KUALA LUMPUR: Road users heading to their hometown during the Aidilfitri festive period are advised to take care of road rules and etiquettes to avoid any untoward incidents.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar said this as 80 per cent of road accidents have been found to be caused by the attitudes of the drivers themselves.
“The main causes of road accidents are the driver’s character, morals and attitudes, which means that it is the human factor…of being negligent, undisciplined, using the phone (while driving) which causes accidents.
“So I call upon all drivers of cars, buses, lorries and other vehicles to consider reaching their respective destination safely as the top priority,” he said after officiating the East Coast Expressway (ECE) Road Safety Programme in conjunction with Aidilfitri festive period at the Gombak toll plaza today.
Kamaruddin said the ministry through its agencies such as the Road Transport Department and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research was committed to reducing fatal road accidents.
“This year we are determined to further reduce the average death rate (per day) due to crashes, because in 2017 we recorded an average death rate of 19 while last year, it was 18,” he said.
Kamaruddin also urged motorcycle riders to be more careful and wear helmets at all times, even on rural roads, as 63 per cent of fatalities involved the group.
In the programme today organised by Kelab Budayawan Aktif Gombak, 450 goodie bags which also contained road safety leaflets were handed over to highway users at the Gombak toll plaza.
Also present at the event were MIROS director-general Dr Siti Zaharah Ishak and Datuk Nik Fauzi Nik Hussein, who is the director of ECE concessionaire, ANIH Berhad.
— BERNAMA
