Examining Traffic Safety Perceptions and Attitudes Among Motorcyclists and Car Drivers in Hanoi, Vietnam

Road transport across Asia is undergoing rapid motorisation and exemplifies growing road safety challenges, with rising accident rates closely linked to driver behaviour. Recent reports indicate that Vietnamese drivers often perceive risk as manageable and enforcement as inconsistent, contributing to habitual violations such as speeding, signal ignoring, and risky manoeuvres, particularly when traffic is light. Evidence shows that riders, especially young adults, feel confident controlling their vehicles and frequently disregard safety warnings. This study investigates traffic safety awareness among motorcyclists and car drivers in Hanoi, based on a questionnaire survey of 393 respondents. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to group 11 attitudinal statements into key components influencing road safety perceptions, identifying five: non-compliance with traffic regulations (Component 1), aggressive driving behaviour (Component 2), traffic signal issues (Component 3), road quality and infrastructure (Component 4), and preventive measures (Component 5). Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and two-step cluster analysis (TCA) were then applied to determine user clusters by socio-demographic characteristics, producing three groups: young adults in employment riding motorcycles (Cluster 1), young adults in education riding motorcycles (Cluster 2), and mature adults in employment driving cars (Cluster 3). Finally, Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) was applied to assess variations in road safety perceptions across the different groups (clusters). Mature adults driving cars (Cluster 3) identified the first four components as significant, with Components 1 and 2 showing negative associations and Components 3 and 4 positive associations.