JOHOR BARU, June 11 — A Johor-level multi-agency taskforce, led by the Johor police contingent, will target all errant motorists during this year’s Ops Selamat road safety campaign in a bid to lower the fatality rate during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri period.
A total of 13 agencies, mainly road safety, enforcement and response units, will be part of the state’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) for the duration of Ops Selamat that started last Friday and will end on June 22.
Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said this year the main agencies in the state have decided to collaborate for the Ops Selamat road safety campaign and form the ERT.
“In the past, the respective agencies in Johor had their own separate operations during the festive period.
“For this year, we have decided to join hands for stronger support and put the respective agencies’ crisis management under one system for the entire duration of Ops Selamat,” he said today.
Mohd Khalil, who will personally oversee the operations, said this to reporters after flagging-off the state level Ops Selamat 2018 at the Skudai toll plaza (southbound) this afternoon.
He was accompanied by Johor deputy police chief Datuk Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, state traffic enforcement and investigation department chief Superintendent Razak Md Said and other senior officers from other agencies.
The state’s top cop also said that police enforcement and education efforts will still concentrate on motorcyclist, especially the “Brother Motor”, who are made-up of mainly Mat Rempit.
“As motorcyclists are still the biggest contributors to the road fatalities, we need to properly reach out to these groups through proper engagement,” he said.
Overall, Mohd Khalil said the road accident statistics for last year saw an increase compared with the corresponding period the year before.
He said the police with the other related agencies will try their best this year to reduce the death toll.
“Basically, we can’t eliminate road accidents as most of the road deaths come down to the attitude of the drivers.
“Please take care of your attitude and practise defensive driving while on the road,” advised Mohd Khalil.
For Johor, last year’s Ops Selamat saw an increase of 52 cases of road accidents with a total of 3,280 compared to only 3,228 in 2016.
Fatal road accidents also increased from 35 cases in 2016 to 38 cases last year. However, the overall fatality decreased from 43 in 2016 to 40 last year.
Motorcyclists topped the accident numbers for both years at 25 in 2016 and 28 for last year. This is followed by cars with 16 in 2016 and a decrease of six at 10 for last year.
