MALAYSIA is one nation that is rather obsessed with launching all sorts of plans and programmes which, it must be stressed at the outset, are all well intentioned with noble objectives. But the glaring weaknesses are mainly in the implementation and monitoring of their progress, of which not much is known of their effectiveness or whether targets are met. There are also examples where after all the excitement, effort, and certainly money gone into their expensive implementation, they are abandoned midway.
One that I can think offhand is the so-called blueprint to teach science and mathematics in English, in schools in the mid-2010s. There was a lot of excitement and anxiety as well but after a few years of running the plan, the Education Ministry abandoned it without so much as giving a plausible explanation for its decision.
Like all plans, the people who greatly benefited are the designers and planners who put up their ideas for the government to approve and implement, such as the teaching modules in the science and mathematics in English project.
Last week, we saw the launch of the Malaysian Road Safety Plan 2022-2030 that is aimed, among other things, to reduce the country’s horrible road deaths by at least 50%. On the surface, it is a noble plan but like all else, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
For this latest plan to achieve a semblance of success, the focus must be on motorcyclists. Period. The riders of two-wheelers are the most vulnerable to getting killed and injured on our roads. The focus on motorcyclists is mandatory. They are the biggest threat to road safety as well as to themselves and other road users. The manner in which the motorcycle-riding culture is allowed to continue unchecked in Malaysia, without the authorities batting an eyelid certainly makes it the most dangerous activity, given the phenomenally high death tolls.
In the five years to 2021 alone, nearly 19,000 motorcyclists, mostly in the 16-25 age group have perished on our roads, making road crashes the biggest killers among youths. If we take into account the tens of thousands of others who have been injured, especially those who sustained serious or permanent injuries, the economic and social losses are many times worse than the damage done by the Covid-19 pandemic or the recent big floods in several states.
So much can be done to save and prevent the wanton loss of lives among Malaysians, who due to economic reasons have to commute on the small-engine motorcycles, or popularly known as kapcai. But practically nothing has been done after that one single project that was implemented many years ago to lay out dedicated motorcycle lanes flanking the Federal Highway from Petaling Jaya to Klang. If there is one plan that can be described as the best in terms of boosting road safety and saving lives and limbs, it was this project. Imagine how many thousands of motorcyclists’ lives and that of their pillion riders could have been saved all these years had we had these separate lanes, away from heavy vehicles like cars and other four or more wheelers.
The Federal Highway is easily the nation’s busiest expressway, with almost round-the-clock traffic, hence, the high-risk motorcyclists face with the heavy traffic from trailers commuting to and from Port Klang, our biggest port.
There have been hardly any deaths reported on dedicated lanes and this alone should be an eye-opener for the powers that be to replicate such lanes elsewhere, especially in areas with a huge motorcycle population.
Our politicians who are in power should not think about losing votes from the millions of motorcyclists if they begin to change the motorcycle riding culture in moving forward. They should instead be more concerned about saving the lives of fellow Malaysians – including our youths.
As regular readers of this column can vouch, the safety of motorcyclists is something I am passionate about. I have even approached a previous transport minister and a previous works minister to impress on them the need for separate motorcycle lanes to protect motorcyclists from grave risks. But sad to say, they did not do anything about it.
I strongly believe that whoever holds either of these two portfolios can make a positive difference, or an impact, by focusing on the safety of motorcyclists.
Motorcycling has become an even bigger threat to road safety, with the emergence, notably in the past two years or so, of the food delivery service like Grab and Food Panda, and others. These boys need to make more trips to earn more and in the process, road safety is thrown to the wind, with beating the red light and speeding becoming second nature. Many of these riders have been killed while at work.
Speed kills and in this regard, we welcome the move by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) to introduce a speed limit of between 30km/h and 50km/h in residential areas.
To kick off the plan, Miros chairman Datuk Suret Singh held discussions with Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Mahadi Che Ngah recently for such speed limit to be rolled out in selected areas in the city.
“Miros is working with Kuala Lumpur City Hall to make this plan a reality,” said Suret.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong’s reaction to the proposal that “speed is not the only cause of accidents”, and that there are many other factors as well is rather negative.
As a research entity, Miros is in the best position to determine that in any crash, the chances of survival of road users are much greater, or by as much as 80%, in a slow-speed situation compared with speeding ones.
For over 15 years, there exists in our midst a dedicated government entity called the Road Safety Department (RSD), or Jabatan Keselamatan Jalan Raya, specifically to boost road safety and prevent more road deaths. We hardly can see the effectiveness of this agency, particularly in putting in place measures to promote the safety of motorcyclists, and it is perhaps for this reason that RSD was absorbed into the larger Road Transport Department, or Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan, last year.
RSD would perform better if, for instance, it can erect huge billboards along highways and roads with messages to motorcyclists to value their lives and to avoid weaving in and out between heavy or mainstream vehicles.
Videos of motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes can even be shown on these billboards to send the message to motorcyclists to avoid riding recklessly.
All stakeholders must put an end to the motorcycling riding culture that leaves safety to the riders’ whims and fancies.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
