AsianScientist (Dec. 4, 2013) – According to the International Transport Forum, Malaysia has one of the highest death rates from road traffic accidents in the world. Conversely, the number of road deaths in the United Kingdom is much lower and experiencing a downward trend.
A cross-cultural study of drivers carried out by experts in the School of Psychology’s Driving Research Group at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) and The University of Nottingham in the UK showed that Malaysian drivers have much slower reaction times and required a higher threshold of danger before taking action.
The study also showed that the better we know the roads, the more likely we are to identify events occurring on those roads as hazardous.
The International Transport Forum’s Annual report for 2013 showed that in 2011 there were 6,877 fatalities on Malaysian roads – a rise of 70 percent since 1990, compared to 1,960 fatalities on UK roads — a fall of nearly 64 percent since 1990.
“The fact that Malaysian drivers were slower to respond to danger possibly reflects the more hazardous road environment they are used to,” said Phui Cheng Lim, a postgraduate student who led the research study.
“Although hazard perception tests are used in several developed countries as part of the driver licensing curriculum, little research has been done in developing countries where road safety is a primary concern. Our results suggest that hazard perception testing, particularly in developing countries, would benefit from a paradigm where performance cannot be confused with differing thresholds of what is regarded as a potential hazard,” he said.
The research entitled ‘Cross-cultural effects on drivers’ hazard perception’ was carried out both in Malaysia and the UK and published in the academic journal Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior.
Volunteers from Malaysia and the UK were shown videos of driving scenarios in both countries and tested on their reactions. The difference was statistically significant with British drivers taking an average of 1.68 seconds to register the emerging threat while Malaysian drivers took 2.25 seconds to respond.
Eye tracking data showed the Malaysians were seeing the hazards at the same time as the British drivers but taking much longer to respond, suggesting they considered the hazards to be less dangerous.
”Although Malaysian drivers reacted more slowly, having a slightly attenuated view of what constitutes a hazard doesn’t mean you’re not noticing what’s going on around you. The kind of test we used works very well in the UK, but for countries where people seem more desensitized to hazards, it may not be as appropriate,” said Dr. Elizabeth Sheppard, who initiated the study.
The article can be found at: Lim P et al. (2013) Cross-cultural effects on drivers’ hazard perception.
——
Source: The University of Nottingham Malaysia.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
