Malaysia - Electronic Enforcement May Deter Speeding And Reduce Road Accidents

[StlouisX50]

Electronic Enforcement May Deter Speeding And Reduce Road Accidents
By Yong Soo Heong

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Speed kills but this fact has not sunk in with many Malaysian motorists judging from the relatively high number of road accidents as a result of driving with wild abandon.

Not a day goes without the media reporting some gory accidents in Malaysia.

According to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), between 7,000 and 7,500 people perished annually on Malaysian roads and highways each year between 2001 and 2007, a relatively high figure considering the country's population of only 27 million.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat recently said that excessive speeding usually contributed to 60 to 70 per cent of accidents.

A study by the International Institute of Administrative Sciences two years ago found that speed was a key risk factor in road traffic injuries, influencing both the risk of road traffic crashes and the severity of injuries that result from them.

Higher speeds lead to a greater risk of a crash and a greater probability of serious injuries. Also, at high speed, errors by the driver are magnified.

Interestingly, the most common reason or excuse among Malaysian drivers whenever they are involved in accident has been: "I had lost control of my vehicle."

Very rarely would the offenders admit that they had been speeding.

Perhaps driving attitudes will change when there is a more efficient surveillance and enforcement through electronic means.

A round-the-clock system at strategic points will definitely bring the offenders to book without fear or favour, hence eliminating the propensity for corruption.

Another area to look into is the cost of fines for speeding, where relative affordability makes it a poor deterrent.

In Malaysia, a fine of RM300 is imposed for speeding, certainly a far cry from the maximum penalty of an equivalent to RM19,290 in France or RM12,860 in Portugal.

In Singapore, it will cost a speed offender RM490, the Philippines RM370 and Thailand RM1,040.

Other countries, which may make drivers think twice about speeding, are Britain (RM1,880), Germany (RM2,190), Sweden (RM2,210), Australia (RM3,040), the United States (RM4,710) and Italy (RM7,370).

The World Health Organisation's Global Safety Report on Road Safety 2008 states that Malaysia, with 16.8 million vehicles registered in 2007, averaged 3.7 road accident deaths per 10,000 vehicles.

This makes Malaysia with the highest death rate per 10,000 vehicles in Asean.

Indonesia has a rate of 2.6, Singapore (2.5), Philippines (2.1) and Brunei (1.8).

Of comfort is the fact that the death rate has now been brought down considerably after the MoT's Road Safety Department was formed in 2004.

In 1996 the fatality rate was 8.2 per 10,000 vehicles.

Among the developed countries, the United States registered 1.7 road accident deaths per 10,000 vehicles, Australia (1.1), the United Kingdom (1.0), Germany (0.9) with Japan and Switzerland recording the lowest rate at 0.7.

Malaysia has set a target of 2.0 deaths per 10,000 vehicles by 2010. Can we achieve this when many motorists often throw caution to the winds?

Take for example, the current Ops Sikap campaign to reduce the number of road accidents. Despite the presence of some 2,000 police personnel on the watch along major highways and trunk roads, the death toll between Sept 13 and 24 was 210 or averaging 17.5 deaths per day.

The first Ops Sikap in 2002 saw an average of 14.9 deaths per day. Today, we are still hovering around the same number, if not higher.

It is a horrifying thought that nearly 18 people die from road accidents daily during this festive period.

It simply means that every one hour and 20 minutes will result in someone's friend or family member dying from road accidents.

Each festive season is supposed to spell a lot of joy and cheer, but for many Malaysians, they also have to live with the sorrow and bitter memories of the loss of life and limb among family members and friends through accidents that occur during festivals.

Added to that will be the burden of caring for those injured and unable to work anymore.

It has been estimated that road accidents and their consequences cost governments almost 2.0 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product. For Malaysia, this works out to nearly RM9 billion each year out of a GDP of about RM523 billion.

The MoT's five-year action plan adopted by the cabinet on March 15, 2006 outlines nine strategies to tackle road safety by targeting areas such as education, enforcement, engineering and the environment.

Central to this plan is making Malaysia on par with world best practices in road safety by 2010.

One of the key strategies is the use of state-of-the-art technologies to help in more effective enforcement.

In battling the high road carnage, the Road Transport Department has begun studying various options, which will lead to safer roads, including the use of better technology to police errant drivers.

Perhaps Malaysia ought to look at Britain's example. Following its deployment of technology for a more efficient enforcement, Britain reported 42 per cent drop in deaths and serious injuries and a 22 per cent reduction in personal injury collisions in the areas under surveillance.

With its record of an average of 1,745 killed or seriously injured victims each years, the UK Department of Transport reported that it meant considerable savings at 258 million or RM1.5 billion for British society in the 2003/04 financial year.

Similar results had also occurred in France and Germany following the automation of speed checks, which increases deterrence of potential offenders and reduces the incidence of speeding.

Automated surveillance and enforcement also contribute to a reduction in speeds and the number of accident victims.

Such automation is a technological breakthrough, often obtaining favourable results and at a much lower cost since it can work round the clock.

Proponents of a more efficient enforcement say that with the relatively high rate of road deaths as reflected in the current festive season, it is high time that Malaysia evaluates the implementation of electronic surveillance to reduce the carnage on the roads as well as the economic loss of lives and property.

-- BERNAMA

[chriskohtc]

A round-the-clock system at strategic points will definitely bring the offenders to book without fear or favour, hence eliminating the propensity for corruption.

In Malaysia, a fine of RM300 is imposed for speeding, certainly a far cry from the maximum penalty of an equivalent to RM19,290 in France or RM12,860 in Portugal.

In Singapore, it will cost a speed offender RM490, the Philippines RM370 and Thailand RM1,040.

