KUALA LUMPUR – The World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank are impressed with the data quality and accuracy of road crash and fatalities statistics gathered by Malaysia over the years.
WHO head of safety and mobility Nhan Tran described the data compiled by the Royal Malaysia Police as high quality.
“The data on crash reporting in Malaysia is quite high quality and Malaysia is setting a high standard for other developing countries in Asia (on data organisation),” he told The Vibes recently.
“Very little under-reporting (of road crashes) in Malaysia. Road traffic fatalities in Malaysia are also close to WHO’s estimation.”
Bukit Aman Traffic Investigation and Enforcement (JSPT) is the sole authority in Malaysia that gathers records of daily crashes, including the number of injuries and road deaths annually.
WHO researchers are analysing road crash trends in preparation for the next WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety, expected to be published in 2023.
On why such data is vital for road safety, Tran said: “High quality and reliable data will help experts, decision-makers and agencies on road safety devise strategies and chart interventions to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities.”
World Bank senior transport specialist Alina Florentina Burlacu concurred with the WHO’s view that Malaysia’s data harmonisation and reliability are better than many other countries.
“In many nations, there are still large discrepancies between official national statistics and estimates the WHO compiled in the 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety,” she said, adding that data quality by Malaysia is expected to be further enhanced.
She added that a data-oriented approach enables countries to monitor their own road safety performance.
“Policymakers rely heavily on accurate data to set objectives, take action and measure progress.”
Burlacu is a specialist with the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, managing the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) programme across 15 countries.
Malaysia is one of 15 selected for the BIGRS programme since February last year, which will run through until 2025. The others are Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.
Reacting to the praises and endorsement from the UN agency and WHO, JSPT director Datuk Azisman Alias said he is proud to hear that data collation by JSPT is of better quality than other nations.
“This is a recognition for JSPT and an honour for the country, in line with our ambition towards world-class policing. It has been hard work since 1998, starting with the Computerised Accident Reporting System (CARS),” he said.
“In 2011, we went one step further with ‘I Reporting’, a web-based online police reporting system in which data collected is more empirical.”
“We also developed the POL 27 (crash data gathering form) to identify black spots for future intervention measures. Today, JSPT offices throughout the country use the new Integrated Police Reporting System, or iPRS, launched in 2019.”
Azisman, who is retiring from the police force tomorrow, said the iPRS data collection is a more systematic.
“The new system adds value to the reliability of JSPT’s road crash data and no party can question its accuracy.
“The data is also synchronised with the Road Accident Management System (RAMS) of the Works Ministry, in which we have successfully identified black spot areas to reduce the rate of road mayhem in several locations more effectively.”
Malaysia’s road fatalities in the last five years are showing a downward trend, with 4,634 deaths in 2020, followed by 6,167 in 2019, 6,284 (2018), 6,740 (2017) and 7,152 lives lost in 2016.
According to the WHO, road traffic injuries are the global No. 1 cause of deaths for those aged 5 to 29, and the eighth leading cause of deaths overall.
An estimated 3,700 people are killed on the road around the world daily or 1.35 million annually. Another 50 million people are seriously injured in crashes each year, with many left crippled and unable to work. This costs governments 3-5% of their gross domestic product. – The Vibes, September 28, 2021
