The Malaysian Driving Institute Association (PIMA) has voiced its opposition to a proposal made by a road safety expert that the government should increase the minimum age to obtain a motorcycle licence to 19.
According to PIMA president Mat Aris Bakar, the call to raise the age limit is discriminatory and negates the rights of those aged 16 and 17, who are considered mature at the international level, as FMT reports.
“These groups are deemed to be competent and mature enough to ride a motorcycle safely, and we should respect that,” he told the news publication. He added that such a move, if implemented, would be disadvantageous to students in higher learning institutions, who are reliant on motorcycles to get themselves to school because the public transport system was insufficient.
Mat Aris said this in response to Universiti Putra Malaysia road safety expert Law Teik Hua’s suggestion that the government should review the minimum age to obtain a motorcycle licence, given that statistics revealed that 20% of motorcyclists who were killed in road accidents were aged between 16 and 19.
Based on statistics from the federal traffic enforcement and investigation department from 2001 to 2023, deaths involving motorcyclists and pillion riders were higher than any other road users. Last year alone, 69.2% – or 4,480 – of the 6,463 road fatalities involved motorcycles.
Mat Aris said it would be better for the government to review enforcement instead of looking at the age factor. “There are many factors that need to be reviewed, but to increase the minimum age does not make sense,” he explained.
While he admitted that the compliance rate among motorcyclists when it came to stopping at red lights was still low, he said there were ways to improve it. He suggested that cameras and sensors at traffic lights, similar to ones used in China and Japan, be installed. “If the compliance rate is increased, maybe there would be fewer accidents.
The call to raise – and also lower – the age limit for a motorcycle licence is not new. Back in 2021, a similar suggestion to increase it was made by transport consultant Rosli Azad Khan, who urged the government to raise the minimum age for a motorcycle licence from 16 to 21. What do you think? Should the present age limit remain in place, or should it be increased in the hope it will improve aspects of road safety?
Denisovans species are slow to maturity according to lab test result only mature around 19 years of age. Daredevil instinct not equals to maturity traits.
Not only slow to mature but generally denisovan IQ is on average below 90.
Menaikan had umur minima bagi mendapatkan lesen motorsikal adalah suatu kerugian (lost of income) bagi kerajaan dan ekonomi secara asasnya!
Kerajaan perlu lihat head-count; bukannya death-count!
Yg penting pendedahan di peringkat sekolah rendah/menengah-rendah perlu ditambah agar remaja2 ini tahu dan mengerti apa siksanya meninggal dunia (die) disebabkan oleh kemalangan jalanraya!
Kerajaan perlu lihat “menyusahkan-orang-lain-count”. Sembang kuat.
Ya betul. Peduli apa death count. Yang budak budak tengah malam tak nak tidur pergi merempit. Yang rider suka langgar traffic light. Biar mampus saja.
“20% of motorcyclists who were killed in road accidents were aged between 16 and 19.”
so pity, if this risk level is > bicycle, then maybe promoting e-bike/e-scooter for this age range is safer, yet promoting the e-bike industry.
most of e-bike can get to more than 80km/h…many of 16 to 19 wont wear helmet properly when riding, so good luck with that
One thing they could do is improve the helmet policy and ban all those RM60 helmets, fake branded helmets, enforce international certification standards like DOT or ECE for helmets sold here, and enforce that riders buy their proper size. Education in schools about road safety and maybe government aid for those who can’t pay for good quality helmets etc. I think this would help reducing the number of deaths.
also need to add, protection gear for riding kapchai not only for big bike
Waste time. A lot riding without license in kampong and village.
Simple , apply strictly on punishment.
Honestly, targeted all races fairly. We are all humans
“20% of motorcyclists who were killed in road accidents were aged between 16 and 19.”
thinking does this risk level happened mostly at Kampong/Village, need to compare
Instead of forcing students to ride a motobike to school, why not introduce alternative mode of transport? It could be bus/van, bike lane, or even DRT.
Why would you use international reference of age maturity? Is it relevant to the local scene? Does it truly reflect the actual situation we have? Haven’t we seen enough cases of immature young’uns locally already?
New rider Lesen only can Ride 100 CC below cupchai only for two years ，，，,
I think that’s one of the better idea..why don’t the government limit engine capacity or power of the bike for beginners or younger riders.. I think that’s fair enough
No fam. Only 30cc would do. That’s the minimum displacement to be eligible for road tax.
There’s age limit ?????
I had my motorcycle license at 16 and rode safely everywhere and still riding 34 years later. Don’t simply change the law because of some bad apples.
A lot of ways to improve;
1. Retake practical exam every 5/10 years for all licenses. weed out those who are not fit to be in control of any vehicle.
2. Massively improve public transportation. Unfortunately, will never happen because Malaysia is a poor country.
3. Upgrade and proper implementation of demerit system.
4. Dashcam based enforcement. Create a voluntary based central system where we link every dashcam video with the right date/time. Basically, monitor every single road with vehicle dashcam recordings, like super invasive surveillance system in The Dark Knight. Give sweeteners for voluntarily giving up rights, like insurance discounts and extra merit points in demerit system. NSA & China probably already implemented a more nefarious version of this system. Mossad might already use Waze to monitor the whole world (Waze is based in Israel, if you don’t know. By now probably merged with Google system already). MUAHAHAHAHA!
This PIMA worry more about their business than the safety of the people.
actually raising the age limit is pointless. the current age limit is good in weeding out these sampah masyarakat.
Wow. Are you still a human?
Give him a captcha to solve.
14 already can drive car ma, where got not matured enough.
finally the first good decision by the gov…
This means that there should be no school children going to school by motorbike on their own… reduces road accidents among school children and the hour after school ends, there will be less motorbikes with loud exhausts…
Explain. What you said doesn’t make any sense in my opinion.
gov should let tricycle or mini ev enter malaysia market as legal transportation
just make it legal to ram down rempits…
u will see those idiots fall in line very quickly….
Should raise age to 21 at least.
Banyak bising nak promote public transport let vehicles on road.
Kasi naik semua lah.
Improve your trainer in driving school ,trained them profesionally first before talk about the student,only experiance motorcyclist with good dicipline can be good coach….but when i see your motorcycle trainers smoking and joking like they are great ….i can only see dark future for young motorcyclist …do PIMA Audit their reg.driving schools independantly ….go and do that first
Dont give ideas to gain business when your backyard is full of rubbish.
PIMA wake up ….improve go profesional before give opinion.
I agree… Pima should improve their facility as well. So it help trainee to be well prepared for real world.
Recently anwar said the gov plans to hire english teachers from Singapore.
On the same note why not hire Singapore Driving school instructors!!…
All the PIMA instructors can go to heaven
Underage motor cyclists due to lack of parental control, no helmets, unsecured helmets, no seatbelts, little enforcement. So many deaths which could be avoided
Many of the motorcyclists, especially those who ride dangerously, don’t have licences. Raising the age to apply for a licence won’t stop them. It’s illogical to think the law can stop the lawless.