Commercial Bus Accident Analysis through Accident Database

Abstract

This paper presents discussion on bus accident data for period of 2003 – 2012 retrieved from Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS). A statistical analysis was conducted to gain insight into the trend, factors affecting accident occurrence and severity of commercial buses. 47% of cases investigated by MIROS between 2007 and 2010 resulted in fatalities, with fatality rate of 1-3 persons being the most frequent while accident with minor injuries having at least 22%. Understanding these factors can help to bring forth realistic strategies to improve the safety of these bus services. Express and stage buses have the highest rate of accident and causalities by road. Express roads record more accident compared to other categories of road. The major cause of mechanical failure among all types of buses was identified to be brake failure with about 56% of the total mechanical failure, and about 52% of all commercial buses were involved in traffic accident with a yearly means of 3.8 accidents per commercial bus (based on commercial bus involved in accident). This knowledge is useful for stake holders and policy makers in transportation industries to improve road safety and reduce accidents. Keywords : Bus accident; database; factors; driving risk and analysis