Extending MRBQ: development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of a multidimensional safety instrument for Malaysian school motorcyclists
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55329/pnlr4910Keywords:
Motorcycle Rider Behaviour Questionnaire (MRBQ), Rasch measurement model, road safety, school motorcyclists, South-eastern Asia, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)Abstract
Motorcycle-related crashes remain a critical road safety concern in Malaysia, particularly among school motorcyclists who face behavioural and contextual risks during their daily travel. Although the Motorcycle Rider Behaviour Questionnaire (MRBQ) provides an established foundation for assessing riding behaviour, its behavioural focus may not adequately represent the broader safety conditions experienced by school motorcyclists. This study aimed to develop and preliminarily evaluate a context-specific, multidimensional instrument for measuring motorcycle safety performance among Malaysian school motorcyclists, using the MRBQ as the behavioural foundation. Instrument development integrated evidence from a systematic literature review and focus group discussions involving road safety professionals and school stakeholders. The resulting 43-item questionnaire comprised four domains: User Behaviour, Vehicle Condition, Road Safety Knowledge and Emergency Preparedness, and Physical Environment. Expert evaluation demonstrated excellent content validity (S-CVI = 0.97). Preliminary psychometric evaluation was conducted among 163 school motorcyclists using separate Rasch analyses for each domain. Person reliability ranged from 0.70-0.79 and item reliability from 0.70–0.95, while person and item separation ranged from 1.54–1.96 and 1.51–4.23, respectively. All items demonstrated positive Point-Measure Correlations, although several showed fit statistics requiring further evaluation. Wright maps also revealed differences in person-item targeting across domains. Overall, the findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the instrument’s content relevance and measurement performance while identifying areas for further refinement. The instrument extends the behavioural foundation of the MRBQ by incorporating broader motorcycle safety performance domains relevant to Malaysian school motorcyclists.
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Author Biographies
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Siti Nazirah Kamaruddin, Sultan Idris Education University
Siti Nazirah Kamaruddin is a PhD candidate in Geography at Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI). Her research focuses on road safety, urban planning, and architecture, particularly on the role of effective traffic systems in improving the quality of life in urban and local communities.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
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Mazdi Marzuki, Sultan Idris Education University
Mazdi Marzuki is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Malaysia. His academic and research interests include geography, transportation, road safety, public transportation, and community mobility.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
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Nor Mashitah Mohd Radzi, Sultan Idris Education University
Nor Mashitah Mohd Radzi is a lecturer at the Faculty of Human Development, Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Malaysia. Her academic expertise focuses on assessment and measurement in early childhood education.
CRediT contribution: Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
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Kamarul Ismail, Sultan Idris Education University
Kamarul Ismail is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Malaysia. His research interests include geography, geodemography, disaster management, and geographical information systems.
CRediT contribution: Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
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Harifah Mohd Noor, Universiti of Malaysia Sabah
Harifah Mohd Noor is an Associate Professor at the Geography Programme, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia. Her academic work includes research related to geography and transportation.
CRediT contribution: Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Siti Nazirah Kamaruddin, Mazdi Marzuki, Nor Mashitah Mohd Radzi, Kamarul Ismail, Harifah Mohd Noor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia
Grant numbers FRGS/1/2024/SS07/UPSI/02/3
