The cabinet minister in charge of transport expressed his concern the other day over the high number of road accidents during the Hari Raya period this year. There were 20,294 accidents over the 15-day period, up 1,235 or 6.47 per cent from 19,059 in the same period last year. But Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the number of fatalities fell to 299 from 330 last year. To put it into perspective, that means about 20 people were killed in a day during the period.
Liow is, of course, concerned by the alarming statistics. A bigger question for the minister is what can be done to deal with the disturbingly high accident rates. If nothing is done, we will still be talking about it next Raya.
Malaysian roads must be among the most dangerous in the world, based on the statistics. For the record, road deaths in Malaysia are already above the world average. The Health Ministry told us that Malaysia’s traffic-related death-to-population ratio stands at 23.6 to 100,000 people, compared with the world average of 18 to 100,000 people. This compares with Australia, which has just four road deaths per 100,000 population, while the figure for the UK is 14 fatalities per 100,000 people.
The number of road accidents is so alarming that we may need to hire more ER doctors to deal with the rising number of victims, health authorities have warned. Of course, we are often reminded that more than 80 per cent of road accidents are caused by human error. The fact that 65,850 people were killed in accidents between 2004 and 2013 and that as much as RM78 billion in economic contributions was lost still did not deter people from speeding or being reckless on the road.
I don’t blame anyone but bad motorists who are endangering others on the road. How many of them blatantly speed or use mobile phone while riding or driving? In Malaysia, motorists often ignore traffic lights or even overtake in dangerous spots, park illegally, drive without a valid driver’s licence and use the emergency lane. Lack of effective enforcement is one thing but the bad behaviour and blatant disregard for traffic rules are another.
The Qistna Express bus episode has, for example, exposed inherent weaknesses in the oversight of traffic and road regulations, as SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar admitted on Friday. Sharing of data of traffic offences by lorry or bus drivers, it seems, is still not in place between SPAD, the police and Road Transport Department. Bus drivers, despite carrying passengers, do not carry what SPAD termed as “Public Service Vehicle” licence like taxi drivers. Right now, the Transport Ministry, which oversees RTD, has no purview over SPAD, which instead reports to a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. But that should not be the reason for the lack of coordination among them. A veteran newsman, A. Jalil Hamid believes that a good journalist should be curious and sceptical at the same time.
SOURCE: NST, 17 JULY 2016
Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/07/158877/make-our-roads-safer
