Patterns Associated with Fatal Motorcycle-Involved Crashes in Bangladesh: Applying Text Mining Techniques and Structural Topic Modeling

Patterns Associated with Fatal Motorcycle-Involved Crashes in Bangladesh: Applying Text Mining Techniques and Structural Topic Modeling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Patterns Associated with Fatal Motorcycle-Involved Crashes in Bangladesh: Applying Text Mining Techniques and Structural Topic Modeling Ahmed Hossain, Nazmus Sakib, Abdullah Al Asif, Subasish Das This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9374992/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Motorcycle crashes in Bangladesh pose a growing public health and transportation safety challenge, worsened by persistent gaps and availability in official crash data. This study uses a news media mining approach to examine 475 motorcycle-related crash reports from English-language Bangladeshi online newspapers published in 2022, forming a corpus of 50,190 words. Combining text mining with Structural Topic Modeling (STM) approach, the study identifies key crash patterns and latent themes within unstructured narratives. Preliminary analyses reveal frequent references to severe injuries, emergency response, young riders, fixed-object collisions, and nighttime crashes. Rapid Automatic Keyword Extraction and word co-occurrence network analyses underscore high-risk behaviors such as speeding and distraction, vulnerability of young male riders and students, and the influence of rural roads, highways, and urban environments. STM results indicate two dominant crash profiles: fatal single-vehicle crashes in rural settings linked to loss of control, and multiple-vehicle crashes in urban or highway areas often involving heavy vehicles. Guided by the Safe System Approach, the study proposes context-specific countermeasures, including infrastructure improvements, lane discipline enforcement, youth-focused education, improved vehicle visibility, and stronger emergency medical services. Overall, the findings demonstrate that online news media provide a scalable and informative source for motorcycle safety research in data-limited settings, supporting targeted strategies. Civil Engineering Motorcycle Speeding Rural Trucks Safe System Approach Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9374992","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":620708440,"identity":"bf0aca5c-4d58-4b0c-a98b-3bf6b306a3fe","order_by":0,"name":"Ahmed Hossain","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABB0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSDmbQCxGBsYEipsgAxmIPcAsVo+nEljYGBjJFoLUNPMtsOEtfDP7k588HaHjb18++G2x7xt5+UM7jc2PvhwhkGeXwy7Pok7Zzcbzj2TlrjhTGK7Mc+528YGxxibDWfcYDCcOTsBuzU3crdJ87YdTjBgSGyT5im7nbjhGCOQ8YEhweA2di3yN3K3/wZqsZfvfwhUyXaOsBYDoC3MQC2MDTcS2yRntB2AarmBW4vhjdzNknPbgH658bBN4sOZZGPJY4lAv5yRwOkXuRu5Gz+8bQOGWH/6M4mECjs5vsOHDz74cMxGnl8ah/dxAQnSlI+CUTAKRsEoQAEAte5q/fq0qroAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1566-3993","institution":"Arizona Department of Transportation","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ahmed","middleName":"","lastName":"Hossain","suffix":""},{"id":620708768,"identity":"3808e044-6bf4-4d75-bee9-0f3717a8cfff","order_by":1,"name":"Nazmus Sakib","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0525-6342","institution":"Auburn University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nazmus","middleName":"","lastName":"Sakib","suffix":""},{"id":620708903,"identity":"dbb9059d-515d-47bc-91c3-a2bf43569062","order_by":2,"name":"Abdullah Al Asif","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2491-5976","institution":"Bangladesh University of Engineering \u0026 Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abdullah","middleName":"Al","lastName":"Asif","suffix":""},{"id":620709058,"identity":"d1e630f7-fc41-49a9-8ee9-53a1da9ab1f6","order_by":3,"name":"Subasish Das","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1671-2753","institution":"Texas State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Subasish","middleName":"","lastName":"Das","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-10 05:53:27","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9374992/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9374992/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106739821,"identity":"7415ba34-1870-4e31-824b-5832d7c5eaa6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-13 02:55:07","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":799676,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Motorcyclev14IATSS.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9374992/v1_covered_b4b81fea-4886-4215-8524-c6d90c11a505.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePatterns Associated with Fatal Motorcycle-Involved Crashes in Bangladesh: Applying Text Mining Techniques and Structural Topic Modeling\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Arizona Department of Transportation","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Motorcycle, Speeding, Rural, Trucks, Safe System Approach","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9374992/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9374992/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eMotorcycle crashes in Bangladesh pose a growing public health and transportation safety challenge, worsened by persistent gaps and availability in official crash data. 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