Motorcyclist recorded the highest number of death

Motorcyclists take note. You are in the valley of the shadow of death.

Motorcyclists recorded the highest fatalities in road accidents in 2009 followed by car occupants, pedestrians and users of express buses and school buses, said Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha today.

He said according to Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research’s (MIROS) analysis,  of the 6,745 road fatalities last year, 4,070 involved motorcyclists and pillion riders (60.34 per cent), 1,411 car occupants (20.92 per cent), 593 pedestrians (8.79 per cent), while for users of express and school buses it was 13 deaths respectively for both (0.19 per cent each).

The analysis also showed 8,849 persons suffered serious injuries in last year’s road accidents with 5,758 of them motorcyclists and pillion riders, car occupants (1,709), pedestrians (613), and users of express buses, factory buses, school buses and others (59).

“The number of vehicles involved in accidents last year was 41,055 with 9,591 resulting in fatalities of which 4,191 were motorcycles, cars (3,140), express buses (60) while 27 were school bused,” he said in a statement here.

Kong said the ministry had always taken measures to prevent road accidents and that it would continue to strengthen these efforts to further reduce deaths and injuries from road accidents.