43 per cent of road accidents involves motorcyclists
MIRI: Forty-three per cent of road accidents reported in Sarawak last year involved motorcyclists.
Lambir assemblyman Ripin Lamat gave this statistic when officiating at a One Community One JPJ (SKSJ) programme at Darul Hana Mosque hall in Lambir yesterday.
“A total of 19,832 road accidents were reported in the state last year, of which 373 were fatal, a drop of 1.2 per cent when compared to 2016.”
Ripin said it was sad that public awareness of road safety was still relatively low.
“The advancement in transport system and automatic technology has made life easier for the people. However, the people have to support the government’s commitment to reduce the rate of accidents,” he said.
He said the Road and Transport Department (JPJ) was given the task of administrating and enforcing traffic laws to make ‘road safety’ a culture among the people. With a holistic approach to enforcement JPJ helps to ensure its service stays relevant and is accepted by the people.
The demerit point system enforced by JPJ on April 15 last year aimed to educate and change motorists’ attitude to traffic regulation, though he believed it could not eliminate road accidents or loss of lives altogether.
On the SKSJ event in Lambir, he said he was happy that a total of 123 participants had completed the Motorcycle Class B2 Driving course and hoped similar outreach programmes could be conducted for those in suburban and rural areas.
He added that the mobile counter of 1JPJ Sarawak has improved the department’s service delivery system, especially to rural folks.
Ripin presented helmets to the participants, the oldest being senior citizen Samin Itoh, 77, at the closing of the event.
Also present were political secretary to the chief minister, Julaini Mokhtar; JPJ Sarawak deputy director Erick Jusiang, head of Miri JPJ, Misnan Tamimi and Miri assistant district officer Sharifah Rafidah Wan Razali.