KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The death rate due to road accidents could increase if the number of private vehicles continues to increase compared to public transport in the country, a road safety expert says.

Safe Kids Malaysia executive director Prof Dr Kulanthayan KC Mani said public transport such as buses and trains is the safest form of transport and has the lowest accident rate.

"In 2022, Malaysia recorded 545,630 accidents or one accident every minute with 6,067 fatalities in road accidents or one road accident death every 90 minutes.

"This figure is higher than before Covid-19 pandemic and this situation is worrying and should be seen as a ‘traffic pandemic’,” he said at the 7th United Nations (UN) Global Road Safety Week programme in collaboration with Prasarana Malaysia Berhad here, today.

Therefore, he said he hoped that all parties, including the government and service providers, could keep improving infrastructure and facilities, including footpaths and cycling paths, which would encourage people to switch to public transport.

Meanwhile, Group Chief Health, Safety, Security, Environment & Sustainable Development Officer

Idzqandar Abu Bakar hopes that initiatives such as the provision of My50 travel passes and collaboration with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in creating special bus routes to improve service reliability can attract more people to use public transport.

The United Nations (UN) Road Safety Week programme is held every two years with the aim of raising awareness on how to overcome the high number of road accidents at the global level as well as encouraging relevant parties to rethink safer mobility methods. — Bernama