Universiti Teknologi MARA

Road Safety Rules And Traffic

Signs Game-Based Learning

Nur Karima Binti Ahmad

Bachelor Of Computer Science (Hons.)

Multimedia Computing

April 2022
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter explained about project background, problem statements, project

objectives, project scopes, project significance and the summary of this chapter.

1. Background of Study
Road safety is known as the steps used to limit the danger of road traffic
injury and fatalities for any typical road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorists,
vehicle passengers and passengers of on-road public transport. Road safety has been
acknowledged as a critical component that needs to be included in every road
management system (Maqbool et al., 2019). Every population in the world, whether
they use vehicles or not, must pay close attention to road safety. Because of the lack
of adult supervision, children and students are the most vulnerable group to traffic
accidents, minor or significant injuries, and even death. It is never too late to teach
youngsters about road safety rules and precautions while they are young (mathy & P,
2016). 
One of the most significant tools for regulating traffic operations and
ensuring a smooth and safe operation is traffic signs. They are frequently used
around the world to provide critical information on right of way, movement limits,
and other issues. They are regarded as one of the most significant tools for ensuring
road safety (Fleyeh & Dougherty, 2005).
Walking, although being the oldest mode of transportation, has become a
severe road danger and a life-threatening risk for many people around the world.
Pedestrians were involved in around 22% of all road traffic incidents worldwide, and
they are quite common, especially in developed countries. Each year, more than 500
pedestrians are killed in Malaysia, and pedestrians consistently rank third after
motorcyclists and car occupants (Syazwan et al., 2018). Children are mostly injured
or killed as pedestrians since they are active road users. Due to the greater proportion
of child pedestrian fatalities in Malaysia, the figure of fatal collisions involving
children is particularly concerning. In Malaysia, fatal vehicle collisions claimed the
lives of 12 percent of children aged 1 to 18 years old between 2007 and 2009
(Shaeza et al., 2018). According to WHO estimates, 186,300 children die every year
in road traffic accidents around the world, which is equivalent to over 500 children
dying every day. Road traffic injuries are one of the top four global causes of death
in children aged 5 to 14. Among these deaths, 38% of the children are
pedestrians (Schwebel, Davis, & O'Neal, 2012; World Health Organization, 2015).
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 This project aims to incorporate an element of enjoyment while gaining a
new knowledge about road safety rules and traffic signs among the primary school
students. Many previous research has indicated that students who learn through
games have better motivation and self-efficacy when they believe they are
competent; they have also discovered that skill understanding and competence are
the most important factors of motivation and accomplishment (Hamari et al., 2016).
In recent years, gamification has gained popularity in education. Its benefits include
providing children with the opportunity to study in a multi-sensory, active, and
exploratory setting, among others. Learners can utilize these instructional games for
experiential learning in a dynamic learning environment to improve their decision-
making and problem-solving skills (Adachi and Willoughby, 2013). Furthermore,
instead of obtaining delayed feedback via traditional evaluation methods (e.g., tests
and examinations), students can receive quick feedback or results to get answers.
In this project, the game-based learning will be an interactive game with
various elements of multimedia which are audio, video, animation, graphic and text.
It will attract the user more since they will be able to control the character by
clicking on the screen to move it around.
Therefore, through this game-based learning more children hopefully are
gaining new knowledge about safety roads and traffic signs.

2. Preliminary Study

A preliminary study is a type of initial observation or study of a topic or issue

that is connected to the evaluation or review that is being conducted. A
preliminary study was conducted for this gaming project to determine how much
primary students in Malaysia knew about road safety rules and traffic signs.
Primary students aged 7 to 12 years old are participating in an online survey. The
preliminary study was completed using the use of "Google Form" to distribute
the survey. The goal of this research is to determine the best platform for primary
students to learn more about road safety rules and traffic signs. The poll was
completed by 12 respondents ranging in age from 12 years old and under to 8
years old and above.

1. Survey

The survey was circulated via a link posted on social media platforms
like Instagram and WhatsApp. The respondents were asked to reflect on their
understanding of road safety rules and traffic signs, as well as their readiness
to apply game-based learning on road safety rules and traffic signs, in a
survey that was successfully collected using Google Form. The poll is broken
into two sections: a quiz section with questions about road safety and traffic
signs to evaluate their knowledge, and a second section about their
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 willingness to use game-based learning to learn about road safety rules and
traffic signs.

2. Findings of Survey 

Data was gathered to better understand the user's requirements and

demands for this game project. Respondents were asked to fill out the
personal information section, which is the initial element of the survey, in
order to accomplish this. Table 1.1 displays the percentage of respondents by
gender, age, and whether or not their school provides a road safety book , as
well as whether or not they read the book. According to the table below, there
are 7 (58.4%) female respondents and 5 (41.7%) male respondents. 6 (50%)
of the respondents are under the age of 12, 2 (16.7%) are under the age of 8,
and the remaining 33% are between the ages of seven, nine, ten, and eleven.
Furthermore, as seen in the chart below, all 12 (100%) respondents believe
that the majority of their school provides road safety books. Finally, 5 (41.7
%) respondents say "yes" to the question of whether they read the safety
guidelines books, while 4 (33.3 %) say "maybe," implying that they don't
recall whether or not they read the book, and 3 (25 %) say "no." It can be
shown that the majority of the respondents read the road safety books,
although some of them have doubts about their memory of doing so.

