mainly to the ‘head’
[35,53–55] and face [56] and reportedly found more often in young
motorcyclists [53]. Despite the proven effectiveness and the success
of motorcycle helmets in reducing the fatality risk of motorcycle
drivers and passengers [36,37,54,55,57], this study shows that 20%
of the motorcycle riders involved in fatal accidents did not wear hel-
mets, and 63% sustained head injuries. Of these, 75% wore helmets, so
whether the helmets give enough protection should be further inves-
tigated. Another perspective on motorcycle fatalities among young
Malaysians may be the aspect of ‘limited-choices’. A young fresh grad-
uate in Malaysia may find it costly to buy a car and, due to poor public
transportation, he or she may instead opt for a motorcycle. In rural
areas, riding motorcycles is considered a tradition, and motorcycles
are passed down from generation to generation. It is convenient to
use a motorcycle in plantations or paddy fields and along narrow
paths often connected to primary roads.
This study does not provide an understanding of young motor-
cyclists' behaviour. The influence on, or motivation for, risky behav-
iour in the local context for young motorcyclists is still uncharted
territory, although many international experts [42,45] point out that
drugs, alcohol and suicidal tendency are prominent influences on
such behaviour. The fact that the majority of the motorcyclists killed
in accidents are young males [1] is irrefutable. However, alcohol,
drugs and suicidal tendencies or urges are forbidden in Islam, which
is the prime religion in Malaysia. Thus, the socio-economic context
of motorcycle fatalities and the underlying causes have to be explored
further. The proportion of fatalities on straight road sections in good
weather conditions, and the large number of young males involved
indicate that further research should be directed to finding the
contributing factors.
Head
63%
Neck
4%
Chest
9%
Hips
1%
Legs
3%
Multiple
20%
Fig. 17. Motorcycle fatality by type of injury [1].
38 M.M. Abdul Manan, A. Várhelyi / IATSS Research 36 (2012) 30–39

One of the conclusions is that accident recording must be im-
proved in Malaysia by establishing an injury recording system and
database based on hospital records to complement police records.
Moreover, comprehensive traffic volume counts must be conducted
on all road types in Malaysia in order to further analyse road user ex-
posure and compare fatality risks on each road type. Malaysia still
lacks an understanding of the socio-economic scenario and behaviour
of motorcyclists with respect to road safety. Thus, to reduce motorcy-
cle fatalities, we have to understand why young male motorcyclists
travelling on rural primary roads, especially on straight road sections
in the evenings and weekends, are prone to fatal accidents.
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