Set up Asean data centre, says Miros

KUALA LUMPUR: To reduce the road fatality rate by 50% by 2020, a proposal has been made to set up an Asean data and information coordination centre.

Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon said the centre was important to coordinate and establish a standard on road accident data.

This is because the data is the benchmark for more standardised and accurate accident statistics for Asean, he told Bernama when contacted. Wong was commenting on the responsibility of Miros, which has been chosen by the 21st Asean Transport Ministers’ Meeting (ATM) as one of the agencies to promote road safety in the region.

He said the regional centre would also facilitate all parties involved in the initiative, considering that it involved 10-member countries.

“We are aware that the environmental conditions and policies or even methods used in each country are different, hence the need for a more formal and structured channel to carry out the effort effectively becomes indispensable,” he said.

Wong also said the definition of death in an accident should be standardised among Asean countries.

In Malaysia, for example, a person who succumbs to injuries sustained in an accident following treatment for a maximum of 30 days in a hospital is classified as a road accident fatality.

“But in some Asean countries, the estimated time is within 24 hours or seven days,” he said.

He said if this aspect was not standardised, it would affect the effectiveness of the study to ensure that the road accident rate was declining.