Lee: High number of road fatalities alarming
MIRI: Sarawak records an average of 50 accidents and at least one fatality on the road each day while the number of road fatalities was 52 in 2016 from 46 in 2015.
“This is an alarming figure given Sarawak’s population of slightly more than 2 million,” Assistant Minister for Land and Air Transportation and Safety, Datuk Lee Kim Shin said when officiating at the launch of # ShellSelamatSampai – Sarawak Chapter at Curtin University here yesterday.
Present were Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting, Miri District Officer Abdul Aziz Yusuf, director of state Road Safety Department Sarawak Davina Agnes Entili, general manager of Sarawak Shell Berhad Jill Cheng representing managing director of Shell Malaysia Exploration and Production Simon Dunkin and provice chancellor and chief executive of Curtin Malaysia Professor Jim Mienczakowski.
# ShellSelamatSampai is a social investment programme of Shell Malaysia in collaboration with Curtin University, SMK Merbau and Kolej Vokasional Miri. It drives road safety awareness behavioral change among motorcyclists and youths who contribute to the highest fatality rate in road crashes in Malaysia.
Lee, who is also Assistant Minister for Tourism, said despite various initiatives carried out by the related government agencies, city councils and other agencies, the impact did not seem to reflect the efforts put in.
“Road safety campaigns are regularly held but the number of road crashes is still high. The attitude of road users on safety needs to change,” he said.
Touching on # ShellSelamat Sampai, Lee said he was captivated with the programme that focused on the high risk target group, particularly youths and motorcyclists.
“We want corporate companies to join the state government to amplify efforts towards promoting road safety awareness and education, as well as creating a road safety culture.
“I am truly happy to see that Shell has selected to collaborate with local schools for this purpose,” he said,
# S h e l l S e l ama t S amp a i programme is designed to drive road safety behaviour by reaching out to youths and motorcyclists across three strategic environments, namely secondary schools, universities and the community.
According to Dunkin, whose text of speech was read by Cheng, Sarawak chapter of the programme had a renewed focus to empower students to create a safer environment through peerto-peer intervention and in active partnership with authorities in mitigating road safety issues at their schools and communities.
“This year, the programme introduced a new element known as the # ShellSelamatSampai Curtin Challenge. It is open to 15 teams from Curtin Malaysia to compete in a road safety project that will shape the new road safety landscape in Miri.
“The winning team will receive RM10,000 in prize money and an opportunity to partner with Shell and the state government to shape a safer university environment and Miri community as a whole,” he said.