What if road safety was a racial issue?

Let me confess that the initial headline I wrote was “Simple ways to make our roads safer”.

But I suspect few people would want to read such a “boring” article. And so I spiced it up – with good reason though.

The trigger for writing this was Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s recent announcement that there would be no more road safety campaign launches.

This, he said, was to save funds, as each launch event costs RM200,000 for souvenirs, food, tents, etc.

I applaud his desire to cut down on such frills – which many officials use to boost their neo-feudal ego and status.

But how will the money saved be used?

Rebranding the issue

A shocking 16 to 17 people die on our roads every day. Fatalities rose from 6,080 in 2022 to 6,433 last year, said the police.

If these deaths were from Covid or terrorist attacks, we would be declaring a national emergency. But sadly, we’ve become numb to traffic tragedy.

Sixty percent of road deaths involve motorcyclists, said Law Teik Hua, head of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Road Safety Research Centre. So, to reduce fatalities, we must help this group.

Road accident statistics are not broken down by race. But the last National Census of 2020 showed that 69.4 percent of the population are bumiputera.

If we were to extrapolate, based on the census, that most accident victims are also bumiputera, what if road safety was rebranded as an effort to “save Malay or Muslim” lives?

Transport Minister Anthony Loke

Malaysiakini columnist Mariam Mokhtar has also noted that most Mat Rempits are Malay.

Rather than a stale issue, this branding would be more effective because we all know how race and religion stir up a lot of passion in this country. Maybe it’s time to mobilise that?

Rather than the tiresome, fake ancaman (threat) of “Cina DAP”, address one real enemy of the bumiputera - the epidemic of road deaths.

Perhaps the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) can take the lead on this, rather than fussing over “Merry Christmas” on cakes?

Make bikers more visible

As a cyclist and motorcyclist, my biggest fear is that some careless drivers will knock me from the back, perhaps while fiddling with their phones.

So I strive to be as visible as possible to motorists, especially at night. I put reflective stickers on my helmet and all over my bikes. I also add battery-powered blinking lights. Yes, call me kiasi (scared to die).

But sadly, I see many motorcyclists are not aware that their red rear light - the only way drivers can see them at night - is spoiled.

As a rider, I understand why this happens. We jump on the motorbike, start it, and zoom off. Nobody likes to get down after starting their bike and walk to the back to check their rear light.

So here’s my simple and cheap suggestion. Revive the 1990s rule that all motorcycle helmets must have reflective stickers. So, even if their lights are kaput, drivers can still see them in the dark.

This need not be a bland yellow strip like in the past. Let it be artistic and eye-catching.

Another way is to make it compulsory for all bikers to upgrade their rear number plates to something reflective - as done in Thailand. Or, at the minimum, add a reflective strip to it.

Such measures cost very little. Perhaps the money saved from Loke’s scrapping of road safety launches can subsidise this?

Show scary injuries

I broke my leg this year and spent some time in the hospital. While at the orthopaedic ward, I saw some horrific cases.

This included ghastly fractures which had multiple metal rods sticking out of their arms or legs. One lady said, “It looks like a TV antenna has been pushed in”.

That got me thinking. What if Mat Rempits visited the hospital? Would they be more careful?

The Transport or Communications ministries should bring these images to the public. Include short interviews with repentant riders to drive home the message.

This can be done as a social media campaign, again using money saved by Loke’s shelving of fancy launch events.

It doesn’t have to be all preachy or gloomy. Have some hip influencers advise people on TikTok to ride and drive safely. Heck, run a contest for catchy rap songs on this.

As a former performance artist, I’m sure Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and his friends can give many other creative ideas.

Rope in the Education Ministry too. Selected students should visit these hospital wards. See the scary injuries for themselves. Talk to those suffering in their beds.

Perhaps they can also get permission to use smartphones to record their visits so that they can be shared with their schoolmates.

Other suggestions

- Bring back the demerit points system. The fear of losing one’s licence is much more powerful than some fines which can be discounted pasar malam style every year.

- Revive road safety clubs in schools. Make it fun with fancy helmets, as seen in Vietnam.

- Potholes endanger riders. Punish companies which fail to repair roads properly after digging them up.

- Bring back state and district-level Traffic Games (formerly sponsored by Shell)

- Create more bike lanes. These are far cheaper than yet another tolled highway. Such lanes are less than two percent of all roads in the country, while 55 percent of vehicles are motorcycles. It’s time to cater to the (bumi) majority!

- Set up more height barriers so that lorries cannot enter and damage certain roads (and cause potholes).

There are many ways to boost road safety. If the old solutions are not working, it’s time to think out of the box.

Road deaths are a national catastrophe. Let’s deal with it urgently. - Mkini

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ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.