MELAKA: One life is lost every 80 minutes on average with over 6,000 road accident fatalities recorded yearly, says Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah.
He added that motorcycle riders made up 70% of total accidents.
He said the government was working with driving schools to cut road accident deaths in half by 2030, by focusing on enhancing driver competency and compliance with road safety rules.
"Various key initiatives capable of significantly reducing the rates of accidents, injuries, and deaths in a short time are being implemented by the Transport Ministry, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) in collaboration with the driving institutes in the country,” he said when officiating Seminar Tadbir Urus Institut Memandu Malaysia 2024 here today.
Hasbi said that among the initiatives implemented was the digitisation of the driving institute industry via the electronic driving test system, or e-Testing.
He said the initiative allowed candidates to take the driving test without a JPJ officer present, while their performance was monitored in real-time through detectors and cameras, which could enhance the integrity of the testing process.
Hasbi also said that the government had allowed qualified driving institutes to set up Driver’s Education Curriculum Test Centre facilities or offer computerised law theory tests to provide better and smoother services to the public.
He said JPJ statistics showed that there are currently over 14 million Malaysian driving licence (LMM) holders across the country. Of this total, 309,284 LMM Class B2 and 335,827 Class D licences were issued to applicants last year.
"This means more than 600,000 candidates are trained annually by 245 driving institutes, emphasising that the IM industry is a strategic partner to JPJ and the government in creating new initiatives to improve road safety and driving awareness,” he said.
Hasbi also added that the number of new vehicles registered in the country reached an all-time high of 799,000 last year. - Bernama
