Miros sheds light on road safety during haze

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) has advised the public to be more careful when driving to avoid road accidents during the haze.

Its director-general Dr Siti Zaharah Ishak said although records from the Royal Malaysian Police database showed that more accidents occurred during good weather due to high speed, the risk of accidents in bad weather was also high due to slippery road conditions and low visibility.

In this regard, Miros has provided some road safety guidelines to help road users drive and ride in these unfavourable weather conditions.

“Due to low visibility, road users are urged to make sure all vehicle lights are functioning properly and to turn them on to increase the visibility of other road users.

“Avoid using the high beams because water particles in the air can absorb and reflect that light. Use high beams only if necessary. If visibility is low, turn on the fog lights,” she said here yesterday.

She said the high illumination rate of these fog lamps could increase the visibility rate.

In addition, she said, the limited visibility due to haze required drivers to be more sensitive to the surrounding and they had to drive slower than their normal speed to give them space to act in the event of an untoward incident. “The safe driving distance between cars should also be increased. Depending on the situation, the distance should be maintained from four to 12 seconds. The safe driving distance is important to give time to react and avoid potentially dangerous situations.”

She also advised bikers to wear bright reflective jackets and stop at safe places such as Rest and Service (R&R) areas if they feel it was not safe to travel.