Staysafe ontheroad
OPS SELAMAT 5 which ran from July 21 to Aug 12, has seen a 15% decrease in fatal accidents compared with the same campaign period last year.
However, statistics from the police has shown a slight increase of about 3% in accidents.
It recorded 58 cases of motorists losing control of their vehicles that resulted in 41 fatal accidents and 88 deaths.
These figures are disturbing as most vehicles were occupied by more than one person.
“Although there is a decrease in the percentage of fatal accidents, we will continue to educate the public on the importance of road safety,” said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin.
“We hope to see better results,” said Priscilla Patrick, who heads the Star Traffic team for Red FM, SuriaFM, 988 and Capital FM.
She said the stations had received complaints from listeners about motorists misusing the emergency lanes to avoid crawls on the main roads.
To assist those who were travelling before and during Hari Raya, Priscilla and her team had extended their reporting hours till 3am.
Aside from providing reports, they also offered personalised traffic updates to listeners who contacted them.
This proved to be effective as many had called to inquire before they started their travels.
There were also listeners who sought route diversions while being stuck in crawls.
Many also adhered to the travel time advisory issued by Plus Highway and were pleasantly surprised by the clear traffic along Bangi, Nilai and Port Dickson.
Plus Highway chief operating officer Mohammad Fuad Khusairi said the Star Traffic team’s efforts had helped to mitigate congestion during the travelling period.
“We saw change in the traffic through their reports,” he said.
In conjunction with Merdeka Day on Sunday, Priscilla and her team will extend their working hours from 10am till midnight on Aug 29, Aug 30 and Sept 1.
On Merdeka Day, the team will report from 10am till 6pm.
These longer reporting times will assist listeners who will be travelling over the long weekend.
The Star Traffic team can be contacted via twitter @mytraffic or hunting line tel: 03 7725 1133.