A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Transportation Engineering

Research Studies Project Report (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2020

Road accidents are a serious problem for every country. Thailand has one of the highest road traffic death rates in the world and Thailand's roads remain among the deadliest in the world. In terms of traffic safety, relating to the pickup trucks have drawn considerable attention from both highway traffic engincers and also local roads. Pickup trucks are a popular choice with the third rank of vehicle preference as per usage and registrations in Thailand after motorcycles and passenger cars respectively. Thailand reported statistics of accidents that occurred on highways in 2018 with the finding that Pickup trucks are the type of road users that had the highest accidents at 8,138 times or 31.56 % of the total accidents are 25,789 times, followed by passenger cars and motorcycles respectively. This research study is mainly focused on the risk behaviors of speeding, immediate lane change, tailgating and stopping for pedestrians at the mid-block crosswalk of pickup truck driver behavior when compared with other vehicles as an observational survey in four major highways and a mid-block crosswalk in peak and non-peak hours using a radar gun and video recorder. Moreover, this rescarch study has collected information on a few other risk behavior like drunk and driving, no seat belts, mobile usage during driving, etc. using the questionnaire survey which was collected from the Pickup truck driver of Thai nationals and foreigners who own a Thai driving license. This research study, although speeding and tailgating is an issue, they are relatively comparable to other vchicles in traffic. Contrary to prior expectations more pick up truck driver stop for pedestrians at the midblock crosswalk. Through direct observation and traffic violations measurement, it was consistently observed that immediate or sudden lane changing is a major risk factor uniquc to pickup truck drivers. It is therefore recommended that enforcement of over-speeding and drunken driving violation be strengthened along with educating commercial pickup truck users to be more conscientious about pressuring for results as it can lead risky behavior by the drivers.