KUCHING, Feb 11: Road users in Malaysia with a ‘don’t care’ attitude and place their own interests above others were criticised by Sarawak Commissioner of Police Datuk Ramli Din today.
Pointing out that Malaysia had a serious issue with road safety, accounting for one of the highest rates of road accidents among other countries in the world, Ramli lamented that it seemed all the efforts by Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Social Security Organisation (Perkeso) and other related agencies to reduce road accidents were ineffective.
“This is due to the mindset of our road users. They don’t seem to care. Despite holding various yearly campaigns, putting our policemen on the field, giving out summons to irresponsible drivers, taking them to court, the number of accidents and deaths just keep increasing, especially during festive season.
“Together with our strategic partners, we do all these campaigns to educate the community, hoping that we can reduce the statistics, but all the efforts seemed useless,” he said at a Road Safety Campaign closing ceremony initiated by Perkeso today.
Ramli also acknowledged that although there are many responsible and careful drivers out there, those from the opposite side, such as drunk drivers, speeding or aggressive driving and distracted driving (using mobile phone) were the cause of such catastrophes.
From police statistics, Sarawak recorded 3,630 accidents with 85 deaths in 2019.
Another disappointing fact Ramli pointed out was that the community seemed unaffected by road safety campaigns, adding that they believed accidents or deaths due to road accidents would not happen to them.
He reminded everyone that road safety was everyone’s responsibility and should not be left to the authority concerned alone.
“Road safety is not something we should take lightly. Think of the lives you could and will save if you remind your family and friends to wear their seat belts and do not to exceed speed limits, text and drive or driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
“Meanwhile, PDRM will continue to step up in our enforcement with other agencies in joint operations and commitment to reducing collisions and fatalities on our roads. With all the campaigns that we are doing, we can spread the message of the importance of road safety in hopes of creating a positive driving attitude,” Ramli said. —DayakDaily
