A study of road hazards faced by Malaysian school children using HIRARC

Road transport is the movement of passengers or goods on the road. To date, issues concerning the safety of students and school institutions have continued to attract public attention. The recent spate of incidents insideandoutside the school compound has brought the issue ofchildren safetyinto our attention. These include the escalating number of road casualties. This study was conducted to observe roadhazard outside the school compound and analyse the safety risksfaced by school childrenby using the risk matrix. The risks arecalculated to includelikelihood and severity of hazard as identified in theGuideline of HIRARC 2008. The area selected was the East Coaststateof Peninsular Malaysia, withover 111 schools randomly selected in Kelantan. Re sults werethen analysed and six highlighted hazards were discussed. The results show that the main road posed the highest risk due to speeding vehicles. These vehicles failed to slow down when approaching the school area. The school administration must enhance the safety ofthe staff, students, and public while in the school area. In conclusion, road safety awareness must be instilled among teachers, students, parents and road users alike

Biceps Brachii muscle contraction during different driving postures

This study was conducted to analysesthe Biceps Brachii (BB) muscle contraction during different driving postures. Drivers’ posture is one of the factors that contribute to driving fatigue that eventually may lead to road accident and injuries. The experiment conducted forthis study is using the surface electromyography (SEMG) method for objective evaluation of muscle involved in driving activities. A total of 14 participants are involved in the experiment. The experiment was done on three different posture based on comfortable angles published by previous research. From the results analysis, the RMS value for activity left turn is lower than activity for right turn for all three postures and results also shows that posture B with elbow angle of 134° is perceived as most comfortable based on the lowest value of muscle contractionwith a value of 15.67μV. The outcomesfrom this study are hoped to benefit both manufactures and also car users in ensuring better and optimum driving postures that can avoid fatigue and injurie