M.Krishnamoorthy
A media coach, adjunct professor and author
A total of 6443 people were killed in road accidents in 2023 compared to 6080 fatalities in 2022.
The majority of deaths (70%) were motorcyclists, former Director General of The Road Safety Department (JKJR) Datuk Suret Singh said.
“There is no reduction in the number of deaths, and is increasing every year, a far cry from the target of reducing the death toll to 3000 (50 reduction) by 2030 as envisaged under the Malaysia Road Safety Plan 2022 -2030.”
Suret, currently the Safety Driving Centre (SDC) adviser, has written and launched a comprehensive Defensive Driving Guidebook for Safer Logistics Fleet Operations. “It is intended to be a game changer for upgrading Logistics Industry Safety standards and practice in Malaysia and the ASEAN region. This guidebook provides handy tools for management to prioritise and lead their fleets to adopt first-world road safety practices. It will empower the safety manager, safety officers, fleet maintenance, as well as safety audit and Safe Healthy Environment teams.
“The book states that truck and tanker drivers' vehicles must be equipped with new technologies such as sleepy driver detection, flat tyre protection system, rearview cameras, ABS, electronic stability control and seatbelts in drivers’ cabins.
“All road crashes are preventable and the Safer Logistic Fleet Operations guidebook identifies actions to be taken by all groups handling various components of road safety practice within the organization,” Suret said in an interview with Newswav.
He explained that there is a dire need for the maintenance team and drivers to strictly follow safety guidelines to minimise contributory causes of road crashes. A Command-and-Control Centre must be set up by fleet operators assigned with the task of driver's journey monitoring for every journey to enforce driving and rest hours.
SDC, one of Malaysia's leading driving school founder C.T. Balan said: “There is a need for surveillance and monitoring of sleepy drivers. Fleet managers should play their role in communicating with speeding drivers to slow down and get sleepy drivers to stop as a proactive and preventive measure to avoid road crashes.
“Management, safety teams, safety officers and truck drivers need to shoulder their respective responsibilities to support safer logistics Fleet Operations as an integral part of the chain of responsibility for road safety. As part of the programme roll-out.”
“The Malaysian Defensive Driving and Riding Centre (MDDRC) a start-up by SDC led by Datuk Suret will partner with logistics operators to instil the golden rules of road safety as operator norms and organisational culture,” said Balan, the founder of SDC.
Suret wrote his first road safety guidebook as a Director of Licensing and Registration of Drivers and Vehicles in JPJ in the year 1990 entitled, “Panduan Pemanduan Berhemah” A Defensive Driving Guide for Novice Drivers.
He is also the lead author of the Industrial Code of Safety Practice Guides for Trucks and Buses issued by Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) in 2013.
The book was launched by Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) President Prof Dr Myhammad Zaly Shah FCILT at De Palma Hotel in Shah Alam.
In 13 years, 2,900 underage persons have died while riding motorcycles, says Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Children’s Commissioner Dr Farah Nini Dusuki.
In Malaysia, the legal age for riding a motorcycle on public roads is 16 years old, and the rider must have a valid motorcycle licence.
However, the above statistics referred to those aged six and 15 years old who met with a fatal accident between 2008 and 2021, she said.
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, adjunct professor and undercover journalist. He has freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns.
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