MALAYSIA has many blessings, among them, political stability, racial harmony, a healthy economy, few natural disasters and, thank goodness, an absence of seismic activities that have devastated entire towns and cities around the world in recent days.
But the country’s escutcheon is not entirely blotless. Among the string of “firsts” it has achieved is one glaring absentee — road safety. Indeed, Malaysia’s record in terms of road mishaps is one of the worst in the world and the alarming resultant death toll is cause for grave concern.
According to the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, there were 373,047 road accidents in 2008 with over 6,520 fatalities nationwide. And since 2003, road accidents have been hovering consistently above 6,000.
The accident rate is especially high during the annual balik kampung rush but horrific accidents had also occurred at other times, often resulting in a heart-wrenching number of deaths.
Just recently, 28 people, mostly Thai tourists, were killed when their double-decker bus crashed after a trip to the Cameron Highlands in the country’s worst ever coach accident.
A week prior, four prison officers died when their bus plunged into a ravine after travelling from a sports tournament. Before that, a collision, involving two buses, a van and three cars, claimed 13 lives on the main
North-South highway while another seven people were killed when their bus overturned en route to Kuala Lumpur.
A year ago, 10 people lost their lives when a double-decker bus struck a road divider in northern Ipoh.
In 2007, a bus crash caused 22 deaths in what the Transport Ministry described then as the worst accident of its kind in Malaysia’s history.
In Sarawak, between Jan and Nov last year, 330 lives were lost to road accidents — 147 of the victims were motorcyclists or pillion riders, according to the Road Safety Department. Over 300 people died in road accidents during the corresponding period in 2009.
The picture is not pretty and for this reason, the problem has to be tackled with the urgency and seriousness it warrants. The younger generation, in particular, must be made aware of the dangers reckless driving and irresponsible behaviour on the road can pose. Lives are lost, often needlessly, when care is not taken to avoid accidents.
The Sarawak Road Safety Council has called on parents to educate their children on road safety. It has also introduced its Road Safety Education (RSE) modules to over 1,500 primary schools, involving nearly 300,000 pupils, throughout the state. Such an initiative is commendable and should be maintained.
Road accidents can happen for various reasons and dubious roadworthiness of vehicles is certainly not the least of them.
As such, it is rather distressing to note that over half of the registered school and express buses in the country had not been sent for scheduled checks at Puspakom centres through the country in 2010.
Of the 4,111 public buses due for inspection last year, there were 1,284 school buses, 596 tour buses, 579 express and 725 stage coaches. From Puspakom records, 2,380 school buses, 1,106 tour buses and 6,271 stage buses, totalling 9757nationwide, must be brought in for checking but only 9,131 were inspected – 626 short.
The high percentage is worrying because it shows buses which have not been certified roadworthy are still being used to carry passengers without Puspakom permit.
This is a serious offence and the book must be thrown at the culprits not only for continuing to operate “unchecked” tour and express buses but also school buses – for that matter, all public transport that have not complied with the annual mandatory inspection.
The government launched the Road Safety Plan in 2006 with the objective to reduce the death rate to two per 10,000 registered vehicles, 10 fatalities per 100,000 population and 10 fatalities per billion vehicles kilometre travelled (VKT) by 2010.
The deadline has passed but there has not been much progress made over the years with carnage continuing to mount on our roads.
To enhance road safety, a comprehensive road accident database and analysis system should be set up.
Reliable data are needed to better understand why road accidents are still happening at alarming regularity on Malaysian roads despite all the awareness campaigns.
Well-coordinated preventive measures are necessary, and among others, police presence and speed traps will serve as timely deterrents.
It’s better to act before rather than after accidents had happened. A proactive approach will produce results and of a better quality than is possible without it.