Road Accident

Introduction

Nowadays, road is one of the popular mode of transportation in Malaysia. Do you believe that over than a million of Malaysians are the road users in a day? They have their own personal reasons and destinations. In fact, 3,674,484 of private and public vehicles were moving on the roads in a day in 1987. On the other hand, In 2003 there were 12,021,939 vehicles on the roads. This shows the number of vehicles keep increasing yearly. I am sure, you can imagine the scenario on Malaysian roads with such number of vehicles which are moving on the road everyday?

All of us know that, there are more and more accidents occur on our roads everyday. In addition, many of these accidents lead to death. In fact, thousands of Malaysian die every year due to road accidents. (Refer Appendix 1)

Based on the statistics prepared by Police Department, the number of road accident increase tremendously during festive season. For instance, on the first day of Hari Raya Puasa in 1999, it was reported 572 cases of road accident while 568 cases during Chinese New Year. Surprisingly, on the 15th day of Hari Raya Puasa the total of road accidents went up to 9416 cases. In contrast, the total of 8259 cases of road accidents was reported on the 15th day of Chinese New Year in 1999. (Refer Appendix II)

Overall, the fatalities during Hari Raya Puasa in 1999 was 203 and 206 during Chinese New Year. (Refer Appendix III) Moreover, during festive season the roads are congested with Malaysian who are going back to their hometown to celebrate their festival with family.

In short, more and more Malaysians die every year due to the road accidents. The question is, who should be blamed for the increasing number of the road accident? What are the causes that contribute to road accident on Malaysian roads. What can we do to prevent the road accident? After doing some research and reading, I can simplify that there are some causes that contribute to the road accident. They are road, weather and vehicle condition, surrounding, driver’s attitude and weaknesses in implementation of law in Malaysia.

Road condition

Based on research finding and record of accident cases, the number of road accident keeps increasing yearly. Actually, road in Malaysia is not really safe to be used. This is because most of the roads are not straight. Moreover, there are narrow and sharp bends. Of course, this is due to our earth surface which is mountainous and not flat. This kind to road conditions may lead to road accident.

Recently, there was an accident at kilometre 39, Jalan Johor Bahru, Ayer Hitam. The collision was between a factory bus and lorry at the narrow and sharp bend. Consequently, 5 Indonesian workers died, 7 paralysed and 26 seriously injured. All of them were the passengers of the factory bus. Chief Inspector,