Identifying Factors Contributing to the Motorcycle Crash Severity in Pakistan

Abstract

Motorcycle is a popular mode of transportation in many developing countries, including Pakistan. Since the last decade, the registered number of motorcycles in Pakistan has increased by six times, constituting 74% of the total registered vehicles. However, limited research efforts have been made to investigate motorcycle-related safety issues in Pakistan. Thus, the relationship between potential risk factors and injury outcomes of motorcycle crashes is still unclear in the country. This study, therefore, established a random parameter logit model to examine the factors associated with the motorcycle injury severity. The analysis is based on two years (2014–2015) of data collected through the road traffic injuries surveillance system from Karachi city, Pakistan. The results indicate that the summer season, weekends, nighttime, elderly riders, heavy vehicle, and single-vehicle collisions are positively associated with fatalities, while the presence of pillion passengers and motorcycle-to-motorcycle crashes are negatively associated with fatalities. More importantly, in the specific context of Pakistan, morning hours, young riders, and female pillion passengers whose clothes stuck in the wheel significantly increase the fatal injury outcomes. Based on the findings, potential countermeasures to improve motorcycle safety are discussed, such as strict enforcement to control motorcyclists' risky behavior and speeding, provision of exclusive motorcycles lanes, and education of female pillion passengers. The findings from this study would increase awareness of motorcycle safety and can be used by the policymakers to enhance road safety in Pakistan, as well as in other developing countries with similar situations.

Self-reported Motorcycle Riding Behavior in Southeast of Iran

“…In this regard, Pervez reported that heavy vehicle is positively associated with fatalities. He found that motorcycles with heavy engines have greater performance that gives less reaction time to the riders in the event of a collision; thus, it increases the likelihood of fatality or injuries (35). According to our results, daily use of motorcycles increased the likelihood of high-risk behaviors, which was consistent with the study by Heydari.…”

Analysis of Transport and Vehicular Crash Cases Using the Online National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (ONEISS) from 2010 to 2019

“…The findings of this study are similar to India wherein an observed trend in increasing road traffic accidents from 2005 to 2015 was attributed to increasing vehicles on the Highly significant association road. 7 Moreover, studies have also associated road accidents with sociodemographic characteristics (mean age of 32.3 ± 18.5 years, males, single), helmet use, time of the day (fatal accidents at midnights), and behaviors, [8][9][10][11][12] which were the main variables in this study.…”

“…This finding is similar to the study done in Rwanda wherein majority of victims were aged 20 to 45 years, and in New Delhi wherein 47.4% of road traffic injury patients were aged 16 to 30 years. 13,14 This may be attributed to the fact that younger people are more at risk for engaging in risky behaviors such as speeding, drifting, one-wheeling competitions, rash driving, reckless and aggressive driving, impulsivity, and drunk driving, 11 while older adults are more experienced and cautious. 15,16 The study showed that males (72.5%) were more likely to be involved in road crash compared to females (27.5%).…”

Investigating Different Types of Red-Light Running Behaviors among Urban e-Bike Rider Mixed Groups

“…where S in is the utility function, β i denotes the vector of estimable parameters, X in is a vector of the explanatory variables, and ε in is an error term [29]. is study developed a random parameter logit model to overcome the limitation of multinomial logit model, that is, the influence of variables on the crossing behavior is fixed among riders, as shown in the following formula [30]:…”