Malaysia Community Based Programme (CBP)
on Helmet Wearing and VEM Workshop

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) launched its 5 - year Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) on 15 June 2005 in Bangkok. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the first regional area of focus for this Initiative which is funded by seven of the world's largest auto and oil industry companies.

According to a recent study organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), road crashes killed more than 75,000 people in ASEAN in 2003 and it cost more than 2.2 per cent of the region's annual GDP. GRSI aims to reduce deaths and injuries in the region by helping governments and road safety stakeholders deliver a series of workshops and demonstration projects to facilitate the take up of good and effective road safety practice. GRSI's programme will focus on the key risk factors identified in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) 2004 World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. These include helmet use, alcohol, inappropriate speeds, and safety of pedestrians and vulnerable road users.

In Malaysia, statistics show that motorcyclists make up the highest percentage of fatalities due to road accidents. In 2006, out of a total 6287 fatalities due to road accidents, 58% or 3683 were fatalities involving motorcyclists. The leading cause of death in these accidents was attributed to serious injuries to the head as a result of non-wearing of helmets or not securing the helmets properly.

For those reasons, Malaysian Road Safety Department (JKJR) has collaborated with related ministries, NGOs, local councils and private entities to implement a pilot project in the district of Kuang, Kuala Selangor to increase the helmet wearing compliance level among the residents. This pilot project was launched in January 2007 and ended in March 2007. The impact study was carried out by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and the result showed an encouraging response to the campaign with compliance increasing from 62% before the commencement of the campaign to 84% at the end of the 8 - week campaign.

A similar community based project was carried out in the district of Klang on VEM in association with JHSPH and UPM which has resulted in a reduction involving motorcycle accidents by 18%.

The core approach which contributed to the success of this pilot project was the implementation of ‘Community Based Programmes'. Under this approach, various activities which involve the community were carried out with the support of community leaders, school administrators, local councils and religious leaders. These components of the community were used as a channel for advocacy of helmet usage through various events and initiatives.

Based on the successful outcome of this pilot project, JKJR has extended these programmes for nationwide implementation from 1 July 2007.