Introduction

This article is entitled Road Fatalities in Malaysia: Are our roads becoming safer or
more dangerous. The author of this article is Christopher Teh Boon Sung. The article cited the
2013 World Health Organization (WHO). This issue was mentioned by the member of
Parliament (MP) of Kluang. The writer, Christopher The Boon Sung, who is a blogger that
have higher qualification. Some of his qualification were Bachelor in Agric. Search at
University Pertanian Malaysia at 1994 than he further his study at Master in Agric. Source
also in University Pertanian Malaysia in 1996. He also holds Ph.D in Agric at University of
Reading in 2001. Basically, this article is about the research started on how to calculate the
amount of fatalities in Malaysia, comparison of rate of fatalities in Asean, road safety
calculation and lastly the way to increase road safety in Malaysia. The writer proves his point
by narrating a few research on road accidents around Asean by showing the graph of the
amount road accidents.
Summary
The article starts by showing the road fatalities in Malaysia can be measured in many
ways based on World Health Organization (WHO). Road fatalities can be measured by
calculating either the number of road deaths per 100000 population and the number of road
deaths per 100000 vehicles. Other than that, comparisons between countries is only valid if
the countries being compared that have similar levels of motorization. Then, it shows how
road safety exposed people are to accidents during travels on the roads and how likely of
them surviving these accidents should they occur. Besides that, the road safety level being
investigated based on the state ratio. Firstly, compared to other country, Malaysia is the one
of the high quantity in road death. It declines decreased of recorded from 1997 to 2012.
Other than that, in 2005 Al Haji from Linkoping University state that the road safety
differences among the Asean countries, but ranked far ahead of us the first and second
positions were Singapore and Brunei respectively. Beside that Malaysias road safety trends
actually follow those typically observed when a country experiences greater economic
development and social wealth. Therefore, greater social awareness, improvement in
engineering and road safety technologist, and national policies can drive improvement in road
safety. To achieve safer roads in Malaysia is lower the private vehicle ownership and use.
Beside that, expand the public transport coverage in the country and encourage more use of
public transport in the peoples daily life. In addition, there should be more expensive and

stricter subjection to road traffic enforcement. Last but not least, the increase of the cost of
owning a private vehicle.

The critique
The tittle Road fatalities in Malaysia: Are our roads becoming safer or more
dangerous? Is very appropriate for the article and makes the reader ponder about the
intentions and purpose of the writer. The writer made a silly mistake when he did not put
spacing on his article cited the2013 and he should cited the 2013.
The writer also focused on the current road fatalities at Malaysia. There was the
different information between MP Kluang with research that have been done by the
University of Michigan, which is MP Kluang stated Malaysia s road fatalities currently stand
at 25 deaths per 100000 population and stand at 22 nd out of 185 countries for having the most
dangerous road in the world while according to research by University of Michigan, Malaysia
was among the top 25 most dangerous road, with 30 fatalities per 100000 individuals.
The writer, Christoper The Boon Sung cited the highest rank was China about 20.5 %,
while research from University of Michigan stated United Arab Emirates was the highest
percentage in road crash fatalities by 15.9 %. From these comparisons showed that Malaysia
was not the first rank compared to China and United Arab Emirates. While the writer also
cited there were many factors to road safety that grouped into three dimensions which is
exposure, risk and consequence. In research by University of Michigan found when the driver
among the young generation, they SMS, Whatsapp or take selfie while driving, this must be
avoided to reduce the risk that cause road fatalities.
Christopher Teh Boon Sung suggested the greater use of public transport for the safer
roads. In the light of the Dutch government promoting the use of public transport,it is
expedient to pay greater attention to the safety of public transport vehicles. The arrival of
relatively new types of public transport,such as light rail,further reinforces this. However, as
yet this is comparatively little information about the background of the involvement of large,
non-standard vehicles such as buses and trains, in crashes in urban traffic. A large part of the
measure that have been already identified in the available research,and that can especially
enhance the safety of other road users,can be taken relatively easily. Further research is

necessary to further improve the safety of other road users,as well as of users of public
transport vehicles.
Besides that, the article also suggested increase the use of the Automated Enforcement
System (AES). AES is an enabler that embodies all efforts towards achieving the target of the
Road Safety Plan 2006-2010 in reducing accidental death. An adaptation of an enforcement
system that is sustainable in driving attitude changes, regardless of the increase in the number
of vehicles, drivers or constraints in enforcement.
Then lower private vehicle ownership and use among users. A single self-driving car
would take care of multiple peoples daily driving needs, so households might not need as
many cars, University of Michigan researchers say. Despite being expensive investments,
todays cars idle away a large percentage of their existence in garages and parking lots doing
nothing. Self-driving cars,though,could work more hours of the day and,for some take the
place of more than one car,said researches Brandon Schoettle and Micheal Sivak in the study.
The writer, Christoper also said higher costs of owning private vehicles nowadays. If
you own your car outright,you might not think it costs you that much to own it,but AAAs
2013 Your Driving Cars Study shows that costs range from nearly $7,000 to more than
$11,000 for the average American,depending on the kind of car driven. Whats more,the cost
of owning a car is rising,which means its costing you more money to drive your car year
after even though its worth less and less.
Other than that, Christopher The Boon Sung said that Malaysias road death still reain
high in comparison to ther countries, this is can be proved from an article written by Dina
Murad which she stated that in comparison, the United State Of America registered only 14
fatalities, France recorded 7 fatalities, Germany and Singapore 6 fatalities and United
Kingdom only 5 fatalities per 100000 people. Din aMurad also stated that in response to why
Malaysia was ranked among the most dangerous researcher Brandon Schoettle suggested that
development may have a large role to play in it.
Lastly, Christoper also stated that if Malaysia is to achieve a target of 10 or lower
deaths per 100000 vehicles, we Malaysian have to be ready to make some personal sacrifices.
It is based on the

statement by the Road Safety Department (JKJR) Director General

Datuk Tam Weng Wah said, road user should take it upon themselves to drive safely and be

more considerate of other road user. He also stressed that most traffic collisions can be
avoided if road users were more attentive of their surroundings.

Conclusion
Honestly, we enjoyed reading and reflecting on the information expressed by the
writer in his article. We were impressed with his article because he has surveyed deeply and
detailed by showing the accurate data. He has done justice to the topic by having done a good
deal of research that supports his thesis. We believe that his article can make all road users to
become more concerned about road safety. The article was long enough to cover all the
relevant information, but short enough to sustain the interest of the casual reader.