KOTA SAMARAHAN: On average, 23 people die in road accidents in Malaysia every day, said Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Datuk Seri Solah Mat Hassan yesterday.
“About 65 per cent of the victims are motorcyclists,” he told reporters after the opening of Institut Memandu NB Motors Sdn Bhd (IMNB) in Kota Samarahan here.“That’s why I always emphasise that driving institutes and driving schools should not only teach but must inculcate a good culture of driving in learners.”
Solah felt that all the driving instructors have the responsibility to ensure the learners they train must be equipped with not only good driving skills but also good attitude. Currently, the country has about 8,000 driving instructors. However, such figure could not meet the increasing demand especially in the field of heavy vehicles and public vehicles, he said.
“In order to solve the shortage of instructors, we are going to have a special course in Sarawak, Sabah and the peninsula soon.”
Those who have minimum qualification of SPM with a valid driving licence could apply to join as instructor, said Solah, adding that the shortlisted candidates will have to attend a three-week course on theory and practical.Earlier in his speech, he pointed out the country has so far registered about 22.7 million vehicles, however, only two thirds were still active on the road. While the number of registered drivers stands at 13.3 million.
He also revealed that the government might introduce a new Malaysian licence to replace the existing one.“The driving licence may soon be replaced with the one which will be equipped with better security features so that it cannot be duplicated.”
Apart from that, the government has agreed to waive the tuition fee for the physically-challenged people (OKU) if they wished to take a driving course, said Solah.He added that OKU would need to pay a nominal fee for their licence as part of the government’s effort to help the needy.The country has 191 driving institutes, of which 23 are in Sarawak. For the 234 driving schools in the nation, 26 are in Sarawak.
Source from The Borneo Post : http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/03/22/23-people-die-in-road-accidents-daily/#ixzz2OGsc7g49
Pete's Blog 