Causation of Road Traffic Crash Severity on Malaysian Expressways

Abstract

The economic growth of a country is dependent on its transportation facilities. However, over the past few years, issues related to the safety of roads users have gained more attention. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in most countries, road traffic crashes cost up to 3% of the gross domestic product and are the leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 29 years old.  Hence, to prevent further loss due to road traffic crashes, more emphasis should be placed on reducing the occurrence of road crashes by understanding the causative factors of road traffic crashes and take remedial measures. In this study, crash reports obtained from the Malaysia Highway Authority (MHA) were utilized to identify the causation factors of crash severity in road traffic crashes on Malaysian intra-urban expressways. Data was coded based on the critical events, critical reasons and associated factors of each crash. A relative risk analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of each factor on the road traffic crash outcome. Findings from this study indicated that only the critical events of a crash are associated with certain crash outcomes while critical reasons and associated factors are not.