Singaporean cyclist’s death sparks fury over Malaysian road safety
His death, barely a week after 15 students were killed in a bus crash, has led to renewed criticism of Malaysia’s poor safety record
Malaysia’s government is under pressure to fix damaged highways and tackle the country’s poor road safety record after a Singaporean cyclist became the latest casualty of roads that claim the life of one person every two hours.
A 42-year-old Singaporean man died on Saturday when he was run over by a gravel-laden truck after he hit a pothole and fell from his bike in the Kulai district of the southern Johor state, police said.
His death came barely a week after 15 university students were killed in a high-speed bus crash.
Malaysian roads are some of the world’s most dangerous, with one person dying every two hours according to official statistics between March last year and March this year.
On Sunday, Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said state authorities would immediately fix the damaged stretch of road where the cyclist had died, promising “comprehensive repairs” to a zone that “poses a risk to road users”.
The cyclist’s death has amped up public criticism of the poor state of Malaysian roads and the danger posed by overloaded and speeding heavy vehicles, which routinely flout speed rules and limits on the volume they are allowed to carry.
Public outcry has been building up since November following the death of a 21-year-old woman, who made a heartbreaking call to her mother in her final moments after a container rolled off the back of a trailer and crushed her car in Penang.
The government has since scrambled to contain the fallout. On Friday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced an October 1 deadline for truck and bus operators to install devices that would limit the speed of their vehicles to no more than 90km/h (56mph).
Malaysians, however, were quick to call out the government for taking action only after tragedies, with many calling potholes a “trademark” of Malaysian roads.
“Everything must wait until people died, building collapsed and people died … then and only then do our brains start working,” Idris Ayub posted on social media.
“We have no idea what is being done with our taxes. So many people have become victims to these roads with holes,” read another social media comment by Ummu Muqri on the news report.
Nanta Linggi said that the stretch of road where the Singaporean cyclist fell was repaired earlier this year but had been again damaged by a heavy traffic of lorries from a nearby quarry.
Police said the victim – who has not been named – was riding with three others when he hit a pothole and fell to the road. The driver of the truck, which was on its way to deliver gravel to Singapore, was unable to stop in time.
“The victim, who was with three other cyclists, suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene,” Kulai district police chief Tan Seng Lee said in a statement, adding that the 41-year-old truck driver was unhurt.
Last Monday’s bus crash that killed 15 trainee teachers was the deadliest road accident in recent years, and came just weeks after nine servicemen were killed when their transporter collided with a truck.
Malaysia’s deadliest road crash on record occurred in 2013, when 37 people were killed after a bus carrying passengers from Genting Highlands casino resort plunged into a ravine.
