KUALA LUMPUR: Five thousand students of seven universities are expected to take part in the Petron Road Safety Amazing Race organised by Petron Malaysia (Petron) this year.
The universities are UTM School of Professional and Continuing Education (Utmspace), Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Terengganu, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Universiti Selangor, Universiti Tenaga Nasional and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai.
Petron corporate safety, security, health and environment head Lokman Hani said the event’s objective was to inculcate good driving habits and road safety skills among the public, especially the young.
”The Petron Road Safety Amazing Race is an effective approach to reach the young because it is fun and also educates them about road safety,” he said.
”We are pleased to know that 843 Utmspace students joined the Petron Road Safety Amazing Race today.
“We are inspired to reach more students to promote good road safety practices.”
He said Petron’s road safety programme reached 4,665 university students last year and 8,000 students since 2014.
Road Safety Department deputy director-general Datuk Roslan Eusoff said the programme was focused on the five strategic pillars of the Road Safety Plan 2014-2020.
“It’s also in line with the global effort to reduce road accident fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020,” he said at the launch of Petron Champions Road Safety in Public Universities Nationwide 2018 at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia today.
He said Malaysia had recorded an average of 6,800 road accident fatalities annually in the past 10 years. He said there were 7,152 deaths in 2016 and 6,740 last year.
“Although the number has gone down, a lot still needs to be done. The main cause of road accidents is the bad attitude of drivers,” said Roslan.
The Petron Road Safety Amazing Race includes Road Safety with Petron and Honda, Tyre Inspection with Michelin, Road Safety with the Road Safety Department and On the Road with the Road Transport Department.
