Building a culture of safety on Malaysian roads

I CAME to Malaysia many years ago after meeting my Malaysian wife. Previously, I lived and worked in several European countries, including Sweden and the United Kingdom, where safety is not just a rule – it is a culture. It is a part of how people live, work, and care for each other.

The roads here tell a very different story. During my first week in Malaysia, I saw a motorcyclist riding with two children behind him, none of them wearing helmets. To me, it looked frightening. I’ve also seen toddlers standing between parents on scooters, or children playing in the backseat of moving cars without any seatbelts. These are not rare sights here, they seem to be a part of daily life – but they are also tragedies waiting to happen.