PETALING JAYA - World Health Organisation (WHO) gave poor marks to Malaysia’s road safety effectiveness in enforcing the seat-belt law in the country.
In the latest WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015 released on Monday, the United Nations (UN) agency gave Malaysian authorities a score of four out of 10 marks for the national seat belt law enforcement.
The report stated the country’s percentages of seat-belt wearing rate are at 77% for front seats and 13% for rear passengers.
“Wearing a seat-belt can reduce deaths among rear-seat car occupants by 25% to 75% while it also reduces the risk of death among front-seat passengers by 40% to 65%,” the report pointed out.
It also emphasised the worldwide findings in 105 countries, which represent 67% of the global population, that having seat-belt laws for front and rear seat passengers are in line with best safety practice.
The global health agency also took note on the absent of regulation in Malaysia for child restraining system and restrictions for children sitting in front passenger seat.
“Infant seats, child seats and booster seats can reduce child deaths by 54% to 80% in the event of a crash,” the report said, adding that 53 countries which represent 1.2 billion people have a child restraint law that conforms to the best practice.
Furthermore, the WHO report provided a score of five for the authorities’ enforcement on drink-driving law and highlighted that the road traffic deaths involving alcohol were 23% from the overall number of motorcyclists and motorists in Malaysia, a glaring contrast from last year’s Federal Traffic Police road fatalities statistic of 193 for the same cause.
"Better laws are needed on speed, drinking and driving, use of motorcycle helmets, seat belts and child restraints," said WHO director-general Margaret Chan on Monday at the launch of the report.
Last month, world leaders had adopted the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and pledged to halve the number of deaths and injuries in respective countries from road traffic crashes by 2020. - Sundaily
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