THE BEHAVIOR OF BUS DRIVERS IN INTER-REGIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR TRANSPORTATION (Case study: Yangon-Mandalay Highway)

Road safety issues are an essential agenda for developing countries, and the situation has become worsened, particularly in Myanmar. Road traffic accidents and its injuries have been concerning as one of the threats of the Nation’s Economy, globally. It was mentioned that “Driver’s driving behavior” is one of the root causes affecting those accidents in international reports and literature. So, this study aimed to illustrate the inter-regional passenger transportation and road safety status in Myanmar and to analyze the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices accepted by Private Sector Bus Drivers (PSBDs). With the hypothesis that road accidents are resulting due to lack of knowledge, negative attitudes, and risky practices of drivers towards traffic rules and road safety awareness, the questionnaires are constructed, and the survey was conducted. The survey questions are built into four sections. Section-A consisted of assessing PSBD’s characteristics and demographics, Section-B, C, and D is asking on respondent’s Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices accordingly with national rules and regulations of previsioned Laws. A total number of 160 bus drivers who are using the Yangon-Mandalay Highway are randomly selected for data collection in this study. Data are mainly based on primary data, and the survey questionnaire is designed by focusing on the behavior of PSBDs in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practice towards road safety traffic regulations of Myanmar. The study explore that many of PSBDs who using Yangon – Mandalay Highway road in Myanmar have safety knowledge, the moderate mindset at attitude, and some good driving practices, by this study. The study finds that the majority of drivers have met accidents during their driving lives, too. Also find that the private driving schools for PSBD were not being monitored or evaluated by the government and that there was no standard curriculum for all driving schools in Myanmar. Finally, the implementation of effective and standard intervention programs is suggested to increase the driver’s behavior, which is a significant cause of road accidents and injuries