THE previous government had mooted the idea of setting up of an independent national transportation safety board and had called for public opinion. The new government should seriously expedite this process. The need for an independent full-time transport safety agency is keeping with the expanding transport sector and the government’s aspiration for the highest transportation safety standard.

The setting up of the board needs consultation with a wide array of stakeholders, including government agencies within and outside of the transport sector, and professional organisations.

The following aspects need detailed deliberation:

• Objectives of the board: Training, research, independent investigation of transport crashes, sharing of inter-agency expertise in crash investigation, and reporting to the public. As the objective of the board is to promote safety, the cardinal principles for independent investigation of crashes (and critical incidents) are non-contestability of reports in court of law and not to apportion blame/determine liability for punitive action. In the United States, the National Transportation Safety Board Disaster Assistance Division takes on the additional responsibility of coordination of support of families of transportation disaster victims.
• Organisational structure: Ideally, such an independent board should consist of “technical” members rather than “administrative” members; a registry of experienced transport safety professionals who can be co-opted for investigation at short notice should be maintained.
• Upgrading of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) into a transportation safety research institute for investigation of all modal transport crashes (and critical incidents). A research institute with cross-disciplinary expertise, sharing of experience among different transport modes, and close collaboration with universities will bring many intangible safety benefits to the transport sector to prepare ourselves for a developed nation status. Miros (with its crash investigation and reconstruction expertise) is best suited to undertake these additional responsibilities. The proposed transport research institute is ideally suited to be the secretariat for the national transportation safety board.

The main impediments to the setting up of such a board and institute is the relative dearth of cross-disciplinary sharing of safety expertise, “turf” issues in crash investigations, and absence of mechanisms for public reporting of crash investigations. These can be overcome by sincere stakeholder discussions and adequate training.

The process of setting up of  the proposed board and institute requires a complete review of existing transport safety investigation mechanisms. While waiting for due formal processes, the preparation of a register of experienced transport safety professionals could be initiated, at the least.

* Dr Krishnan Rajam is the head of the department of family medicine at RCSI UCD Malaysia Campus, Penang.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.