Letter to editor
PARTI Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) urges the authorities to immediately come up with a comprehensive strategy, including imposing harsher penalties to reduce the number of road accidents in the country.
This follows two major road crashes in the country recently where nine lives from two families were lost.
On June 28, a family of five, including two children and a baby were killed when their vehicle was involved in a crash with a trailer along the Jalan Kuantan-Segamat stretch. Then on July 13, a couple and their two daughters were killed in an accident along the North-South Expressway.
Based on reports, both these unfortunate incidents were caused by human error. In the second incident, it was found that the trailer driver had 13 traffic summons. Three of these summons were for road accident cases in 2012, 2020 and 2021.
We find it disturbing and shocking that a driver who has committed so many traffic offences is still allowed on our roads.
These were not isolated incidents but part of a worrying pattern that has emerged over the years, including, reports of bus and trailer drivers with numerous past offences still being allowed to drive.
This is why strict enforcement of speed limits must be imposed, coupled with heavier penalties, and the introduction of mandatory tamper-proof speed controllers for all heavy vehicles.
More awareness campaigns should also be introduced and these should begin from childhood, while the condition of all vehicles should be regularly checked to ensure road-worthiness.
Schools should also consider making road safety a mandatory topic for school projects on a yearly basis. Malaysians should stop treating our roads and highways as race tracks with all road users needing to play their role towards a safer environment for all.
There is a drastic need for a change of attitude and as mentioned above; this needs to start at a very tender age. Parents need to take the lead in educating their children on road safety while teachers also play an important role.
It is really worrying and distressing to regularly read about horrific road accidents where innocent lives are lost and families left devastated.
The fact is a majority of these road accidents are caused by human error as pointed out by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS). These include speeding, changing lanes without any signal, running through red lights and mobile phone usage while driving.
Innocent road users are losing their lives because such dangerous, irresponsible people are allowed on our roads. It is time for some serious action to be taken to prevent more losses of innocent lives.
Road accidents have been ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in Malaysia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 with a total 7,181 fatalities that year.
Despite enforcement by the authorities, it is not uncommon to see a large number of road users still blatantly using their handphones while on the road. PBM will also write to the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong to express our concern and share our views.
We will also seek an appointment to meet him on this matter. – July 18, 2022
Steven Choong Shiau Yoon
Senior vice-president
Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM)
(Also MP for Tebrau)
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
