Malaysia's Road Safety Research Body Starts Operation Tomorrow

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS) goes into operation tomorrow, almost 20 years after the idea to have a road safety research body was mooted.
Set up with an initial grant of RM50 million, MIROS is headed by the country's renowned road safety expert Prof Dr Radin Umar Radin Sohadi as its director-general.
MIROS, which will conduct various research on road safety with the initial aim of reducing road deaths by 50 per cent in four years, will operate from temporary premises on the second floor of the Ministry of Transport in Putrajaya.
It will move to the permanent location on a 16 hectares land provided by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang once the building and facilities such as the simulator, test track and crash test apparatus are ready.
The decision to establish MIROS was announced by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy during his official visit to Sweden in September last year.
Road Safety Department Director-General Datuk Suret Singh said MIROS would be the first road safety research institute in Southeast Asia and the third in the Asia-Oceania region after those in Japan and Australia.
"MIROS will be linked to other top research institutes on road safety. These top institutes have agreed to have cooperation and collaboration with MIROS, including access to their various research data," he told Bernama.
Suret Singh said MIROS would be linked to the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB); Dutch National Road Safety Research Institute (SWOV); Transport Research Laboratory, United Kingdom; French National Institute For Transport and Safety Research (INRETS) and Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).
"It's a dream come true for us. This is because, all this while, we only conducted research on an ad hoc basis and confined to media campaigns. However, with MIROS, we will be able to achieve more desirable results as there is a body that conducts various research on road safety on a full-time basis," he said.
He said MIROS was established as part of the government's four-year master plan for road safety (2006-2010) which outlines nine strategies with 52 programmes to reduce the accident rate by more than 50 per cent -- that is to reduced the deaths resulting from road accidents from the current 4.2 deaths per 10,000 vehicles to two deaths per 10,000 vehicles by 2010.
"On average, we have 6,000 deaths per year and in four years time (2010) we have to reduce this by at least half (3,000). It's a momentous task for us but we believe we can do it," he said.
Suret Singh recalled that the idea of having such an institute was mooted almost 20 years ago, adding that in 1990 an attempt was made to have a chair on road safety at UPM funded by the private sector but the financial crisis put paid to the plan.
MIROS director-general Radin, who was UPM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs) until last month, has been largely involved in conducting research on road safety in the country, and his expertise has been often sought by the government and agencies.
Radin told Bernama MIROS would have four areas of research -- Vehicle Safety, Traffic Engineering and Planning, Human Behaviour and Trauma Management -- with each unit of research headed by a director and between five to 10 researchers.
"We would have simulator, test crash facilities and other facilities for the research. MIROS will also have access to world-renowned publications and up-to-date data on road safety," he said.
Radin said MIROS would also focus on post-trauma management such as Trauma Care Research, Injury Epidemiology, Medical Fitness, First Response and Post Injury Rehabilitation.
"With this, we hope for better management of our accident victims and more focus on the accident victims' rehabilitation programme," he said.
He said MIROS' performance would be guided by 15 key performance indicators and that its establishment would benefit not only government agencies but also the private sector such as vehicle manufacturers in terms of designing safer cars.
Radin said MIROS would eventually be able to export its expertise as the institute would have the advantage of conducting research that is more suitable to the environment in this region.
"Other research institutes focus heavily on cars, heavy vehicles and driver behaviour which are more associated with the developed countries. Here, in Malaysia, we have quite a large number of motorcyclists and any research on this aspect is more appealing to the countries in this region which have many motorcyclists as well," he said.
Moreover, Radin said, Malaysia is known internationally as one of several countries in the world that has conducted research on road safety and this would put MIROS in a better position to export its expertise.