| dc.description |
All praise to Almighty Allah for His graciousness, unlimited kindness and the blessings
for the successful accomplishment of entire thesis work.
The author would like to express my deepest sincere gratitude to my supervisor
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Russedul Islam, PhD, for giving me an opportunity to
work on such an important topic. His continuous guidance, invaluable suggestion,
affectionate encouragement, generous help and invaluable acumen are greatly
acknowledged. His keen interest on this topic and enthusiastic support on my effort was a
source of inspiration for me to carry out the study. The author considers myself fortunate
to work under his dynamic supervision.
The author deeply acknowledges the expert observations and guidance of his Research
Assistant, Md Hazrat Ali. He with his scholarly approach and continuous guidelines
enabled him to conduct proper research. The author is truly obliged to him.
The author would like to thank all who have extended their helping hands both directly
and indirectly and regretful for not mentioning their names individually.
Finally, the author is grateful to his family for their continuous encouragement and
support during the study. |
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| dc.description.abstract |
In recent years, motorcycles have become one of the preferred modes of transport for
commuters of Dhaka city as an alternative to car travel and public transports for its
affordability and easy accessibility to reach any destination. This massive raise of the
number of motorcycles has increased accidents and consequent casualties which is a
growing problem for the urban dwellers of Dhaka metropolitan city. It is quite evident
that motorcyclists are being forced to share the road with mixed traffic due to absence of
separate motorcycle lane in road infrastructure. Thus, it has an associated safety concerns
as well as psycho-social impacts on motorcyclists and other road users in Dhaka city. In
view of the mixed traffic situation, the study has been intended to assess the overall
vulnerability of motorcycle riding within the existing roadway characteristics and traffic
management system of Dhaka city from the two-folded safety perceptions and reported
behaviours of motorcyclists as well as other road users by Structural Equation Modelling
(SEM).
The research methodology has been designed into three-steps procedures to develop and
analyze the models. In the first step, a set of 26 and another set of 24 perceived safety
concerns variables have been selected for Motorcyclists as well as Other Road Users
respectively. Secondly, two sets of stated preference survey questionnaire have been
administered among motorcyclists including service riders as well as other road users
including pedestrians, car and public transport drivers in the Dhaka city by both field and
online questionnaire survey. Then, two Structural Equation Models on the safety concerns
of motorcycle riding have been generated by carrying out by 1st and 2nd Order
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) method using the Stata software. Finally, both the
models have been analyzed basing on the ranking values of standardized factor loading of
all the latent and observed variables to determine the Most Significant/Important and
Significant/Important factors related to the overall vulnerability/ safety concerns of
motorcycle riding in Dhaka city.
The study has unveiled that comparing both models, all the perceived safety concerns of
motorcycle riding in Dhaka city are being recognized by both Motorcyclists as well as
Other Road Users. Only there are differences of perception from both ends in prioritizing
or ranking the safety factors in different safety aspects. As such, in the mixed traffic
iii
situation of Dhaka city, the five safety aspects like Road Infrastructures (n1), Traffic
Management System (n2), Traffic Rules Violation by Motorcyclists (n3), Psycho-social
aspects influencing riding of Motorcyclists (n4) and Traffic Rules Violation by Other
Road Users (n5) are the determinant safety concerns and mutually influencing for the
overall vulnerability assessment of Motorcycle Riding in Dhaka City. Amongst the 05
safety aspects, Traffic Rules Violation by Motorcyclists (0.87) is identified by both
Motorcyclists and Other Road Users as the most significant safety concerns for
vulnerable motorcycle riding in Dhaka city. In regards to Traffic Rules Violation by
Motorcyclists, the result shows that frequent changing the lane by zig-zag driving (0.89),
disregarding the speed limit by motorcycle drivers (0.89), uncertain movement of
roadside parked motorcycles (0.89), using footpath by motorcyclists while stuck in traffic
on main road (0.86) and overtaking any vehicle without proper precautions (0.82) are the
most significant priority concerns as exhibited by the reported behaviours of
motorcyclists. It is revealed in the analysis that motorcyclists’ attitudes and aggressive
behavioural issues are influenced by various family and psycho-social issues which lead
to commit an accident. The most significant psycho-social factors are riding aggressively
during social or family crisis (0.96), breaking traffic rules to reach the destination at the
earliest (0.89), violating the traffic rules during office time (0.89), ‘maximum income
within shortest possible time’ by the service riders (0.87), driving fatigue for overstressed riding time by service riders (0.87). The certain traffic rules violation by other
road users (public transport drivers, private cars drivers and pedestrians) also has a
significant contributing impact on vulnerability of motorcycle riding in Dhaka city. The
reported behaviour of other road users like not wearing helmet or other safety gears
properly by the passengers (0.89) is identified as most significant safety concerns by both
Motorcyclists and other road users. The study shows that road geometry and
infrastructures of Dhaka city are not user-friendly and great safety concerns of motorcycle
riding. The most significant safety concerns are absence of separate lane for motorcycle
in mixed traffic flow (0.88 which is rated as top priority concern by both Motorcyclists
and Other Road Users) and no footpath for walking or occupied footpath for other
purpose (0.81). The study also reveals that absence of road signage / non-functional
signal at a junction (0.78) and presence of unmarked elevated speed breaker (0.67) are the
significant safety concerns in respect of traffic management system of Dhaka city. The
outcome of this research can be a good instrumental tool for formulation of safety
programs and policies for a safe motorcycle riding in Dhaka city. |
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