PETALING JAYA: Motorcyclists account for 65% of road fatalities each year, but experts believe designated motorcycle lanes on high-risk federal roads can potentially save thousands of lives.
In fact, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) chairman Datuk Suret Singh is confident that the lives of up to 1,000 motorcyclists and pillion riders can be saved annually if they travel on lanes reserved for motorcycles.
“If other measures such as speed limits are strictly enforced, the number of lives saved can be doubled,” he told theSun yesterday.
Suret said the number of fatalities among motorcyclists peaked at about 4,600 in 2016, up from about 4,300 the year before.
However, there has been some improvement over the next three years, leading to the death toll dropping to about 4,000 last year.
“Miros and our partners in road safety, namely the government and the Malaysian Road Safety Department, are confident that we will be able to reduce this figure by up to 50% by 2030 to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.”
Suret said the proposal for dedicated motorcycle lanes is based on the impact it has on road fatalities along the Federal Highway between Kuala Lumpur and Klang.
Since motorcycle lanes were made available along this highway 20 years ago, the death toll has dropped to almost zero, he said.
Miros has proposed that motorcycle lanes be rolled out under the 12th Malaysia Plan from 2021 in the hope that it will be a major game changer for road safety.
Suret said raising the legal age for someone to qualify for a licence to ride a motorcycle would only lead to a spike in the number of unlicensed riders, especially in the rural areas where the motorcycle is the most widely used mode of transport.
“Instead, we should focus on improving riders’ behaviour through education and probably stepping up enforcement. Last year, there were more than 600 deaths involving riders below the age of 16,” he said.
“There is a failure of local communities to prioritise the safety of these young riders. The solution lies in getting all the opinion leaders at district levels to set a good example of compliance with all traffic regulations. We need to work as a solid team to disallow underaged unlicensed riders on the road as part of a community-led initiative.”
Federal police Traffic Investigations and Enforcement Department deputy director SAC Datuk Mohd Nadzri Hussain, who gave the thumbs up to the proposal, said the initiative can help to reduce traffic fatalities involving motorcyclists.
“We welcome the proposal. Death involving motorcyclists and pillion riders tops the list of road accident fatalities. With such lanes on all major roads, it will lower death rates in this category of road users.”
Nadzri cited that China has succeeded in keeping road accidents among bikers low by having separate lanes for motorcyclists.
