In response to the announcement by the Road Transport Department (RTD) Director-General on the department’s road death Key Performance Indicator (KPI), a DAP lawmaker has reminded the Transport Ministry that Malaysia has the highest road deaths per capita in the world since 1996.

Kluang MP and DAP National Political Education Director Liew Chin Tong highlighted the issue while referring to a viral online snippet from an Astro Awani news where the Road Transport Department Director-General Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad had estimated how many people the Department “wants to see dead” in road accidents approaching 2020.

Liew said that the statement turned Ismail into a laughing stock amongst ordinary Malaysians, adding that the RTD had misplaced their priorities and efforts in cracking down on irregular number plates.

In his Bahasa Malaysia statement in the aforementioned video, Ahmad can be seen saying “We estimate that 10,716 people will die before 2020 (in road accidents)”.

“Our initiatives are part of the efforts to reduce the number of Malaysians dying on the road because we have a KPI.”

“We want to see only 5,358 people dead approaching the year 2020.” (“Kita nak orang ramai mati 5,358 orang sahaja menjelang tahun 2020”).

“This is theoretically.. on paper,” Said RTD’s Director General on the news dated November 4 2014.

Measured per 100,000 of the population, Liew said Malaysia currently hold the dubious record of highest road fatality risk in the world since 1996.

“Between 2000 and 2009, 4.5 million road accidents were reported and these resulted in 58,582 deaths,” said Liew, saying that the Transport Ministry has not highlighted this statistic.

Liew said this in response to the Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi’s statement claiming that Malaysia’s road deaths has been on a decline from 4.88 percent per 10,000 registered vehicles in 2002 to 3.05 percent in 2012.

However, Liew said that the Ministry left out the fact that the total number of vehicles in the country has almost doubled between 2002 and 2013.

“There were 12.06 million registered vehicles in 2002 and, as of 31st December 2013, there were 23.71 million registered vehicles (11.03 million registered motorcycles and 10.48 million private cars),” he explained.

Liew also asked Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai to rein in on the Road Transport Department for ignoring the issue of road deaths.

The Transport Ministry, he said, should recognize the issue and deal with it seriously.

According to the World Health Organisation’s Road Safety Report 2013, Malaysia has the highest deaths on the road per 100,000 populations in the world. Malaysia leads China, Russia and India with 25 deaths per 100 000 population, followed by 20.5, 18.6 and 18.9 respectively. – The Rocket