I HAVE high hopes that new Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong will make a difference in efforts to significantly reduce the horrific death toll among motorcyclists.
Many of his predecessors have come and gone without this being high on the agenda while the increase in motorcycle numbers brings with it even higher fatal crashes.
Towards the end of 2019, some light was shone which raised hopes that it’s not going to be business as usual following meetings between the then transport minister, Anthony Loke and key members of Safety First Group, a WhatsApp community with a large following.
Loke told Parliament that the proposal by the group to create motorcycle lanes would be submitted in the 12th Malaysia Plan that kicks off next year.
He said, in the meantime, the ministry along with its agencies like the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and the Road Safety Department encouraged motorcyclists to ride along the already available special lanes for two-wheelers.
To strengthen its case, the group also met the then works minister, Baru Bian, since consigning the leftmost sections of highways as it proposed for motorcycles would be the ministry’s jurisdiction.
Baru also responded favourably to the proposal, saying he was mulling over a new policy to restrict motorcyclists to the left or the slowest lanes of roads and highways, especially during peak hours.
“The statistics of road deaths and injuries during those hours of commuting to work and home involving motorcyclists and pillion riders have reached an alarming level over the past four years,” said Baru.
Another proposal by the group was for the motorcycle speed limit to be reduced to 70km/h as is the case in countries like China and Vietnam which have even more motorcycles.
Even if the lower speed limit proposal doesn’t seem to be gaining traction with the powers that be, let’s start rolling out the designated lanes.
It’s common knowledge that most motorcyclists and pillion riders who died in road crashes were riding on the fast lanes weaving in and out among larger vehicles.
What is long overdue is an overhaul of the motorcycle riding culture in Malaysia that if implemented could go a long way towards drastically reducing the death toll averaging around 4,500 annually.
And over 70% of those killed were youths between 16 and 30 years old, making it the biggest source of deaths among our young.
The remarks that Loke made in Parliament in October last year that I mentioned earlier were in response to a question on motorcyclist safety posed by Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who was Baru Bian’s predecessor as works minister.
And this is where it gets more interesting and added to my optimism as an activist on this issue as regular readers of this column could vouch.
Fadillah has since rejoined the Cabinet of the new Perikatan Nasional government as one of four senior ministers and retains his old works portfolio.
He is now in a much stronger position to implement the motorcycle lanes proposal.
This Off the Cuff column is into its 10th year now and I have countless times highlighted the necessity of safer riding culture via special lanes and lower speed limits.
These measures are by common sense no brainers and in my view, so easily enforceable with the passage of relevant legislation.
Most roads and certainly our highways are spacious enough to accommodate such lanes without high costs involved.
It’s even more urgent now to implement such lanes because of the sharp increase in motorcyclists hired for the food delivery service with the mushrooming of the gig economy.
These motorcyclists have been ubiquitous the past two months of the movement control order (MCO) to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s obvious for everyone to see that speeding is the order of the day among these motorcyclists as their income depends on how many deliveries they make.
During the MCO period from March 18 to April 23, a total of 143 motorcyclists died compared with 114 people who succumbed to Covid-19 up to Wednesday.
This is despite the much reduced number of motorcyclists hitting the roads as most workplaces were shut down in the first 40 days of the MCO before more sectors of the economy were allowed to resume business.
With the ban on interstate travel the balik kampung exodus for Hari Raya won’t take place this weekend. As a result, we can take comfort in seeing many lives saved as fatal crashes would normally peak during this period in previous years.
Miros is determined to push full steam ahead for motorcycle lanes to become a reality at long last.
Its chairman, Datuk Suret Singh told me he was expected to brief both Wee and Fadillah immediately after the MCO is lifted.
I wish all Muslim readers Selamat Hari Raya. Stay safe always.
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