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 TITLE: FATAL ROAD ACCIDENTS IN MALAYSIA.

Introduction
According to the traffic fatality trends in Malaysia (Abdelfatah, 2016), Malaysia is one of
the highest traffic fatality rates in the world. One of the major factors that influences
transportation system sustainability is traffic safety. Traffic accidents represent a major
problem facing many countries around the world. In fact, traffic accidents have been
reported as the ninth most common cause of death, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO). The total number of annual traffic accident fatalities is estimated to
be approximately 1.3 million. In a later study, WHO estimated the number of fatalities to
be approximately 1.24 million. The World Health Ranking 2011 has ranked Malaysia at
number 20 in its list of countries with the most deaths caused by road accidents. Road
traffic accidents have also been identified as the leading cause of death in Malaysia, after
coronary/heart disease, stroke, influenza and pneumonia. In short, more and more
Malaysians die every year due to the road accidents. The question is, who should be
blamed for the increasing number of the road accident? What are the causes that
contribute to road accident on Malaysian roads? What can we do to prevent the road
accident? After doing some research and reading, I can simplify that there are some
causes that contribute to the road accident. They are road and weather condition, driver’s
attitude and mechanical failures. Every year, road accidents in Malaysia are becoming
more and more common in today’s society and contributes to a significant number of
deaths as the result. When you spend some time poring over the newspaper, you could
find that there are numbers of accident happen in Malaysia every day. Although the
police already take the action to prevent the accidents but it is still raising day by day.
There are many reasons and causes why accidents happen in Malaysia.

Cause 1: Driver’s attitude

Firstly, road accidents happen because of the driver’s attitudes. In 2003, there were
12,021,939 vehicles moving on the road in a day. Can you imagine the traffic congestion
with this number of vehicles on the road? The drivers have to move their vehicles inched
forward, bit by bit on the long rows. The drivers might lose control or become impatient

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in this situation. The impatient drivers might press their horns or cursing at other road
users. It has become worse if the impatient drivers might put themselves and other road
users in danger. Actually, drivers are the major factor of road accident in Malaysia. If the
drivers are handling their vehicles under control of their emotion like tired, stress, anger,
worry or even sleepy, they tend to involve in accident. Thus, they are unable to give full
attention and concentration on the road. They might lose control of their vehicles as
“danger comes anytime without warning”. According to the statistic endorsed by Police
Department, the main factor of road accident is careless of the driver. It was reported by
DSP Samsudin Mat, Chief Officer of traffic team, PDRM Selangor. “85% of the total of
road accident is caused by road accident is caused by driver while 15% is caused by the
other factors like road condition, surrounding and vehicles that are not road-worthy”.
(Fokus Minda Ogos 2004, page 78.)
Prevention 1: Have a good attitude
Thus, we need to reduce the number of accidents by having a good attitude at the first
place. we must do best to our own responsibilities. We must follow the traffic rules and
regulation strictly. For instance, we must be wearing seat belt while driving.

Cause 2: Road condition and weather

Furthermore, road condition contributes to the road accident. Based on research finding
and record of accident cases, the number of road accident keeps increasing yearly.
Actually, road in Malaysia is not really safe to be used. This is because most of the roads
are not straight. Moreover, there are narrow and sharp bends. Of course, this is due to our
earth surface which is mountainous and not flat. This kind to road conditions may lead to
road accident. In addition, it is dangerous to drive in raining cats and dogs, hot day and
haze. In fact, speeding during this kind of weather condition may cause the driver to lose
control on steering, tires and brake. Driving during haze will blur the visibility of the
driver. Consequently, the driver who drives in this kind of weather condition is easily
involved in an accident.
Prevention 2: Law enforcement
Therefore, Public Work Department must have to make sure the roads are always in good
condition. They need to provide a safe and efficient road system. At the same time, the

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road users should report immediately if they find that the road surface is damage. So that,
the damaged road can be repaired as soon as possible. Nevertheless, the government
should expand the narrow road and identify the hazardous location to prevent the
accident.
Cause 3: Mechanical failure
Mechanical failure is consider a category that will cause road accidents. When we talk
about car, ask yourself do you service your car at the fixed particular of period. Do you
even service your car? We cannot simply look down on the car maintenance. This is
because some of the error will happen if we do not service our car and it will cause the
road accidents. One of the errors is the lack of breaking system, when we do not service
our car we do not know whether our break pad is still in a good condition. If the break
pad is not in a good condition, it will cause break failure. Which is also means that, we
cannot stop our car when we on driving. This is very dangerous and will cause the road
accidents. Besides, car wipers out of function also make the road accident occur. Imagine
that, when we drive on the road and suddenly heavy rain until we cannot look clear at the
front of the road. In such situation if the car wipers out of functions we cannot even drive
anymore which it also means that we need to stop down our car immediately. It will
cause the following car crash on our car because of the heavy rain hard to control the car
speed and handling the emergency stop situation that need to face. Tires are also one of
the important parts of a car. Without tires the car cannot move, it also bring other means
that, if a car suddenly face tires blow up the car will lost of control because of without the
tires car cannot be move. When we lost of control it might cause us crash on the side of
the road, even there is possible we will crash with other cars on the road.
Prevention 3: Car maintenance
Thus, “car maintenance” is one of the solutions. We need to ensure our car is being
service on the fixed particular period. This is for check out whether our car is still on safe
conditions for us to drive or there are any mechanical failures occur such as break failure,
tires, wipers, and so on.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, driver behaviours, the equipment failure of vehicle, as well as the road
conditions and weather seem to be the causes of road accidents in Malaysia. In order to
reduce the total amount of road accidents, the first thing that should we do is change our
attitude. In addition, we also need to be alerted about our vehicle condition and always
check them. The rate of road accidents in our country today has become a nightmare for
all of us. So, the authorities may need to do a drastic step to overcome this major
problem. They need to use their power to serve the best road conditions and infrastructure
for us. We need to realize that our life is the most valuable thing. ’Drive safety and save
our soul’.

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 ATTACHMENT

REFERENCES

Abdelfatah, A. (2016). Traffic Fatality Causes And Trends In Malaysia. Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.05.379
Road Accidents Malaysia. (2013). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/road-accidents-malaysia.php
The Causes Of Road Accidents In Malaysia | Traffic Collision | Traffic. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://www.scribd.com/doc/112871762/The-Causes-Of-Road-Accidents-In-
Malaysia
(“The Causes Of Road Accidents In Malaysia | Traffic Collision | Traffic,” n.d.)
(“Road Accidents Malaysia,” 2013)

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