KUCHING: Public awareness on the importance of wearing Sirim-compliant crash helmets is still very low in Sarawak, State Road Safety Department (JKJR) director Rano Aylwino Akat lamented yesterday.

He warned that if Sarawak continued to contribute to such low public awareness of safety, the federal government might be compelled to introduce a law to enforce the usage of Sirim-certified helmets.

“If the range of 1 to 10 is used to reflect such awareness involving crash helmets, I think Sarawak will get 2, which is very low,” he told reporters.

He said this during the launch of JKJR-See Hua Group Road Safety Campaign named ‘Ops Bersepadu’ held in connection with Gawai Dayak in front of Boulevard Shopping Mall here.

The campaign was launched by Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Masing.

The JKJR campaign was aimed at encouraging the people to use the Sirim-compliance crash helmets so that their personal safety could be enhanced.

Rano said once the authorities had obtained enough feedback from the public on the matter, the government might decide whether it was necessary to enforce the law on helmet use.

He said he was perplexed as to why some motorcyclists or pillion riders could not afford the Sirim-compliant crash helmets when they cost less than RM50 each.

“Some people are willing to spend their hard earned money on expensive and sophisticated handphones costing between RM500 and RM1,000 each, but are not prepared to spend on Sirim-compliant helmets.

“I could not understand this. Priority to safety is still not given preference in Sarawak.

“I don’t even understand why some youths, who use expensive scooters and carry expensive handphones, still want to wear ‘Doraemon’, German or the half-head crash helmets compromising their safety,” he lamented while referring to fancy, but unsafe crash helmets.

He pointed out that it would be equally wrong for some parents to ask their little children to wear ‘Doraemon’ helmets just to please or mislead the authorities.

On rear seat belts in cars, Rano said JKJR was still waiting for the outcome of the research conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros).

He said he hoped the research would be completed in two years’ time, adding that as the research would be comprehensive, it would take time to complete.

Rano explained that ‘Ops Sikap Gawai’ is the name given to the police road safety campaign.

JKJR only complements police efforts in their campaigns.

In a press statement delivered during the launch, JKJR said Sarawak recorded losses of RM387.6 million in terms of socio-economic value resulting from 323 road accident-related deaths in 2008.

Of the 323 deaths, motorcyclists and/or pillion riders made up 43 per cent; car driver and/or passengers (30 per cent) and pedestrians and/or other road-users (11 per cent).

The statement said the worrying trend was that more people would be handicapped or become physically-challenged due to serious injuries following road accidents in Sarawak.

According to Miros’ estimation, a total of 350 lives could have been saved each year after the rear seat belt ruling was enforced.Miros also found out that around 90 per cent of the total number of private cars in Malaysia have been installed with rear seat belts.

The government, however, has given a three-year allowance to the owners of the rest of the private cars to install their rear seat belts.

After that grace period, action will be taken against the errant car owners.

Miros found out that to date only five per cent of the total passengers wear rear seat belts in Malaysia.

Then it indicated that more than 50 per cent of the total road accident-related deaths were due to head injuries.

Most of the head injuries were caused by collision between rear seat passengers and those on front seats.

For detailed information, members of the public are advised to visit the website www.panducermat.org.my or www.jkjr.gov.my.