KOTA BARU: The Road Safety Education Module (PKJR) will be extended to pre-school children as young as six years of age, starting next year.
Malaysia Road Safety Department Innovation Unit assistant director Noorharzuin Halim said the move was to provide early exposure and understanding of road safety aspects.
“Based on the 2017 accident statistics of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), 73 of those involved were pupils aged between six and 10 years old.
“It is a huge number and the introduction of the module is a very timely step,“ he said at the launch of PKJR for primary schools in Kelantan here today.
The PKJR module has been developed in collaboration with Transport Ministry, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and the Education Ministry in all primary schools since 2009 to produce a generation of courteous road users aware of road safety.
Norharzuin said lack of awareness among parents on road safety was one of the cause of accidents that sometimes led to death.
According to a Miros study, parents’ awareness on the importance of using child safety seats and seat belts was only 30% last year, while the use of safety equipment could reduce the impact of accidents by up to 70%.
“We see that the numbers are still low and need to be improved. So next year the use of child safety seats will be enforced in addition to the use of seat belts,“ he said, adding that guidelines for the use of the two security devices would be finalised by Miros next month before being implemented next year. — Bernama
