Road safety in Malaysia doesn’t have a good record, and the statistics continue to show that. In 2024, a total of 532,125 road accidents were reported from January to October, with 5,364 of them fatal ones.
Of these, 68% involved motorcyclists and pillion riders, prompting deputy transport minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah to call for urgent action to help reduce these numbers, Bernama reports.
He stressed that road safety efforts must be effectively and continuously strengthened at all levels of society, especially among motorcyclists and their passengers. In a bid to improve road safety among the two-wheeled community, the government will continue its efforts to educate motorcyclists through initiatives such as the Safe Riding Clinic.
“The initiative is beneficial for motorcyclists, as it imparts knowledge on traffic regulations, boosts safety awareness and develops riding skills to enable swift and accurate responses in emergency situations,” he said about the clinic, which is one of the key components of the road safety community programme, held in conjunction with the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDoR) 2024.
Given that the year hasn’t ended, 2024’s number could match or even surpass the 598,635 road accidents recorded in 2023, which was nearly 10% up from the 545,585 cases in 2022. Last year’s numbers also surpassed the previous eight-year peak of 567,516 road accidents recorded in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
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only 1% are deaths… ok la… 99% will survive.
Dear transport ministry, it is very concerning on the occurrence of heavy transport vehicles ramming into other vehicles due to malfunctions. It is logical that once a year inspection in puspakom, assuming honest inspection, it is not possible to prevent these incidence.
Instead I suggested that for any transport company with heavy vehicle including trailer, with more than 5 unit in their fleet, they must prove maintenance carried out to vehicle manufacturer specified standards and carried out by certified service workshop. Perhaps quarterly audit to see record of maintenance. Those vehicles or trailer with lapsed maintenance should be suspended from the road for 3mth until maintenance addressed.
This is more effective than just annual inspection
Increased number cars on the road due to lack of public transportation. Tax payers money spent on other priorities and corruption is evidently clear.
What is Minister Loke and his deputy going to do about this? Publishing daily statistics + doing audit and checking permit compliance wont address the root cause but yet these are the first thing mentioned each time got major accidents.