By: Nik Ibtishamiah Ibrahim and Ir. Ts. Dr. Yuen Choon Wah

Globally, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years and the 8th leading cause of death for people of all age (WHO, 2018). The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported in 2021 the transport accidents are among the top five contributors to death apart from chronic diseases such as ischaemic heart diseases, pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases and malignant neoplasm of trachea bronchus and lung. It was reported that in Malaysia, the principal causes of death in transport accidents were 16.8 percent aged 16-40 years old and 3.0 percent by aged 0-14 years old.

It was surprised to note that for the first time in 2021, the vehicle population in Malaysia outpaced the human population. The country’s population was recorded at 32.5 million in 2019 and increased between 300,000 to 400,000 annually, bringing to about 32.6 million in 2021. Meanwhile, the vehicle population in 2019 was 31.2 million and subsequently increased by one million every year and in 2021 it was registered at 33.3 million! There is no doubt that people will be facing more horrible traffic congestion if the trends continue within years ahead.

Road accidents is much relating to road safety issues, in which it is not solely remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Rather it is a shared responsibility and improvement efforts must be reflected across the government agencies in addressing the issues. A report by the MOT identified an average of 18 people killed in road accidents daily, road accidents are a serious public health challenge for the nation, warranting an effective policy response. More of it, motorcyclists make up the highest road fatalities at 59 percent, according to the latest Malaysia Road Fatalities Index figures between 2010 and 2019. In second place, 21 percent of fatalities were attributed to passenger cars among various road users. Approximately 1.35 million Malaysians died in road crashes each year from the period of 2010 – 2019. On average 3,700 people lost their lives every day on the roads.

According to the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), 418,237 road accidents were reported in 2020 despite the Movement Control Order (MCO) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the number of vehicles is reduced on the road due to travel restrictions and reducing the number of accidents, it does not prevent road users from driving at high speed which has been identified as one of the main contributors to fatal accidents.

Road traffic injuries are said to cause considerable economic losses to individuals, their families, and to nations as a whole. Based on value of statistical life (VSOL) year of 2018 by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), the Malaysian government has lost at least RM 3.12 million for each life.

Ministry of Transport Malaysia (MOT) reported that the most critical issue contributing to road accidents is human behaviour and negligence which recorded an 80.6 percent, compared to road infrastructure including surrounding and vehicle factor which contributed to 13.2 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. The Ministry of Transport further admitted that the road safety campaign in this country failed to achieve the goal in reducing the accident rate.

The 1st Malaysia Road Safety Plan (MRSP) 2006-2010 has been introduced by the MOT as an effort to address road safety issue in Malaysia with the main objectives is to set a direction, focus areas and strategic planning to handle road safety issues especially from the aspect of reducing road fatalities. The Plan focused on the concept of 4E which are education, enforcement, engineering and environment. The 2nd MRSP 2014 – 2020 developed as a continuation from previous MRSP and was based on five Strategic Pillars, which are Road Safety Management, Safer Roads and Mobility, Safer Vehicle, Safer Road User and Post Crash Response.

The 3rd MRSP 2022 – 2030 is based on the experiences of the two previous MRSPs and the basic framework of the Global Road Safety Decade Action Plan in 2011 – 2020. Additionally, the current issues related to road safety at the Malaysian level are the foundation for developing the overall structure of MRSP 2022-2030. The 3rd MRSP outlined a framework containing 10 priority areas that focuses on improving road safety in Malaysia. Those priority areas were adapted from the five strategic pillars of road safety set by the United Nations (UN) which are road safety management, safer vehicles, safer road users, post-crash response and safer driving environments.

Worldwide, the overall ranking of countries fatality rates has not changed significantly since prior to the pandemic with the safest roads in Sweden (21 deaths per one million inhabitants) and Denmark (26/million) while Romania (86/million) and Bulgaria (78/million) reported the highest rates in 2022.

The European Union (EU) has set a target of a 50 percent reduction for road deaths and also serious injuries by 2030. This was set out in the Commission’s Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety and EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030 which also lay out road safety plans aiming to reach zero road deaths by 2050 (‘Vision Zero’). Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a roadway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. It was started in Sweden in October 1997.

Meanwhile in Netherlands, the Road safety policy is guided by a philosophy of sustainable road safety, based on several key concepts, including that the human being is the reference standard and prevention is preferable to a curative approach. The five safety principles are 1) road functionality, 2) homogeneity of mass and/or speed and direction, 3) physical and social tolerance, 4) recognition and predictability of roads and 5) behaviour and state of awareness.

In Australia, the government aims to deliver significant reductions in road trauma together with the communities through the National Road Safety Strategy 2021 – 2030 that will put direction on a path to Vision Zero. Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Action Plan 2023-2025 (Action Plan) is the first Action Plan for the Strategy. This Action Plan outlines the actions the Australian, state and territory governments will take to implement the Strategy to 2025.

Overall road safety improvement is not something just happens or comes into being a result of, for instance, free market processes. Better road safety requires structures, institutions and organizations, and many parties may play a role; public and private parties and social organizations. The issue is further complicated because it not only is a topic with its own sector, it is also an aspect of other policy areas such as public health policies, land-use planning, policies for senior citizens, and so on.

Since road safety is a multidisciplinary and multivariate scientific field, every proposed action and measure should be developed and supported through strategies in the areas of engineering, enforcement, education and emergency medical services taking into consideration social and economic aspects as well. However, the implementation of certain countermeasures does not give any real benefit in terms of crash reduction if the proposed action is not based on thorough road safety engineering experience and practice.

_{The writers are from Centre for Transportation Research, Universiti Malaya.}