Table 1.1 First Section of the questionnaire

Question Range Frequency(n) Percentage
(%)
Gender Male 5 41.7
Femal 7 58.4
e
Age 7 1 8.3
8 2 16.7
9 1 8.3
10 1 8.3
11 1 8.3
12 6 50
Did school provide a book about Yes 12 100
safety roads?
No 0 0

Did you read the book? Yes 5 41.7

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 Maybe 4 33.3
No 3 25

Table 1.2 Second section of the questionnaire (quiz time)

Question Range Frequency(n) Percentage
(%)
Based on the image Pedestrian can cross the 1 8.3
below choose the road
correct answer.
Pedestrian cannot cross 11 91.6
the road
Which one of the Traffic light contain 3 1 8.3
following below is color
FALSE about traffic
light Yellow color mean 1 8.3
ready to stop
Yellow, green and red is 10 83.3
the correct order for the
traffic light color
Based on the image Zebra crossing 0 0
below choose the
correct answer Children crossing sign 11 91.6
Pedestrian crossing sign 1 8.3
What is the first thing Look to your left and 2 16.7
to do before crossing right
the road?
Look to your right and 0 0
left
Look to your right, left 10 83.4
and right

Based table 1.2 above shows that most of the respondents know basic
knowledge of road safety rules and traffic signs. Only one or two respondents
have lesser knowledge about road safety and traffic signs. In each question
only one person chose a wrong answer with 8.3 % except for question
number 4 where two respondents (16.7%) choose “look to your left and right”
while the correct answer is “look to your right, left and right”.

Table 1.3 Third section of the questionnaire 

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Question Range Frequency(n Percentage
) (%)
Which source do you prefer to Books 2 16.7
gain more knowledge about road
safety and traffic signs? Educational 10 83.3
Games

Others (etc) 0 0

Have you ever played any Yes 3 25

educational game on road safety
and traffic signs? No 9 75

Do you think an educational game Yes 12 100

about road safety and traffic signs
would be very helpful for the No 0 0
children?

Based on table 1.3 above shows that most of the respondents prefer
educational games in gaining more knowledge about road safety and traffic
signs with 10 (83.3%) respondents, while 2 respondents (16.7) choose books.
Besides that, three respondents (25%) choose that they had played an
educational game on road safety and traffic signs, while 9 respondents (75%)
choose that they never played the game. Lastly, all of the respondents (100%)
agree that an educational game about road safety and traffic signs would be
very helpful for the children.

3. Conclusion of Survey

In conclusion, the majority of the respondents are female students aged 12 to

8 years old, according to the findings of the study. Also according to information
gathered from the survey, the respondent's school provides a road safety book for
primary school children. Only one or two respondents in the second section of
the questionnaire had zero knowledge of road safety rules and traffic signs. Only
three people (25%) had played an educational game about road safety rules and
traffic signs. The results reveal that 12 (100.0%) respondents support moving
through with the initiative to develop a Game-Based Learning system for
learning road safety rules and traffic signs in a more engaging and playful way.

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 3.  Problem Statement 
The lack of knowledge about the safety rules and traffic signs among the
primary school students 
Road accidents are currently the 9th biggest cause of death, but are expected
to rise to the 5th by 2020. Road traffic injuries are the main cause of death among
young adults aged 15-19 years and the second leading cause among children and
adolescents aged 5- 14. According to the World Health Organization, road traffic
accidents are the sixth highest cause of death among children and teenagers. The
death toll is higher in countries like India, where pedestrians, cyclists, and passengers
are vulnerable and cars lack safety standards (mathy & P, 2016). While in Malaysia,
males accounted for 74 percent of total fatalities and injuries in pedestrian crashes,
according to (Royal Malaysian Police [PDRM], 2018). Children under the age of 15
were involved in roughly 20% of pedestrian fatalities.
According to Yulianto B (2017), children have a low degree of knowledge,
skills, and concentration, all of which are necessary for their safety. A wide range of
child behaviours, such as practical jokes, lack of focus while cycling or walking,
failure to look at traffic before crossing the road, and failure to pay attention to traffic
signs and traffic signals when crossing the road, can all raise the risk of accidents.
Based on Lipton et al. (2002) found that children occasionally misunderstand the
purpose of crossing facilities and respond to the measures based on their own
perception, preferring to cross on the shorter path rather than at the marked crossings.

