Exploration of motorcyclists' behavior at access points of a Malaysian primary road - a qualitative observation study

The majority of motorcycle accident fatalities in Malaysia occur on primary roads, especially at access points situated along straight road sections. To explore the behavioral factors that may contribute to motorcyclists being involved in hazardous situations at these locations and to develop working hypotheses for a consecutive quantitative study, a qualitative observational study was carried out. Six subject riders exiting from the access point of a primary road were observed. The observations were narrated in detail and coding was used as a means to analyze the observations and divide (and sub-divide) them into categories, which were then segregated into themes. The results of the study produced a number of hypotheses based on various combination themes, i.e. background condition, motorcyclists’ behavior before exit, motorcyclists’ behavior during exit, and involvement in serious traffic conflicts. The newly developed hypotheses from this study are presented and discussed; they are put forward to be tested in a consecutive quantitative observational study. This study also presents novelty in terms of applying a qualitative observational study on motorcyclists, which can be easily adopted not only for Malaysian researches but also all countries that face similar motorcycle problems at access points or junctions.