Official report on accidents, fatalities over the past two years, shows Batu Pahat has most unsafe roads and also highest number of deaths.
PETALING JAYA: Selangor and Johor share the dubious distinction of being the states with the most number of road accidents and road fatalities, respectively, for two consecutive years according to the police.

This was from the Federal Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department’s “2015 Statistical Report on Road Accidents” report released recently, TheSun reported today.

The report cited that Johor recorded the highest number of deaths totalling 1,040 resulting from road accidents. It had also increased by 22 from 2014.

Despite having a far larger number of accidents, the ratio of deaths was lower for Selangor, which recorded 1,028. This was 40 fewer deaths than that recorded by the police in the state in 2014.

Citing the “2015 Statistical Report on Road Accidents” report, Federal Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department Director SAC Mahamad Akhir Darus said there was an increase of 2.8 per cent in the number of road accidents between 2014 and 2015.

“There were  489,606 road accidents last year, but the number of fatalities and injuries saw a reduction of 7.3 per cent last year, as compared with 2014,” Mahamad was quoted as saying by TheSun.

The report stated a total of 6,706 deaths occurred on Malaysian roads last year, which comes to an average of 18 fatal road accidents per day.

The report also highlighted that the number of deaths was linked to the age of the road user, with the highest number of cases involving Malaysians aged between 16 and 20 years (934 cases).

According to the report, road users aged 21 to 25 years were second highest at 828, followed by ages 26 to 30 (641), ages 31 to 35 (579), and the remaining fatalities all aged 36 and above.

Not surprisingly, a large majority of the deaths involved motorcyclists (62 per cent, or 3,816) and pillion riders (387).

Mahamad added that the most number of deaths occurred on rural roads, with 3,731 lives lost, followed by urban areas (1,277), small towns (827) and major cities (408).

As in previous years, the Hari Raya “balik kampung” phenomena reared its ugly head with the most number of deaths occurring during the pre- and post-Aidilfitri period in 2015.

In 2015 and 2014, there were 705 and 637 deaths, respectively in July, which was also the month with the highest number of road accidents last year – 43,892 cases, TheSun reported.

The main district in Johor which contributed to the state’s high number of fatalities among road users, was Batu Pahat.

According to the report, Batu Pahat was the deadliest district nationwide for the second consecutive year in 2015, recording 191 deaths.

Batu Pahat was followed by Kuantan (155), Ipoh (145), Kuala Muda (121), Central Seberang Prai (118), and Kajang and Central Malacca (both with 110 each).

Interestingly, the police acknowledge that Batu Pahat was also found to have the most unsafe roads in the country, with 165 out of the district’s 191 fatalities occurring on such roads.

For the districts with the most number of road accidents, the statistics were as follows:

• Petaling Jaya (25,635)

• Northeast Penang Island (14,696)

• South Johor Baru (14,642)

• Shah Alam (14,562)

• Ipoh (14,260)

• Kajang (14,133)

• South Kelang (13,060)