The recently-concluded road safety operation Ops Selamat – held over 15 days from July 10 in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri season – saw a disturbing upward trend in road accidents, according to a Bernama report.
Deputy inspector-general of police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said that overall, the operation recorded 20,458 incidents nationwide compared to 18,484 cases during last year's festive season, a 10.7% increase. More worryingly, fatalities have shot up a staggering 39.6% from 244 last year to 330 in 2015. Motorcyclists still formed the bulk of the fatalities at 60.6%, with 200 deaths.
"This shows an urgent need educate people on careful driving and we should also carefully guide new drivers to be more responsible," he said.
Noor Rashid added that the yearly death toll of at least 6,000 cases – racking up huge medical costs and billions of ringgit of vehicle damage – showed an urgent need to proactively curb road accidents. "Continuous education should be intensified...to reduce the figure by 20%," he said.
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