ALTERNATIVE FUNDINGS TO IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Road safety is a major transport, health and social issue worldwide as an estimated 1.3 million road users are killed on the roads every year, of which 90% are in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), where 72% of the world’s population lives but only half of the world’s registered vehicles are owned and driven. In terms of cost, it is estimated that USD 518 billion of lost yearly has been recorded according to the World Health Organisation, WHO (2009). These poor road safety records require immediate actions to be taken in areas of management, institutional reform and funding. Malaysia is an established dynamic and progressive LMIC seeking to improve its road safety performance and until today it depends mostly on the government’s revenues to finance its road safety plans. This practice however may cause burden to the government yearly budget which also need to cater for other sectors such as education, health and defence. To this end, this paper explores and critically evaluates the current situation of road safety inclusive of its funding mechanisms on a global scale as well as in Malaysia. In an effort to improve the situation, the paper aims at analysing the effectiveness of funding mechanism in enhancing road safety. A number of examples of successful road funding mechanism worldwide are presented together with implementation issues with the view to suggest options to improve road safety management and financing at both national and local level in Malaysia.