KUANTAN, March 28 — On average, 20 people died every day throughout last year due to road accidents.
According to statistics released by the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), there were 7,152 road fatalities last year.
Deputy Director-General of the Road Safety Department (JKJR), Datuk Roslan Eusoff said motorcyclists or pillion riders topped the list, with an average 12 fatalities out of the 20.
“This shows that motorcyclists and pillion riders contributed the highest number of deaths on roads last year, totaling 4,485,” he said.
Roslan was speaking to reporters after officiating the state Road Safety Programme with Petron Malaysia, which was also attended by the Head of Safety, Security, Health and Environment of Petron Malaysia Refining and Marketing Berhad, Lokman Hani, near here today.
Commenting further, Roslan said according to the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros), 82 percent of fatal accidents were caused by negligence on the part of road users themselves.
“Most of the vehicles collided with each other, or were hit in the back, and also skidded. If the road users reduced their speed, it would reduce the number of accidents,” he said. — Bernama
