Manyin (second right) helping a motorcyclist buckle the helmet he presented after launching JKJR’s Christmas Day Road safety Campaign at Serian Community Hall.
SERIAN: Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong yesterday asserted that road accidents continued to be a cause for concern in the state.
He said although initiatives such as festive road safety campaigns by the State Road Safety Department (JKJR) had been organised at least four times a year for the past ten years, the number of accidents had not dropped substantially.
“This campaign is normally held during festive seasons such as Chinese New Year, Gawai Dayak, Hari Raya Puasa and Christmas to raise awareness of road safety but unfortunately the effect has not been very encouraging because accident cases remain a great concern here,” he said when launching JKJR’s Christmas Day Road safety Campaign at Serian Community Hall here yesterday.
Manyin cited a study conducted by the police which stated that 65 per cent of road accidents in the state were due to human factor.
“According to them, more accidents occur on straight roads during fine weather. This implies that our people are either driving fast, feeling tired when driving or not being careful when driving,” he disclosed.
Nevertheless, Manyin assured that JKJR would continue with its initiatives to educate road users in their bid to reduce the number of road accidents in the state.
“In Malaysia, we lost 19 lives each day due to road accidents. The loss of lives is also a loss to the nation in terms of productivity.
“According to Miros, the country is losing millions every year in terms of contribution to the country due to road accident fatalities. Those who are disabled due to road accidents will not be able to contribute to the economy.”
While advising road users to be more responsible and exercise caution, Manyin revealed that the World Health Organisation had targeted that by 2020, fatality due to road accidents in developed countries must be reduced to two per 10,000 vehicles.
He also called on the police and Road Transport Department to enforce the use of rear seatbelts, saying the law had not been enforced seriously.
Meanwhile, state Road Safety Department director Davina Agnes Enteli disclosed one fatality due to road accidents occurred in Sarawak each day.
As of Nov this year, the state recorded a total of 362 deaths and 170 serious injuries due to road accidents. Miri had the highest road accident fatality at 52, followed by Sibu (49), Bintulu (38) and Kuching (17).
However, she said the state registered a reduction in road accident fatalities, from 421 last year to 362 this year.
“We like to blame our roads (for road accidents) but it is actually not the main factor why accidents happened. Human factor such as speeding, careless driving and fatigue are the main factors.”
Davina said road users were actually exposing themselves to risk of serious injuries if they did not put on seat belt and helmet.