Phase out killer ‘kapcai’ bikes, says expert

 

A transport planner has labelled “kapcai” motorcycles as killing machines because of the high death rate of its riders. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A transport expert has proposed that “kapcai” light motorcycles be phased out from the market and be replaced by low-powered electric motorbikes.

Transport planner Wan Agyl Wan Hassan described the “kapcai” as a killing machine because of a high death rate of riders. “Kapcai” is a slang term for underbone bikes with engines below 250cc capacity.

“In Malaysia, the ‘kapcai’ is a killing machine that has caused a lot of deaths – at an average of 4,100 deaths a year over 12 years – and this is a loss in productivity to the country,” he said at a talk show on Astro Awani.

He said there were an estimated 11 million active “kapcai” machines in Malaysia.

Wan Agyl Wan Hassan.

He said findings by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) had shown that the nation suffered a massive economic loss of RM18.15 billion from the deaths of motorcycle users from 2015 to 2017.

“This is a huge loss to the country. Do we still want to have this kind of motorcycle on the road?” said Wan Agyl, who was head of policy and planning at the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission.

Figures from federal traffic police show that 79,916 motorcycle users were killed in road accidents from 2001 to August this year and that motorcycle users accounted for 70.2% of road fatalities up to August.

There are 15.2 million registered motorcycles in the Road Transport Department registry, 90% of them being “kapcai” models.

Wan Agyl said the latest statistics suggest that Malaysia was edging closer to replacing Thailand as the world’s deadliest nation for motorcyclists.

He said “kapcai” users also comprised child motorcyclists.

“This kind of motorcycle is light and easy to handle, so young kids use it in the rural areas, for going to school or to buy groceries. We need to think whether or not we want to maintain this type of motorcycle or slowly phase it out,” he said.

He agreed with talk show co-host Melisa Melina Idris that such a decision could be politically unpopular, as many people bought this kind of motorcycle because of the price, at an average of RM3,000 to RM4,000.

However, an electric motorcycle would be cheaper, at a price of between RM1,500 and RM2,000, and would not be as fast or as easy to modify and turned into killing machines.

“Can we not think about maybe phasing out ‘kapcai’ motorcycles altogether?” he said. “That’s the biggest question that needs to be answered by politicians.”

The proposal to curb teenagers from using the “kapcai” has been up in the air for the last 14 years.

At the 2019 National Road Safety Council annual meeting, a senior police officer requested that the transport ministry draft a long-term policy to introduce a new licensing category for motorcyclists aged 16 to 25 to ride only small engine capacity scooters or low-powered electric motorcycles.

It was also similarly mooted by a board member of Miros at a motorcycle safety forum in Perlis two years ago.

Last month, the Consumers Association of Penang urged the government to impose a new regulation permitting school-going teenagers to only ride mopeds or small engine capacity motorcycles that can only travel at a maximum speed of up to 45km/h. - FMT