ABSTRACT
In Malaysia, young and inexperienced motorcyclists are greatly over-represented in the annual road accident statistics. In the existing rider training program, the skills of the novice motorcyclists were not entirely measured and examined prior to the license approval because the current curriculum does not include training and testing on the actual road. This study used an instrumented motorcycle to capture the riding performances of novice motorcyclists on actual road. Hazard perception skills of 103 novice motorcyclists during unprotected right turns (equivalent to the US left turns) at unsignalized T junctions were evaluated. Significant differences were found in participants’ choice of speed and use of turn signals in responding to oncoming vehicles at junctions. However, participants did not significantly reduce their speed nor give longer turn signals when only crossing vehicles present at the junctions. It was found that novice motorcyclists in our sample did not respond sufficiently to the vehicles crossing the junctions and underestimated the potential risk of accident. The effectiveness of current rider training program in improving hazard perception skills of novice motorcyclists is discussed.
