KUALA LUMPUR: The police have been asked for daily accident statistics to bring road safety issues to the forefront, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
This new arrangement began in March, with the data usually disseminated through police social media channels.
The media also have an important role to play in highlighting road safety matters to promote the importance of a culture of road safety, the minister added.
"On average, 17 people die on our roads every day," Loke said during an engagement with media practitioners here on Thursday (May 16) attended by dozens of editors and journalists.
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The event, hosted by the Road Transport Department (JPJ), aimed to sensitise media practitioners to the seriousness of road safety in reducing fatalities, injuries and other losses.
"In 2023, more than 600,000 accidents were recorded, resulting in more than 6,400 deaths, with around two-thirds of them being motorcyclists (including pillion riders).
"This situation is akin to a public health problem. We have to tell the story from the victims themselves to humanise such incidents," Loke said in appealing to the media to step up and do its part.
Other measures to tackle the scourge include reactivating the Cabinet committee to oversee road safety, he added.
"In the past, the committee has not been functional, rarely having meetings. And it cannot be just headed by one ministry as road safety is a multiple ministry and agency undertaking.
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"As such, this Cabinet committee is now headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi," he said.
Representatives from the Public Works Department, police and Land Public Transport Agency also attended.
Responding to suggestions from editors, Loke said curbing the number of vehicles was not within his ministry's purview and noted that the country did not intend to limit the registration of vehicles.
"We cannot do what our neighbour (Singapore) is doing such as imposing a system such as the certificate of entitlement (COE) as there are many areas of the country that face challenges in mobility.
"We also have an automotive industry. What we can do is to improve public transport, and also see what the effects of the fuel subsidy rationalisation will be," he said.
On urban public transport, he said around RM200mil has been allocated to subsidise users of the My50 monthly travel pass, along with other concessions.
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"About 200,000 users have taken up the My50, but still, this is a trickle compared to the number of vehicles on the roads in the Klang Valley.
"Back to the subject of road safety, we (the government) cannot go it alone, and we really need a good level of cooperation from the media," he added.
To a suggestion that dashcams be made mandatory, Loke said this was easier said than done.
"Like other things that some have said should be compulsory, there will definitely be pushback from society.
"Just like child seats, which on the surface looked like a straightforward matter, there were complications when it came to implementation.
"If at all, perhaps it (dashcams) can be considered for new vehicles, and even then, maybe we can look at buses first," he said.
