PORT KLANG, May 20 (Bernama) -- The high rate of accidents in the country
should not be compared with the rates in other countries, said the Minister of
Transport Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.
He said each year, more than 1.3 million motorists throughout the world died
from road accidents.
"In countries like China and India, more than 100,000 people die each year
on the roads while in the United States and Indonesia, more than 33,000
people are killed yearly in road accidents.
"So, accidents are not limited to our country only. Even though there are
parties who say the country has the highest road accident rate, accidents can
occur anywhere," he told a media conference after launching a road safety
campaign at Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Pandamaran A, here today.
Kong said in 2011, a total of 6,877 motorists in the country died in road
accidents and of the number, more than 60 per cent were motorcyclists and
pillion riders.
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KONG-ACCIDENTS 2 (LAST) PORT KLANG
"In any country, motorcyclists are the largest
contributors of road accidents. In France, only two per cent of the vehicles
were motorcycles yet they contributed 30 per cent of the road accident
fatalities in that country.
"In our country, about 40 per cent of the road users are motorcyclists and
it contributed about 60 per cent of the road accident deaths in our country," he
said.
Therefore, Kong said, support from all parties was needed to assist the
government in reducing the rate of road accidents in the country, especially
those involving motorcyclists.
He said the government had held various road safety campaigns including
organising road safety education in primary schools for several years.
"This year, the same programme will start at secondary schools and it has
helped create awareness among the school children," he said.
-- BERNAMA
FAI NAK CHW HA
