MIROS Road Safety Conference 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ROAD SAFETY: ADDRESSING THE BOTTOM BILLIONS ISSN XXXX-XXXX 2010 MIROS “MISUSE” OF HAZARD LIGHT IN RAIN – DO WE NEED ANOTHER LIGHT AT THE REAR LIGHT ASSEMBLY FOR SAFETY REASON? Zulhaidi Mohd Jawi 1 , Mohd Hafzi Md Isa 1 , Aqbal Hafeez Ariffin 1 , Mohd Syazwan Solah 1 , Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wong Shaw Voon 2 1 Crash Safety Engineering Unit (CRASE), Vehicle Safety & Biomechanics Research Centre 2 Director Office, Vehicle Safety & Biomechanics Research Centre Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia Email: zulhaidi@miros.gov.my ABSTRACT This paper discusses about the prevailing issue of hazard light “misuse” among some Malaysian road users. This preliminary discussion is a part of a future research in one of the research clusters established at MIROS – the Weather-related Road Accident Preventive Program (WRRAPP). The issue can be addressed through the amendments in the current road transport legislation and also to propose the use of rear fog lamp or a new light that could serve the purpose. Future research in WRRAPP will bring this issue in a Focus Group Discussion that could gain more valuable information from both the road users and relevant experts. Keywords: Hazard light or emergency/hazard flashers, weather-related accident INTRODUCTION It is not an unusual scenario if one is driving on Malaysian road during rainy condition and encounters with vehicles that have their hazard light flashing while in motion. In fact, this also happens in fine days and in other weather condition such as fog, however, the said scenario is more pronounced in rainy condition. Hence, this paper is prepared to discuss the issue in terms of: the root of the hazard light problem; technical issues in automotive lighting, local and international road transport legislation, driver training and education; preliminary assessment on confusion and grievances among Malaysian road users; and future research direction in the quest to explain the issue, as per the title – Do we need another light in the rear light assembly for safety reason? Rain Issues: A Recap from WRRAPP Research Cluster’s Preliminary Findings WRRAPP refers to the Weather-related Road Accident Preventive Program, which is one of the research clusters established at the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) in the effort to provide a platform to address specific road safety issues in Malaysia. The inaugural WRRAPP research project, which has been completed in January 2010, basically covers the basis of weather-related accident issues and provides important understanding to the cluster’s framework. The most important note found during the literature review process is that the role of weather with regard to road accidents is not a simple relationship as well as not an obvious one [1]. In addition, Edwards (1998) in her report had also summarized that weather in road accidents may be one of the contributing factors, but not necessarily the primary [1]. Moreover, the inaugural research project that was more towards reviewing available literatures and assessing preliminary data, had produced the following main outputs/findings: a summary of weather-related issues with regard to weather variables; potential hazards posed by different weather variables; problems in the national road accident database in terms of weather information record; and a review on the existing measures in the country to offset the weather effects in the road transportation system [2]. Also, at this level of exploration, it is worth to mention that rain seems to be the eminent factor among other weather variables, i.e. wind (crosswind), fog/haze, ambient light and temperature, to be associated with the increased risk in road crashes [3] (let alone fine condition). Despite the failure to provide the anticipated finding on the proportion of weather-related accident cases due to a great number of missing data (an average of only 6% weather-classified accident data available each year), rain emerges as the next eminent weather classification after fine condition – at around 7% from a total of 97,856 cases in 11 years (nationwide; after data cleaning from a total of 3 million cases of all severities) [2]. This finding is further supported by another set of data provided by the operator of the longest highway network in the country, PLUS, whereby the proportion of rain-related accident (all severities) was more obvious – around 27% from a total of 36,917 cases in 5 years [2] (consider PLUS only caters high speed traffic at speed limit between 90 and 110 km/h). This finding is aligned with the situation in other countries such as in the