Azzuhana Roslan

The rise of micromobility solutions, particularly e-scooters and e-bikes, is reshaping urban mobility patterns in Malaysian cities. Despite their growing popularity, the behavioral dynamics and safety implications of micromobility users across various road categories remain insufficiently understood. This gap presents a challenge for developing responsive infrastructure and policies that ensure safe integration into existing transport systems. This study aims to examine the behavior, preferences, and safety concerns of micromobility users—focusing on their interaction with four distinct road types: expressways, federal roads, city centers, and residential areas. A mixed-method approach was adopted, comprising two main stages: (i) online surveys to capture user demographics, preferences, and risk perceptions, and (ii) on-site observational studies to assess user positioning, speed, helmet usage, and visibility practices across the selected road categories. The findings reveal notable behavioral differences based on road types. For instance, e-scooter usage was nearly non-existent on expressways, while bicycle users on federal roads and city centers showed a 67% rate of helmet use and a 74% compliance with lighting visibility standards during low-light conditions. In conclusion, the study highlights the urgent need for road-type-specific infrastructure enhancements, reinforced safety regulations, and awareness campaigns tailored to micromobility users. These insights are essential for urban planners and policymakers aiming to foster a safer, more inclusive micromobility ecosystem in Malaysia.

Introducing micro-mobility devices (MMD) such as bicycles and e-scooters as a transport option in Malaysia and the risk safety issues have attracted the attention of the government and enforcement agencies especially when they are cycling or riding on the road. Its uncontrolled use has made the government decision to ban the use of certain MMDs on the road with effect from the beginning of 2022. However, in order to support smart mobility, green and active mobility, the government is devising a mechanism to enable the use of MMDs in some areas. Therefore, this paper explores the characteristics and demographics of existing MMD users in Malaysia in order to assist the government give careful consideration to the safety of MMD users. The government must decide on the best ecosystem to implement the use of MMD through a safe control mechanism in terms of vehicles, infrastructure and users. To achieve an objective to assist in the decision-making process for the selection of appropriate countermeasures to promote the safety of MMD users, this study aims to assess and understand the characteristics of MMD users in Malaysia. This study only focused on existing MMD users. Throughout the online survey, a total of 371 respondents were involved in this study of which 277 were MMD users. This study also revealed that most MMD users in Malaysia are male, young (teenagers and adults) and have a fixed income.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 hit hard on the year 2020. Countries around the world, including Malaysia, introduced various measures in controlling the spread of the pandemic. One such action placed by the Malaysian government was the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) to help in reducing the massive spread of the virus. The MCO halted almost all businesses, universities, and activities that involve massive gatherings, with the exception of essential businesses. One of the key elements of the MCO is the inter-state travel restriction, which reduce people movements, hence the reduction in traffic exposure, mobility trends and subsequently, translated into a reduction in road deaths. This paper highlights the effect of the inter-state travel restriction on the number of road deaths, with focus on motorcyclist deaths and other road users’ deaths. Time series intervention model is used to determine the effect of the interstate travel restriction. Results showed there is a sudden-temporary reduction in the monthly overall number of road deaths, motorcyclist, and other road users’ deaths. As the inter-state travel restriction is lifted, all the three series showed a gradual increment in the monthly statistics, as people resume their normal travel activities.

Accidents involving heavy vehicles are of significant concern as it poses a higher risk of fatality to both heavy vehicle drivers and other road users. This study is carried out based on the heavy vehicle crash data of 2014, extracted from the MIROS Road Accident and Analysis and Database System (M-ROADS). The main objective of this study is to identify significant variables associated with categories of injury severity as well as classify and predict heavy vehicle drivers’ injury severity in Malaysia using the classification and regression tree (CART) and random forest (RF) methods. Both CART and RF found that types of collision, driver errors, number of vehicles involved, driver’s age, lighting condition and types of heavy vehicle are significant factors in predicting the severity of heavy vehicle drivers’ injuries. Both models are comparable, but the RF classifier achieved slightly better accuracy. This study implies that the variables associated with categories of injury severity can be referred by road safety practitioners to plan for the best measures needed in reducing road fatalities, especially among heavy vehicle drivers.