By Jeya Palakrishnar
Seventy percent of road fatalities in the year 2023 were from motorcyclist deaths, that is 4,489 lives of loved ones lost in road crashes. This translates to 12 motorcyclist deaths a day, 1 every 2 hours, a five percent rise from the numbers recorded the year before as per data provided by Royal Malaysian Police, analysed by the Malaysia Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and shared with Weekly Echo by Ir. Ts. Azhar Hamzah, Centre Director of MIROS.
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31: In October this year, Be Part of the Change, a Sweden-Malaysia Road Safety Webinar 2.0, a collaborative initiative between MIROS and The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute or Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut (VTI ) took place, with focus on Sweden vs Malaysia experience on motorised two-wheeler safety. MIROS, VTI, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), SAFER (SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Centre at Chalmers) and Boon Siew Honda made presentations on two-wheeler safety.
Indeed, the picture painted continues to be grim, with strong calls for road users to follow safety standards set for them and further enforcement of existing and new road regulations to bring down the number of fatalities.
It is one road crash every 53 seconds, said Prof. Dr. Kulanthayan K.C.Mani, Executive Director of Safe Kids Malaysia, UPM, who presented the 2023 road crash data, adding that one fatality was also recorded every 8 minutes.
He said head injury accounted for 56.4% to 86.0% of the motorcyclist fatalities, and underlined the importance of using safety helmets that meet the standards MS 1-1:201- Protective helmets and visors for vehicle users or UNECE-22 – Uniform provisions for the approval of protective helmets and their visors for drivers and passengers of motorcycles and mopeds.
“Road safety must be people’s agenda in addition to governments’. It is key for all of us to participate and make a difference for people safety in road safety and be part of the change,” he said.
He also said the Motorcycle Child Helmet Initiative, a child road safety intervention by Safe Kids Malaysia, had been launched to address the following Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 3.6, which is to halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2030; SDG 11.2 to provide access to safe affordable, accessible and sustainable transport system for all by 2030 and the WHO Road Safety Target 7 to increase the proportion of motorcycle riders correctly using standard helmets close to 100%.
Dr. Jonas Jansson, Research Director, Traffic and Road Users of VTI meanwhile presented on riding in a safe system. To a question from Weekly Echo on whether four wheelers, trucks, trailers and more be equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB) and if governments should start thinking about enforcing such regulations in the interest of a Vision Zero for this region including Malaysia, his response was an emphatic “Yes.”
Jonas, who was previously the function owner for Volvo’s AEB system, said AEB “can be highly effective and should be promoted.”
Dr. Magnus Granstӧrm, Director of SAFER presented a holistic perspective on road safety, a borderless approach to saving lives, and a “complete -travel-perspective” with safety “from door to door”, citing the following reasons — 1.2 million die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
He said road traffic injuries were the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 and 93% of world’s fatalities on the road occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Lastly, to a question on the government’s commitment to continue the implementation of separate motorcycle lanes, Nor Fadilah Mohd. Soid from MIROS said the agency remained committed to the expansion of separate motorcycle lanes. “We are working in collaboration with other key stakeholders and look forward to providing updates as these plans evolve.”
As a nation, Malaysia had done well for road safety in the early seventies with its first motorcycle lane on
the Federal Highway; and the late Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Radin Umar, MIROS’ first Director General, had been a strong advocate for separate motorcycle lanes for motorcyclist safety.
–WE
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