Police expect more crashes and fatalities during Raya season

KUALA LUMPUR: Police are expecting more crashes and fatalities during the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
"This is due to the unchanging attitude of Malaysian drivers," said Bukit Aman traffic police chief SAC Datuk Mahamad Akhir Darus.
He said road users must be disciplined while driving on the road as the highways would be congested.
"Drivers must be careful while driving and always heed traffic laws.
"Do not drive on the emergency lane, overtake on double lines, speed, beat the traffic lights, cut queue or fiddle with the phone. This may cause major accidents," he told reporters at the Federal police headquarters, today.
He said drivers should also check their car's condition, such as brake, lights and tires.
He, however, also warned the public not to use stroke lights and sirens during the festive season.
"Remove it now or we will remove it for you," he said
Meanwhile, Mahamad Akhir said there are two approaches to achieving the objectives of Op Selamat 9/2016 which are "Total Enforcement" and "Services".
He said one of the approaches of total enforcement is creating a 'Subtech' team which focuses on black spot areas, aimed at reducing the rate of fatalities and traffic flow while services are intended to serve the community in managing smooth traffic and Emergency Response Team (ERT).
"The subtech team will be divided into four zones namely Sungai Petani, Kedah (north zone), Bidor, Perak (middle zone), Bakri, Muar, Johor (south zone) and Bukit Galing, Kuantan (east zone)," he said.
"The team will serve as the control centre by providing reports, statistics, charts, updated flow and traffic movements and coordinating between the traffic operation room in Bukit Aman and Malaysia Control Centre (MCC)," he added.
In Ops Selamat 2015, the operation recorded 20,458 incidents nationwide compared to 18,484 cases in 2014, a 10.7% increase.
The fatalities also shot up by a staggering 39.6% from 244 in 2014 to 330 last year.
Motorcyclists still formed the bulk of the fatalities at 60.6%, with 200 deaths.