Other countries, which may make drivers think twice about speeding, are Britain (RM1,880), Germany (RM2,190), Sweden (RM2,210), Australia (RM3,040), the United States (RM4,710) and Italy (RM7,370).

The REAL cost of a speeding fine is only RM5, if you know how to do it. Its only RM300 if they're bored and full of coffee..

[Whizzpass]

Speeding per se does not necessarily become a major contributor to road accidents. However, speed may be an aggravating factor for injury or fatality in any accident.

Increase in enforcement method/frequency alone would not reduce the rate of accident as evidenced from the rate of success from Ops Sikap. Neither would heavier fines deter people from speeding. I have personally seen a few people paying off traffic fines at the rates of thousands and considering it as daily affairs, this is especially true for luxury car users.

From due observation and statistics published over the media, the majority of road fatalities in Malaysia occur on Federal/Municipality trunk roads (not on the highways where legal speed is relatively higher) involving a higher percentage of motorcycles. Most of these are young riders in their 20s who are not matured enough in their riding style (car drivers not excluded). This is coupled by the fact that most federal trunk roads in Malaysia are badly designed and maintained. Those roads are criss-crossed by myriads of junctions cutting across high density population areas and villages. In some villages the local people don't even bother to use crash helmets or seat belts for protection. They even cross over junctions without observing oncoming traffic as if they are immune from any impact.

Some roads (especially trunk and municipality roads) are plagued by poor maintenance, bumps and even potholes that could accommodate water buffaloes in size. Jutted out or sunken manhole covers in the middle of the roads are common sight. Most roads are poorly aligned and have gradients that didn't help in promoting safety. Some dangerous areas are poorly lit at night. In some areas, a nice double carriage trunk road, suddenly shrinks into a single lane without ample warning, nor does it provide an extra lane for heavy trucks to climb steep hills without hampering faster traffics. Long stretches of traffic lights are not synchronised with each other to promote smooth traffic flow. All these could in turn provoke impatient drivers to indulge in unsafe driving and overtaking, or would affect safety in one way or another.

The driving / riding school curriculum and teaching method didn't help either in better educating a potential road user. All that is taught is how to properly interpret road signages, then followed by a shallow practical test of how to ride a bike or a car employing signals, ascending and stopping over steep slopes, and for bikes the no. 8 loops. For cars, the driver is finally tested of his vehicle parking ability.

Not even a single hint is given on the idea of defensive driving. An average driver/rider would only know how to step on the pedal without adequate sensory/situational awareness in detecting an impending accident developing in front, or at their backs (or surroundings).

Perhaps instead of spending millions of dollars on taxpayers money by employing sophisticated electronics alone, it would be more meaningful if a less cost intensive approach is taken by enhancing driving / riding school curriculum and teaching method to incorporate defensive driving into the people's mind in the early stage before they are unleashed to the real driving environment.

If really a high tech approach is desired, apart from current standard tests, perhaps each driver candidate should be required to undergo a computer simulator driving tests, whereby they are assessed over a long distance highway and urban/municipality driving environments for a few hours where their patience, skills and habits could be properly assessed. As compared to current test method where they are only assessed for less than one hour, where their true colours and streaks could be cloaked just for the sake of passing the test. By employing computer simulator, a candidate's weakness and shortcomings could be detected and remedial advise could be counselled to them before a repeat test could be performed. In this way, a more responsible driving pattern could be enforced before a potential driver is unleashed to real driving conditions.

Transportation method should also be revolutionised in Malaysia. Public transports are far from efficient and transport companies are bogged down by lack of highly disciplined and trained drivers for employment. Noboby is willing to compromise they current mode of travelling (personal cars/bikes) by waiting for inefficient and late public transports. As a result, especially during festive seasons (Hari Raya/Chinese New Year etc.), the number of traffic volume would skyrocket beyond reasonable capacity of the highway and trunks roads could sustain, which eventually lead to congestion and bumper crawl. A normal 500km journey would turn into a nightmare, where a driver would have to endure a 10-12 hours plus driving duration (as compared to 5-6 hours on normal day). This factor increases stress and fatique to drivers that would eventually contribute to road accidents. The hot Malaysian sun is not that friendly either to tired drivers. It is a known fact that drivers are willing to travel by their own cars/bikes totally abandoning public transport so that they could arrive directly to their own doorstep, or avoid suffering the disadvantage of not having personal transport once they arrive at their destinations.

One possible solution to this is perhaps by introducing alternative transport carriers such as ferries/cruise at affordable rate or even railcars capable of carrying passenger vehicle alongside with its occupants to a major towns. By utilising this system, drivers, passengers & vehicle could board a mother vessel or railcar, disembark the vehicle and proceed to passenger's carriage or cafe aboard the mother vessel or railcar if they want to , and finally when arriving to a major town disembark with their vehicle from the mother vessel/railcar at the final destination. This, in some way could allow a traveller to bring their personal transport along with them without burdening the existing highway and road systems during the peak festive seasons.


Sincerely, I believe more could be done than just simply purchasing million dollars of equipment that would not deter hard pressed and desperate drivers. It could only aggravate a wound that is already opened.

Just a piece of my crappy mind...

[supercowpowers]

The countries they laud for their low death rates didn't achieve them with overbearing police presence. They've had an entire century to build safe roads and most drivers spend 16-18 years observing the practices of their older and more prudent parents before being set out on their own.

[8freerunner8]

The countries they laud for their low death rates didn't achieve them with overbearing police presence. They've had an entire century to build safe roads and most drivers spend 16-18 years observing the practices of their older and more prudent parents before being set out on their own.

Germany is a fine example. The best drivers in the world (collectively) reside on the autobahn and other German highways. The procedures for getting a license in Germany take a very long time, and people are actually taught how to drive.