Miros: Extend helmet campaign to students in outskirts
SIBU: The campaign to encourage students to wear safety helmets should be extended to the semiurban and rural areas besides getting the involvement of parents.
In giving this suggestion yesterday, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research ( Miros) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, figured that there were students in rural areas who rode motorcycles without wearing helmets.
“I think there are also schools in rural areas, where students don’t wear helmets. I think it (campaign) needs to include semi-urban and rural areas, and not only confined to town areas to get students to embrace the safety culture.
“Safety must come first – they must embrace safety education and safety culture. The campaign to wear safety helmets is a good campaign and must be carried out sustainably. I think Road Safety Department (JKJR) should go to all schools in the state to promote wearing of helmets,” he told The Borneo Post when contacted.
Lam Thye was commenting on Assistant Minister for Road and Air Transportation and Safety Datuk Lee Kim Shin’s call for the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and JKJR to conduct more outreach programmes at schools to encourage students to apply for a valid driving licence for motorcycles. Kim Shin had said it had been highlighted to him that many students were riding motorcycles to schools without valid licence, as well as not wearing safety helmets.
According to the assistant minister, the problem of student bikers without driving licence and not wearing crash helmets should be given serious attention and resolved promptly.
In quoting his ministry’s statistics, Kim Shin said from January till November last year, there were 2,780 accidents involving motorcycles – an increase of 13.2 per cent from that of 2015, which recorded 2,457 cases in the same corresponding period. There were 397 deaths resulting from road accidents during the period under review last year – an increase of one death over the number recorded in 2015.
Meanwhile, Lam Thye stressed that parents must ensure that their children wore helmets when they borrowed the bike from them ( parents).
He said helmets must be fastened properly to prevent it from coming off in the event of a fall. He said statistics show many suffered serious head injuries in a fall.
He reckoned some private corporations could help to sponsor some helmets for schools where students in rural areas cannot afford it. JKJR, he said, on its own should have an allocation for more helmets to be given out when conducting a campaign.
On driving licence for motorcycles, only those who are 16 years old are eligible to apply for licence to ride motorcycle, he noted. Anyone below 16 could not apply for it, he added.
“The reason why the government don’t allow those below 16 years old (to apply for licence) is because they (students) are viewed as not matured enough to ride a bike. They may also use the motorcycles to race instead,” Lam Thye said.