Its president, Mat Aris Bakar, said the suggestion negates the rights of those aged 16 and 17, who are considered mature at the international level.

“These groups are deemed to be competent and mature enough to ride a motorcycle safely, and we should respect that,” he told FMT.

Mat Aris said the proposal, if implemented, would be disadvantageous to students in higher learning institutions who rely on motorcycles to get themselves to campus as the public transport system was inefficient.

He was commenting on a call by road safety expert Law Teik Hua of Universiti Putra Malaysia for the government to review the minimum age to obtain a motorcycle licence after statistics revealed that 20% of motorcyclists who died in road accidents were aged between 16 and 19.

Based on statistics from the federal traffic enforcement and investigation department from 2001 to 2023, deaths involving motorcyclists and pillion riders were higher than any other road users.

Last year alone, 69.2% or 4,480 of the 6,463 road fatalities involved motorcycles.

Mat Aris said it would be better for the government to review enforcement instead of focusing on the age factor.

He admitted that the compliance rate among motorcyclists when it came to stopping at red lights was still low.

“If the compliance rate is increased, maybe there would be fewer accidents.

“There are many factors that need to be reviewed, but to increase the minimum age does not make sense,” he said.

He suggested that cameras and sensors at traffic lights, similar to ones used in China and Japan, be installed.