In Malaysia, irresponsible crossing and walking/playing on the road have

resulted in numerous pedestrian fatalities. Based on Hamidun & Roslan (2022)
research, stated that the crossing behaviour of 579 pedestrians, many children who
crossed the street alone tended to run rather than look before crossing. Besides, Fhyri
A (2004) stated one of the reasons for the higher accident risk in 5- and 6-year-olds
compared to older children in Norway is that actions like crossing the road safely
require relatively complicated cognitive skills for a 5- or 6-year-old child. For
instance, the selection of a safe place to cross the road involves gathering and
processing information, to detect vehicles, to estimate their speed and to evaluate
distance and time-gaps. Moreover, incoming vehicles could be obscured by objects.
In order to travel safely in a traffic environment, the youngster must also
comprehend the meaning of signs, signals, and road markings, as well as be able to
avoid distractions. 

Limited medium for educational games on road safety and traffic signs.
Based on a small survey that has been conducted, shows that most
primary school students aged 12 years old prefer to learn more about safety
roads and traffic signs through a game-based learning with 81.9 % votes and
the rest of the percentage prefer books. With 54.6% of respondents voting no
towards the question whether they read the books about safety roads, 36.4%
voted yes and 9.1% voted maybe. The survey concluded that a total of 11
respondents agree that the educational game about road safety rules and traffic
signs will be more helpful for them in order to gain more knowledge about the
road safety rules and traffic signs. Some students avoid reading because they
believe they could learn the same material more quickly by viewing a short
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video on YouTube about the book they are analysing or a film version of it,
rather than spending a lot of time and effort figuring it out on their own by
reading the book. (2019, Lombardi). 
According to a survey run by Picton I (2020), the number rises to nearly
three quarters (73.1%) of young people who do not enjoy reading, suggesting
that video games can act as an entry point into the world of stories, especially
for those who do not enjoy reading. They prefer to play games rather than
reading a book since games have various storylines that are much more
interesting than reading a book. Besides that, a vast majority of the students (17
of 25, or 68%) liked other materials like pamphlets, magazines, and cartoon
strips more than books.

4.  Objectives
There are few objectives that this project will be focusing on:
i. To design a 2-Dimensional (2D) game-based learning of road safety rules and
traffic signs for primary school children
ii. To develop an interactive game-based learning about road safety rules and
traffic signs for primary school children
iii. To evaluate an enjoyment of learning road safety rules and traffic signs via
game-based learning.

5.  Project Scope
Primary school students are the intended audience for this application. The
game will be created in a 2D environment for a web-based platform and will
incorporate all multimedia elements such as animation, graphics, text, video, and
audio. Because English is a worldwide language, it is the greatest choice for this
game's language. The game is a desktop-based game where users can play on any
device via the internet browser and launch very fast.
This game's content will focus on children's safety road rules and traffic
signs. The majority of the safety road rules will focus on how to cross the road as a
pedestrian. The traffic signs, on the other hand, will be covered just to the extent that
they are on the road signs. Because the theme is on road safety, the environment will
take place on the road. It began with a brief tutorial that the user followed while
playing the game. The player will be taught how to play the game by following the
instructions. Through visualisation, the game will present a clear and easy to
understand fact and information.
In order to complete the challenge in this game, the user must travel to a
specific location, which requires crossing the road and following the road safety rules
and traffic signs shown in certain areas. Players will unlock a new level after
successfully arriving at the destination with a time given, which will inevitably
increase the awareness about safety road rules and traffic signs even when they are

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not playing the game. A player only has 2 lives to retry the level, more than that they
have to start over the level they are currently on.
6. Project Significance
Every project must have a purpose, and the purpose of this project is to
provide primary school students with exposure to road safety rules and traffic signs.
Because road accidents happen all the time, it's a good idea to learn about them
through game-based learning, which will soon be integrated in students' daily lives.
This game also benefits the player by enhancing their understanding of safe
roads and traffic signs. By playing the game, young adults who are likely to have no
awareness of traffic signs or any safety road laws can get an additional lesson, as it
presents information in a style that is far more straightforward and interactive than
plain-text information in books.
In addition, schools can use this game to give early exposure to road safety
rules and traffic signs toward primary school children at school. Road users with a
well-developed road safety culture while they are young can reduce fatalities
(Zulkifli et al., n.d.). According to Govender (2012), road safety education, like all
learning, should begin at a young age and be adapted to the age and circumstances of
the child. Children must be aware of the road safety rules in their local surroundings.
They must be aware of the threats and taught how to deal with them safely. Children
frequently have no idea what is considered safe. Children's perceptions of danger are
limited, and they are readily diverted.

7. Conclusion
To summarise, safety road rules and traffic signs are essential knowledge for
everyone, especially children. Most children require this knowledge because they
almost always use it in their daily lives. Children who walk from home to school, for
example, would most likely require this knowledge for their own safety on the road.
From problem statement above shows that most of the traffic accidents involve
children as the victims since most of them are pedestrians.
Moreover, based on the foregoing research, it may be possible to construct
and design a game-based learning system for safety road laws and traffic signs,
which would assist youngsters or students in learning them more effectively while
also providing a fun learning environment. It would play a part in implying the
knowledge of road safety laws and traffic signals so that it is more understandable
rather than learning with theories if the correct planning and usable procedures were
used for the developments. With the advancement of modern technology, humanity
may be able to grow in wisdom and understanding.

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