KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Siti Zaharah Ishak yesterday named the Batu Pahat district in Johor as having the highest number of vehicular fatalities with 554 cases recorded over the past three years.
Local daily New Straits Times (NST) quoted Zaharah as saying that the Batu Pahat route to Kluang via Ayer Hitam has been identified as a ‘hotspot’ where most of the fatal accidents took place.
“The long and straight four-lane paths have been identified as one of the contributing factors to the majority of accidents.
“The alignment of the road causes road users to drive beyond the speed limit,” she said.
NST further reported that Johor, Perak and Selangor recorded the highest fatal accident rates in the country for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017.
For Johor, besides Batu Pahat, other districts in the state that recorded high rates of fatal accidents were North Johor Baru (315) and Kluang (296).
Zaharah said in Selangor, 347 cases were recorded in the Kajang district, followed by South Klang (270) and Kuala Selangor (260).
“In Perak, the three districts that recorded the highest number of fatal accidents were Ipoh (402), Manjong (261) and Hilir Perak (232),” she said.
Zaharah said based on research conducted by Miros, negligence was one of the main causes of road accidents.
“We have seen negative trends in motorists using mobile phones while driving, using WhatsApp, taking selfies or surfing social media sites. Bear in mind that just a one-second lapse in concentration can lead to an accident,” she said.
