KUALA LUMPUR: The Social Security Organisation (Socso) will be meeting up with p-hailing motorcycle riders to address road safety issues, says Datuk Hasbi Habibollah.
"There are also plans to organise a campaign between Socso and p-hailing riders at the headquarters of Foodpanda and GrabFood later this year.
"Other p-hailing food delivery riders from other companies can also join in the programmes," the Deputy Transport Minister said when replying to a supplementary question raised by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (PH-Ledang) in Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (March 2).
He said that a total of 32 engagement sessions were held with p-hailing riders last year to address road safety issues.
"In 2021, p-hailing riders grew like mushrooms because they were allowed to move around during the movement control order (MCO).
"There were between 7,000 and 6,000 fatal road accidents before the MCO.
"Although it dropped to about 4,000 cases during the MCO, most of the accidents involved motorcyclists," he said.
A total of 6,167 fatal road accidents were recorded in 2019, 4,634 in 2020 and 4,539 in 2021.
Last June, The Malaysian P-Hailing Riders Association (Persatuan Penghantar P-Hailing Malaysia) said that an average of three to four road accidents are reported a week involving p-hailing riders in the country due to fatigue.
Last Oct 7, the Road Transport (Amendment) Bill 2022 was passed by Dewan Rakyat to make it mandatory for p-hailing riders and self-employed transportation providers to register for Socso's Self Employment Social Security Scheme (SKSPS).
However, the Bill had yet to be tabled in Dewan Negara following the dissolution of Parliament three days later.
Earlier, Hasbi informed the House that a Safety Awareness and Focused Advocacy for Road Users (Safer) programme was implemented by the Road Transport Department.
He noted the programme was aimed at motorcyclists who made up more than 60% of fatal accidents a year.
He said that the JPJ had organised a total of 835 advocate programmes for p-hailing riders between 2020 and last year and that the department planned to organise some 80 road safety programmes nationwide this year.
