Characteristics of heavy goods vehicles (HGV) accidents in Malaysia

Abstract

An increasing trend of freight road traffic in Malaysia resulted in more than a thousand fatal accidents involving heavy goods vehicles (HGV) every year. Of these fatal accidents involving HGV, more than 80% resulted in deaths for other road users. This situation creating a significant need to better understand the accident characteristics of this vehicle group. Utilizing five years of historical accidents data from the year 2011 to 2015, this study attempt to examine the factors associated with HGV accident resulted in fatalities. Results from the binary logistic regression indicated that the smaller vehicles have significantly higher odds of resulting fatal outcome. Comparing other vehicles with the bus, fatality odds ratio for the car, motorcycle and cycle are 1.929, 2.423 and 3.626 respectively. The likelihood of being fatal in an accident involving HGV is significantly higher on the straight road as compared to the T/Y junction or others (interchange & roundabout). Accidents involving HGV on expressway were also found to have higher odds compared to other road hierarchies. The result of this study can aid safety planners to plan safety management for HGV transport.