Opinion

Heads should roll over fatal pothole crashes – Shahrim Tamrin

Apathy of authorities in charge of maintaining public roads must end now

Updated 3 years ago · Published on 21 Jan 2021 9:00AM

Heads should roll over fatal pothole crashes – Shahrim Tamrin — The pothole situation in the country has been receiving attention lately due to two deaths and a minister’s injury caused by these road defects. – Petaling Public Works Dept pic, January 21, 2021

by Shahrim Tamrin

A TOTAL of 285 deaths or an average of 57 fatalities annually due to pothole incidents were recorded over a period of five years from 2014 to 2018.

In spite of public uproar over fatal road crashes due to potholes lately, the average percentage of deaths from the total road casualties in Malaysia over the five-year period was 0.85%.

Data obtained from the annual statistical report by the Royal Malaysia Police has shown that deaths due to potholes in 2018 added up to a mere 0.88% of overall road fatalities nationwide.

However, the road crash data by the police didn’t state whether the recorded pothole incidents occurred within Public Works Department (JKR) perimeters on federal roads or state/district roads under local councils.

There was a whopping 101 deaths in 2015 due to pothole-related incidents, signalling the seriousness of this issue. – File pic, January 21, 2021

In 2018, there were 55 deaths, with 16 suffering serious injuries and 40 minor injuries.

The highest death count due to pothole incidents was 101 (in 2015), or 1.5% of overall road deaths.

At the time of writing, the annual statistical report by the Bukit Aman traffic investigation and enforcement department for 2019 and last year has yet to be published by police.

Lately, netizens have been more upset about potholes following the two publicised cases of road deaths caused by potholes.

On January 3, a senior citizen travelling from Taman Connaught heading to Mid Valley was killed after his motorcycle hit potholes on Jalan Tengah. The incident caused the 75-year-old motorcyclist to land 30m away.

A day later, a 31-year-old food delivery motorcyclist died from a crash after his vehicle lost control when it hit a pothole on Jalan PJU 7/2 near The Curve in Mutiara Damansara.

While deaths related to pothole incidents make up only a tiny percentage of annual road deaths, the public is critical due to negligent actions by the Public Works Department and local councils in fixing these road defects. – File pic, January 21, 2021

Pothole incidents are attracting the increasing attention of the public after JKR apologised to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who was injured after hitting a pothole while cycling along Jalan Kg Sri Cheeding, Banting, on December 27. Less than 24 hours later, a team of contractors from JKR fixed the road.

Following this, safety activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye slammed the “special treatment” by JKR and its quick action in an incident involving a cabinet minister, and questioned the reason there was no apology issued to the public when many road users had faced similar situations before.

“Many have had similar incidents in the past. Some have sustained severe injuries, and some even lost their lives as a result of potholes on the road, but there were no apologies issued to them,” Lee pointed out.

The apathy of the authorities in charge of maintaining public roads must end now, lest there be more fatalities on our roads due to poor maintenance. Which begs the question, shouldn’t heads roll? – The Vibes, January 21, 2021

Shahrim Tamrin sits on the board of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, whose aim is to foster better road safety interventions