The Relationship between Self-reported Traffic Crashes and Driver Behavior in the Road Transportation of Goods and Freight in Bali

Abstract

Road safety stakeholders in Bali have highlighted the need to investigate and better understand road user behavior as a means of reducing the high number of crashes in the goods and freight distribution sector. This study aims to analyze the relationship between driver behavior and traffic crashes reported by drivers transporting goods and freight in Denpasar, Bali. A driving safety survey was distributed to 350 goods and freight transport drivers to obtain a range of demographic information, self-reported crash and offence data, and psychosocial data associated with driving safety. Analysis identified four areas of concern with distinctions between different driving practices within the sample, consisting of aggressive driving behavior, driving errors, traffic code violations and normlessness. The results of this study demonstrate that normlessness consisting of behaviors such as taking a slight risk when overtaking and ignoring speed limits were the most common forms of unsafe behavior reported by the goods vehicle transport drivers. The study found that speeding influenced more self-reported driving errors, aggressive behaviors, traffic rule violations and crashes. In addition, drink driving was found to be positively related to traffic crashes. The implications of these results are discussed.