Lee helps to put a safety vest on a motorcyclist. Also in the photo are MoT permanent secretary Datu Buckland Bangik (first right, partly seen), Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng and Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association Kuching branch chairman Dato Sim Kiang Chiok.
KUCHING (Jan 18): The state Ministry of Transport (MoT) will implement the Transport-Awareness Behavioural Change (ABC) Programme this year in a bid to reduce the number of road accidents in Sarawak, said its minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin yesterday.
He explained the programme will include raising awareness on safe driving among the road users in the state.
“There is a need for cooperation and alertness in road driving from all road users in order to help reduce road accident cases in Sarawak,” he told the media after officiating the state-level road safety campaign in conjunction with Chinese New Year (CNY) at Jalan Tun Jugah here.
He revealed that from 2010 to 2020, it was reported that there were a total of 12,134 road accidents in Sarawak or an average of 1,213 accident cases annually.
According to him, it was found that motorcycle accidents remained the highest accident-prone machines in the state at 5,914 cases, constituting 48.7 per cent of the total 12,134 cases.
“In 2020, it was recorded that of the 315 fatalities/deaths from road accidents, 53 per cent (168 cases) were motorcyclists, while 22.5 per cent (71 cases) involved motorcars and 9.5 per cent (30 cases) were pedestrians while 15 per cent (46 cases) involved other vehicle categories (vans, buses, lorries).
“In any road accident, the impact has three outcomes: slight injuries, serious injuries and death,” he said.
He pointed out that checks revealed that almost all road accidents are caused by human factors.
Among others are carelessness when driving, being engrossed in conversation on hands-free phone, drink driving, fatigue when driving, and, more commonly, not adhering to the speed limit as well as following vehicles in front too closely (tailgating).
“Serious injuries and fatalities from road accidents have dire consequences for both the families and the state.
“The victim might be the sole breadwinner for the family and the accident that happened will create severe consequences to the victim’s family members as well as economic losses to the state,” he said.
He disclosed that the length of road over the period of 13 years had increased by 49.3 per cent, from 13,231km in 2006 to 26,836km in 2019.
In tandem with rapid economic growth, he said more and more people in Sarawak can now afford to purchase motor vehicles or motorcycles for personal mobility.
He pointed out this is the reason why there are many private cars and motorcycles on our roads today and the increasing use of private cars and motorcycles as well as commercial vehicles mean that traffic volume has reached a magnitude that threatens the safety of road users.
“In Sarawak, the number of motor vehicles and motorcycles ownership had significantly increased by 33.7 per cent over 10 years period from 1,277,245 in 2010 to 1,925,463 in 2020.
“In 2010, there were 589,885 private cars as compared to 552,108 motorcycles. By 2020, motorcycles had overtaken motorcars as the main mode of transport for personal mobility, comprising 875,169 (45.5 per cent) of the total motor transport while private cars made up 853,405 (44.3 per cent) of the transport total,” he said.
For the coming CNY festive season, Lee said it is critical that all road users stay vigilant as there will be more vehicles on the roads as many people will be travelling to their hometown, while others will be making trips for holiday and shopping.
He also said the festive season coincides with the rainy or landas season.
“Many roads will be slippery, with puddles of water making driving treacherous. In relation to this, I urge all road users to drive with extreme caution and to turn on your vehicle’s lights whenever it rains so that on-coming traffic know that there are moving vehicles ahead,” he added.
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