Rising m-cycle accidents alarming

KEPALA BATAS: The staggering number of motorcycle accidents aside, a total of 14.5 million summonses were issued to bikers over three years.

Revealing this, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said “motorcycle accident statistics do not lie”.

“They are rising and without even looking at the accident rate, the millions of summonses issued in just three years is cause for alarm.

“Though this mode of transport is economical, rising accidents among motorcyclists has to be addressed,” he said after a meet-and-greet session with the people here yesterday.

Saifuddin said at the last Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim raised the matter of road safety involving motorcycles and traffic congestion, with directives passed to the police.

“At the ministry level, our focus is on reviewing all existing laws and regulations,” he said, lamenting that despite enforcement, accidents continued to occur at a concerning rate.

He said this led to discussions with Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain and the traffic division of Bukit Aman to “return to basics”, such as promoting road safety awareness at schools and in communities.

Saifuddin was asked to comment on Anwar’s concern over the high accident rate involving motorcyclists after he met Alliance for A Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye on Tuesday.

Saifuddin said he had met Lee on several occasions to discuss road safety, traffic congestion and matters concerning policing.

He said the police and other relevant agencies were determined to enhance enforcement and intensify awareness campaigns.

“This will be a priority topic at the leadership level within the police,” he said.

Earlier, Saifuddin met over 600 police cadet corp members from three districts in Penang’s mainland.

Twenty-six of them were given ranks from Sjn Major to sub-Inspector and certificates for their achievements.

Secondary school students were among the 3,638 police cadet corps members.

Also present were Razarudin, Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ruji Ubi, deputy secretary-general (security) Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman and Penang police chief Comm Datuk Hamzah Ahmad.