KUALA LUMPUR: Statistics on road fatalities will be released on a daily basis to spread awareness on road safety, says Anthony Loke.
The Transport Minister said the Road Transport Department would work with police on making the data public and urged the media to publish the information.
He said the platform to be used could be similar to the CovidNow website, from which the public could obtain the latest statistics on Covid-19.
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“During the pandemic, data on deaths was released daily.
“We want to let the people know that road accidents are as dangerous as the pandemic,” he told a press conference at the Parliament building on Wednesday (March 6).
Loke said the Cabinet committee on traffic congestion and road safety decided on this earlier in the day.
He said the ministry would meet editors to brief them soon.
According to statistics, a total of 6,443 road fatalities were reported last year, which means an average of 18 people died on the roads each day.
From this figure, he said nearly two-thirds involved motorcycles (4,448 deaths).
“We want to change the people’s mindset and one of the ways is to have daily reports to show the seriousness of road accidents,” he added.
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On a separate topic, Loke said an open payment system allowing the use of credit and debit cards will be implemented soon on public buses managed by Prasarana.
For now, cashless payment is only allowed through Touch ’n Go, he revealed.
“Prasarana has opened a tender for this and I have instructed them to prioritise it for buses at the moment.
“It can be done by just installing a card reader in each bus,” he said.
Loke also noted that the move was initially planned for both rail and bus systems for the convenience of the public, considering that foreign tourists might not know where to purchase the Touch ’n Go cards.
He said the open payment system could hopefully be implemented across Rapid KL buses by year-end.
On measures to ease traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur, Loke said the committee agreed to a proposal by City Hall to establish a contra flow lane from the Sungai Besi toll plaza to the SMART.
He said the details would be announced by City Hall.
