THE government must hold more road safety campaigns using various communication mediums to educate road users during festive seasons, Malaysian Road and Transportation Safety Association said.

Its president, Nik Mohd Salim Nik Mohd Salleh, said education and effective law enforcement are key to reducing road crashes and deaths.

He suggested that the government to air such campaigns on television during prime time.

“There should be more reminders and awareness campaigns through mainstream media channels or social media on the importance of road safety and the consequences of not practising it,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“For instance, airing road safety campaigns on television in prime hour slots.”

He said proper traffic planning and usage of alternative routes can also help in reducing road crashes, which have become a major problem during holiday or peak seasons.

Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said as a precautionary measure for the Chinese New Year season, the speed limit on federal roads nationwide has been reduced by 10km/h – from 90km/h to 80km/h – from January 18-27.

On Tuesday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said he was appalled by the people’s attitude towards road safety.

At the launch of a road safety campaign ahead of the Chinese New Year weekend, Loke said despite more people dying on the road than from Covid-19 infections in Malaysia, the road users are continuing to be complacent.

He said while the Covid-19 awareness campaign was successful, with people bombarded with a daily tally of infections and deaths for the past three years, fatalities on the road continued to be high.

Nik Salim said the matter could not be resolved overnight and called on the government to relook at the driving school syllabus.

“One of the main things the government needs to look into is adding safety elements to the driving syllabus,” he said.

“The competencies of the instructor in delivering the safety aspects also must be taken into account.”

Among the top-most bad habits of drivers highlighted by Nik Salim are texting, speeding, ignoring blind spots, jumping queue and not using indicators.

For motorcyclists, he said, the bad habits include speeding, zigzagging, violating traffic lights, wearing all black on black bikes and ignoring blind spots.

Data until August 2021 show that 70 out of 100 road deaths involved motorcyclists. – January 21, 2023.