Asean data centre proposed for road safety
KUALA LUMPUR: A proposal has been made to set up an Asean data and information coordination centre on road safety in order to help Asean achieve its mission to reduce road fatalities by 50% in the next five years.
Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon said the centre was important to coordinate and establish a standard on road accident data.
“This is because the data is the benchmark for more standardised and accurate accident statistics for Asean.
“The regional centre will also facilitate all parties involved in the initiative, considering that it involved the 10-member countries.
“We are aware that the environmental conditions and policies or even methods used in each country are different, hence the need for a more formal and structured channel to carry out the effort effectively,” he said.
During the recent 21st Asean Transport Ministers’ meeting, Miros was chosen as one of the agencies to promote road safety in the region.
Wong said the definition of death in an accident should be standardised among Asean countries.
“For example, in Malaysia, a person who succumbs to injuries in an accident following treatment for a maximum of 30 days in a hospital is classified as a road accident fatality.
“But in some Asean countries, the estimated time is within 24 hours or seven days,” he said, adding that if it was not standardised, it would affect the effectiveness of the study.
He said the data coordination platform would become the centre of information on road safety and the main source for member states to refer, evaluate or assess the effectiveness of each policy before it was applied in their respective countries.
“In fact, the coordination centre will also be the major source for educational institutions such as universities to widen their knowledge on road safety,” he said. — Bernama