In a post on X (formerly Twitter), works minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi has said road accidents in Malaysia cause up to RM30 billion in socio-economic losses yearly.
“This RM30 billion figure is valued based on the economic value of changes in mortality risk, including loss of productivity and income, treatment costs, and effects on families and society. Yet behind all these calculations, the loss of life remains priceless in ringgit terms,” he said after attending the cabinet committee meeting on road safety and traffic congestion today.
Nanta revealed that road accidents claimed 6,537 lives last year, which was equivalent to an average of 18 deaths per day. He added that 80.6% of accidents were attributed to human factors. “This shows that road safety is not the responsibility of just one ministry alone. This is what I emphasize every time in my speeches. It requires a comprehensive approach involving education, enforcement, technology, and safer infrastructure,” he said.
“In this regard, KKR’s (ministry of works) stance is clear. We do not want to just repair roads after accidents happen. We want to build and maintain safer roads, reducing risks and human errors,” he added.
“To me, RM30 billion is not just an economic figure. It illustrates the immense impact of road accidents on individuals, families, and society. But the greatest is the loss of loved ones. We cannot take 18 deaths a day as a normal thing. Every life we successfully save is a victory for the people,” the post ended.
it’s the typical b40 culture of a very specific race (this is statistics, not racism). where they think behaving like chimpanzees equals cool and points. But to the rest of the world, they are simply society’s trash
I remember YB Anthony Loke said he will resign if he did not reduce road accidents and deaths when he is Transport Minister. Apa macam now YB? Walk the talk or just wayang?
Simply because it’s hard to quantify how much impact bad road design contributes to road accidents, that stat was conveniently lumped into “human error”. I’d say half of that “human error” is actually the authorities that approved the blatantly stupid road design that forces the users to need to cross into other lanes to get to where they need to go. Be damned if you don’t get more aggressive because the car behind you would crash into you. Be damned if you cross quickly because you would just need to force yourself to cross into flows to exit. There are so many places where even GPS can’t save you from the confusion of which lane you take when you’re unfamiliar with the place. Those are all the secondary causes as well. Yes, it’s hard to deny that the common user is also blameworthy of the accidents, but I highly doubt that’s the only reason for the amount of road accidents. And also, what official statistics will never be able to capture is all the near misses that never get reported. Bad behavior, bad road design, bad maintenance, nearly zero law enforcement; they all compound into a huge problem. Undoing already built roads is basically impossible, so we tune the narrative to say “human error”. The beginnings of the “errors” started with simply bad blueprints decades ago and then now it is compounded by bad driver behavior. Think about that.