So far this year, seven out of 10 deaths on the road in Malaysia were motorcycle users.
Official figures by Bukit Aman’s traffic department show that motorbike users accounted for 70.2% of the nationwide fatalities of 2,954 (all types of vehicles) from January to August.
The latest statistics suggest that motorcycles are hitting the all-time high percentage against the overall death rate.
Since 2015, a total of 26,316 bikers and pillion riders have been killed, with yearly fatal rate percentages ranging from 62.7% to 67.3%.
“The latest data by police is staggering since we projected that Malaysia could only reach the fatal crash rate of 70% by 2025 (for motorcycles) if we compare with other road users,” said Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) Road Safety Engineering and Environment Research Centre director Muhammad Marizwan Abdul Manan.
Data gathered globally suggested that the rates of road traffic deaths per 100,000 population are highest in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Global experts ranked Thailand as the world’s second unsafe roads after Libya, but positioned our neighbour as the deadliest country for motorcycles since 2015.
From the World Health Organization (WHO) 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, two-wheeler and three-wheeler users accounted for 74% of the overall estimated 22,491 casualties in Thailand.
In the 2015 WHO global report, Thailand recorded a 73% death rate for motorised two- or three-wheelers. It is estimated that there are 22 million registered motorcycles for a country with a population of 70 million.
In Malaysia, there are 15.2 million registered motorcycles in comparison to 15.5 million motorcars in the data registry of the Road Transport Department (JPJ).
About 90% of the registered motorcycles are 250cc and below of the under-bone model or popularly known as “kapcai”.
Muhammad Marizwan said bikers’ death rate could be on an upward trend until the year end because of the expected higher traffic volume after the green light for interstate travel is given, possibly by the middle of October.
Describing the latest statistics from federal traffic police as alarming, he hoped that the authorities, including the policymakers, would scrutinise the loss of lives among motorcycle users as a national agenda.
“Since last year, road traffic in Malaysia in general was not busy because of various travelling restrictions due to the pandemic but for some reason, we still have a tremendous death rate for motorcyclists,” he said. “It is baffling.”
He said the country may see a higher bikers’ death rate a lot sooner than projected in the Miros research.
“We projected that 2030 may see a 80% death rate (for motorbike users) but looking at the current situation, this is possible by 2025 if we do nothing now,” he said.
He said a wide network of motorcycle lanes could save lives and reduce traffic conflict between motorcyclists and bigger vehicle users.