Michelle Yeoh presents the IRAP Malaysia report to transport minister Seri Ong Tee Keat
Road deaths and injuries could be cut by a third on Malaysia's roads if recommendations by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) are implemented, a new study has found.
The results of the iRAP Malaysia survey indicate that there are huge potential savings in deaths and serious injuries if systematic attention is given to countermeasures such as separating oncoming lanes with barriers, removing roadside obstacles and introducing motorcycle lanes. Motorcyclists account for 60% of road deaths in Malaysia.
Launching the report, the Malaysian Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, said: “The full iRAP Malaysia programme has the potential to prevent almost 32,000 deaths and serious injuries over 20 years, equal to more than a 30% reduction in trauma levels on the initial IRAP network of 3,700km of roads”.
Ong was joined by Deputy Works minister Datuk Yong Khoon Seng and Malaysia’s Director of Road Safety, Datuk Suret Singh, in signing the ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ pledge and committing to support efforts to secure the Decade at the UN.
Make Roads Safe ambassador Michelle Yeoh, returning to her Malaysian homeland, welcomed the commitment of the Malaysian government to improving road safety. In a speech at the launch she commented on the potential savings if the IRAP recommendations were implemented.
“Ask anyone who has lost a loved one in a road crash and they will tell you they would give anything to have them back. Anything. Here in Malaysia, iRAP estimates that the average cost of saving a life or preventing a serious injury is less than 20,000 Malaysian Ringgit, or US $6000. Who would not pay that to save a life?
If iRAP’s first set of recommendations were implemented, the cost would be 550 million Malaysian Ringgit, or US$174 million. The benefits of this investment are estimated at over 9 billion Malaysian Ringgit, equal to US$2 billion. Yes, it is an expensive investment. But we have to choose whether we want to pay for safer roads now or wait some years and add thousands of dead and disabled people to the rising bill. I am sure that here in Malaysia, with our strong record for improving road safety, you will make the right decision”.
Michelle Yeoh also announced the FIA Foundation’s support for a first small-scale demonstration project to implement IRAP countermeasures on a stretch of highway near Ipoh. She was joined at the launch by FIA Foundation Director General David Ward, Rob McInerney, Asia Pacific CEO of IRAP, and HH Tunku Mudzaffar bin Tunku Mustapha, Chairman of AA Malaysia.
Michelle later inspected examples of killer roads with Rob McInerney and discussed the possible countermeasures. She also visited crash victims at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. More than 6000 people are killed each year on Malaysia’s roads, a rate of more than 24 per 100,000 population.