THE police and government must reveal the number of fatal crashes in the last decade where victims were found not only without wearing safety belts but using ‘dummy buckles’, a device used to silence seat belt warning alarms in vehicles.
Road safety activist Shahrim Tamrin said based on first-hand accounts from Fire and Rescue Department and police personnel arriving at the crash scenes over the years, he was informed that there have been some crashes in which vehicle occupants did not use their seatbelts.
Worse, several dummy buckles were also found in the crashed cars, he said, adding that the sight of safety belts being replaced by dummy buckles in a passenger car was first discovered in a vehicular accident on Jalan Kota Tinggi-Pengerang, Johor in 2014.
“The authorities knew about this unhealthy trend in the last 10 years and yet there’s no real action being taken,” said the former Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) board member.
“Five years ago, MIROS had also tried to initiate a considerable response from various government agencies but the effort was futile.
“To see the absence of cooperation between agencies to stop the selling or declaring a war against such item is a clear reflection of government’s poor commitment to save lives on the road.”
Shahrim went on to cite several fatal crashes over the last decade, all of which found that the victims were using dummy buckles, among them a crash near Gua Musang, Kelantan on Aug 23, 2018 involving a Perodua Myvi resulting in the death of the driver as well as the front and rear passengers, and a crash on Jalan Kuantan-Gebeng, Pahang on May 25, 2020 where a Toyota Yaris and Toyota C-HR had collided, resulting in one death.
According to a MIROS research published a few years ago, as the victims were not wearing their seatbelts, the impact of the crash had caused them to be thrown out of the vehicles or had resulted in them sustaining a head injury, leading to their demise.
Shahrim went on to point out that news reporters were often requested by victims’ family members and investigating officers not to write a post-crash news report revealing the victims’ failure to buckle up.
“The reasons were that such stark details may jeopardise the crash investigation and disrupt the insurance claim process, what more the presence of dummy buckles,” said Shahrim, who was also a journalist with 13-year experience covering road-related issues.
He expressed extreme disappointment with the news that three days ago from a Bernama report where the Negri Sembilan Road Transport Department (JPJ) had revealed that there has been a rising trend of vehicle occupants using “dummy buckles” to silence the seat belt alarms instead of wearing seat belts properly.
It was reported that Negeri Sembilan JPJ director Hanif Yusabra Yusuf over 30% of road users were found to be using the accessory, which resembles a real seat belt buckle, from the 195 vehicles caught of not using the safety belts.
“It is painful to see in the present day, despite the existence of a high-level Cabinet Committee on road safety and congestion, we have yet to hear the Transport Ministry, JPJ, police as well as Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry embark on a blanket ban on the sale of such dummy seatbelt buckles or declare a war against such item,” Shahrim remarked.
“Even to date, the Road Safety Council of Malaysia is seemingly losing direction due to its failure to hold an Annual General Meeting in the last five years. So is the government serious on road safety?” – Feb 12, 2025
Main image: Malay Mail
