Malaysia embraces the car
Malaysia is fast becoming one of the most auto-obsessed countries in the world and the consequence has been a steady rise in the number of road fatalities
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Climbing road tolls in developing nations reflect differences in the maturity of automobile markets, safety standards and regulatory enforcement. While the developed world may have now reached “peak car” and promotes foregoing cars with events such as European Mobility Week, citizens in many developing nations finally have the cash to buy their own piece of mobile freedom and are eagerly rushing to do so.
Malaysia exemplifies all the promises and challenges rapid motorization presents for a nation. The Asian country has been a development dark horse in recent decades, seizing opportunities offered by its young, educated population to create sustained growth that has given rise to hopes of its joining the club of developed nations in the .
For the increasingly affluent citizens, mobility is a strong desire. Despite import taxes that make prices amongst the highest in the world, Malaysians have embraced the car. Those that can’t afford one aspire to a moped at the least.
Since, the number of registered vehicles on the nation’s roads has jumped annually by 6% with more than 666,000 vehicles (passenger and commercial) registered alone. This has shot Malaysia almost to the top of ownership tables. According to data from the International Transport Forum (ITF), for each 1,000 citizens, the country has 775 vehicles (including motorized two wheelers). In comparison, the US has 846, automobile-fixated Germany 632 and the UK 557.
LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE
As a consequence, while Malaysians may dream of mobility, in reality they often sit for long stretches in traffic jams, particularly in the conurbation of Klang, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) said traffic volumes on the highways had reached saturation point. They advised the government to emulate Singapore and London and impose a congestion charge to control the number of vehicles.
This area of 1.6 million inhabitants, crammed into an area of 94 square kilometers, is set to introduce congestion charges on private cars and reduce parking bays. But with the city expected to grow to 2.2 million by and to triple to 4.8 million by, it is clear that traffic congestion will continue to be an issue.
Another downside of rapid motorization is that road fatalities have risen by 15% since. According to International Transport Forum, 6,674 people died on Malaysian roads in, the latest year for which there are figures. Fatalities had increased every year from to, but the number has since stagnated. The figure actually represents a 3.5% decrease compared to the previous year.
Although the absolute number of deaths (currently 23.6 per 100,000 people) is high, the road mortality risk has actually been declining in terms of both deaths for the distance travelled and per 10,000 registered vehicles. Both have fallen by more than 40% since. Experts attribute this to the rapid increase in motorization so that while the absolute number of deaths rises, the rate is not keeping pace with the flood of cars hitting the road.
DRUNK DRIVERS IN A MUSLIM COUNTRY?
The most vulnerable group on the road are riders of powered two-wheelers, excluding mopeds. In Malaysia in, this group accounted for 62% of road deaths. Car occupants and passengers account for only 22%.
What is surprising for a Muslim country is the relatively high numbers of fatal drivers registering positive for alcohol, drugs or both. Police reports indicate drink-driving is not a problem with less than 0.5% of drivers in fatal crashes testing positive for blood-alcohol. However, a retrospective study (Alcohol and drug use among fatally injured drivers in urban area of Kuala Lumpur ) based on post-mortem files from the Department of Forensic Science in Kuala Lumpur revealed 23.3% of the sample were positive for alcohol, 11% for drugs and 2.3% for both.
Whatever the cause of the accident, for Malaysian society, this represents a significant cost. In its Road Safety Annual Report , the ITF estimates this at 1.6% of the national GDP a year.
