Driver attitude towards road safety

Abstract

Malaysia’s accident rate is ranked as the one of the highest in the world. The bad habits of Malaysian drivers who like to speed without considering the risks is one of the contributory factors for the high accident rate in the country. This situation is very worrying and that the government is confident that the best way to handle the issue is to educate the public and create awareness of the importance of road safety and road courtesy at grassroot levels. Most drivers tend to overestimate their own ability and capability of their vehicle to react within the sufficient time to avoid crashes. Dangerous driving behaviour such as speeding, fatigue, using mobile phone and drive aggressively are recognised as a major factors in causing road accident in Malaysia. Pasir Gudang, had been chosen as the study area. A sample of 100 drivers was selected by used simple random sampling method for a questionnaire survey. The findings of this study reveal that generally, most of the drivers are particular on their time management because most of them are set their target to reach the destination but then they disobey the law on the road. It same to goes using mobile phone while driving and overtaking, the drivers will not like to be bounded by rules and regulation. The finding also showed that male drivers more aggressive compared to female drivers especially in age group of 21-30 years old. Hence, a well plan integrated road safety programme needs to be implemented in order to mitigate road accidents. These included more stern enforcement with the right road safety education and create public awareness through mass media and the NGOs and tighten the enforcement as well. It hoped that with recommendations, Malaysian drivers will be more respect to the law and also other road users while they are driving.