KUCHING: Sarawak recorded a 25.6 percent drop the number of road accidents this year with 14,570 cases compared to 19,581 last year.
Sarawak Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin explained the statistics were recorded from January to November this year and last year.
For fatal accidents, the state recorded fewer cases this year with 276 compared to last year’s figure of 329 cases – a difference of 16.1 percent.
For severe accidents, 123 cases were recorded this year while last year recorded 178 cases – showing a differential of 55 cases. Meanwhile, Sarawak recorded 13,840 cases for accidents involving only damages and 18,855 cases were recorded last year (a 26.6 percent difference).
Apart from that, the state recorded a slight increase for light accidents where 331 cases were recorded compared to last year’s figure of 219 cases.
“The main causes of accidents are due to human errors such as excessive speed, negligent in giving signals, cutting in and out, driving at close pace and so on.
“Looking at the figures, one of the factors for this huge decline is due to the movement control order (MCO) since March and throughout the period, the number of vehicles on the road has been reduced,” he said after launching ‘Ops Selamat’ in conjunction with the Christmas festive season at Boulevard Shopping Mall.
He pointed out that the cumulative number of registered vehicles in Sarawak has also increased whereby in 2015, 94,535 registered vehicles that year and as of Oct this year, Sarawak has a total of 381,705 registered vehicles – a 75 percent increase.
On ‘Ops Selamat’, Lee advised that road users to drive carefully and obey the traffic laws when going back to their village to celebrate the festive season with their family as well as adhering to the Covid-19 SOPs.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail explained that the operation starts from Dec 18 to Jan 1 next year and there will be no roadblocks throughout this operation except for the seven roadblocks at the borders.
Also present were Sarawak Traffic Police chief Supt Alexson Naga Chabu, Crime Prevention and Community Safety chief SAC Datuk Muhammed Hasbullah Ali and State Fire Department deputy director PPjB Jainal @ Zainal Madasin.
