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Hit the road, Jack, but be safe
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Tuesday, 09 February 2010 20:32
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KUALA LUMPUR - Road safety will be given top priority during the festive period as city dwellers return home to celebrate Chinese New Year, Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat said Tuesday.
Ops Sikap 21, which runs from Feb 8 to 22, involves the police and Road Transport Department (RTD) and collaboration with other agencies to help bring down road accidents during the festive period.
Ong, writing on his blog Tuesday, said the RTD with the co-operation of the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) would also step up checks on express bus drivers at bus terminals to make sure they were not under the influence of dangerous substance when they hit the road.
With the help of the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board, he said the Transport Ministry was also ensuring that express bus companies intending to offer additional service during this period meet stringent safety requirements.
They include ensuring that the buses have a co-driver for journeys exceeding 300 kilometres or four hours; the buses must not be more than 15 years old and there must be proper log entries for the drivers.
Speed limit reduced
On top of that, the speed limit for all Federal and State roads is reduced by 10km/hour throughout Ops Sikap 21 to help cut the risks of road accidents during the festive season. All non-critical roadworks will also be stopped during this period.
Also, a maximum compound of RM300 will be imposed on those who violate nine serious traffic laws. The offences are speeding, overtaking at the double line, cutting queues, beating traffic lights, using the emergency lanes, driving dangerously, overloading, not wearing seatbelts and not wearing helmets.
Ong, who is now recuperating in hospital following a minor heel operation, said he would still monitor these progress closely from his hospital bed.
He was also pleased to note that the government's efforts to make Malaysian roads safer has bore fruits.
In 2009, Malaysia achieved a fatality index of 3.55 deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles, compared to 3.63 in 2008 and 5.83 in 1999.
Road safety report
With this achievement, Malaysia is now ranked 46th out of 172 countries in the world, almost reaching the top quarter together with many high-performance countries for low fatality for every 10,000 registered vehicles. This is based on the recently-published World Health Organization’s, Global Status Report on Road Safety.
In terms of fatality index per billion vehicle-kilometre travelled (VKT), the figure has also improved from 26.79 deaths per VKT in 1999 to 17.65 deaths in 2008. The VKT index continues to improve to 17.28 deaths last year.
The fatality index per 100,000 populations has also improved over the years with 23.83 deaths nationwide in 2009, compared to 25.5 deaths 10 years earlier.
Ong said such improvements would only spur the government to work harder towards making Malaysian roads safer, especially in view of increasing population and registered vehicles.
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