A systemic analysis of the usage of safety items among Malaysian private vehicle users

Abstract

In such a large road transportation system, human factor plays a very significant role in ensuring a desirable balance between transport demand and safe operations. This paper presents a systemic analysis of three safety items, namely seatbelt for adult car occupants, child safety seats (CSS) for young occupants and helmet for motorcyclists, of which the success level is highly reliant on the road users’ willingness to utilise them according to the recommended and proper usage. In a temporal view of road crashes, these safety items were part of ‘during-crash’ passive safety components i.e. to provide protection during the crash impact phase. This analysis includes the safety items benefits and issues, related road safety strategic programmes, current legal framework, and local research findings based on observational studies. The use of both helmet and seatbelt was mandatory but the move has so far produced mixed results. Meanwhile, CSS usage and acceptance are on the rise, although still at a nascent stage. This situation can be considered as ‘below satisfactory compliance level’, hence a more inclusive solution is needed, including the introduction of technology, to influence or compel road users to wear such safety items while on the road.

Keywords

• road safety
• safety items usage
• motorcycle helmet
• seatbelt
• child safety seat (css)