Tackle all dangerous driving, not just drink-driving, says interfaith group

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) has called on the government to clamp down on all those who drive dangerously, instead of focusing its attention solely on drunk drivers.

In a statement today, the group said it took note of Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan's pledge to table amendments to the Road Transport Act at the next Dewan Rakyat session in July 2020 to impose heavier penalties for drink-driving.

"Whilst the MCCBCHST does not condone drunk driving, it is of the view that any action proposed, including tabling amendments regarding drunk driving, must be holistic in nature and include all drivers whose driving poses a danger to the public.

"There appears to be an effort to only target drunk drivers as is borne out by the daily reports by Bernama on drunk drivers, which are then picked up by other newspapers and reported," it said.

The joint statement was issued in the name of MCCBCHST president Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim of Christian Federation Malaysia (CFM), Malaysian Gurdwaras Council's Sardar Jagir Singh, Malaysia Hindu Sangam's RS Mohan Shan, Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia's Dao Zhang Tan Hoe Chieow and the Venerable Sing Kan of the Malaysian Buddhist Association.

The statement cited government statistics quoted by consumer activist Deepak Gill, spokesperson for the Alcohol Consumer Rights Group, which showed that between 2011 and 2019 (nine years) there were only 47 drunk driving-related road deaths in Malaysia, out of a total of 55,887 road-related deaths.

The statistics were based on a query on the Public Sector Open Data Portal (data.gov.my).

"Thus, drunk driving deaths amount to less than 0.1 percent of all accident-related deaths and the MCCBCHST believes that all persons whose driving pose a danger to the public should be dealt with adequately and not target only drunk drivers.

"The other 99.9 percent of cases involving dangerous driving, like recklessness, speeding, beating of traffic lights, driving under the influence of legal and illegal drugs, ketum, texting and reading messages on mobile phones, must be addressed accordingly," the religious leaders said.

"We applaud the transport minister for giving the assurance that all forms of reckless driving will be addressed to ensure our roads are safer for all users and the MCCBCHST hopes there will be comprehensive and frequent road safety campaigns to create awareness of good driving etiquette amongst all road users," the statement added. - Mkini