KUALA LUMPUR, 11 SEPTEMBER 2009 – Malaysians were urged to use social media as part of a road safety campaign, involving the police, community and government agencies.
Malaysian highway organisation PLUS Expressways managing director, Noorizah Haji Abdul Hamid, said: “Road accidents and fatalities have become a major concern as statistics by the Road Safety Department (JKJR) show that an average of 18 people are killed in road accidents every day in Malaysia. Statistics show that in 2007, there were 363,319 accidents in comparison to 211,037 in 1998. Lives are lost, families mourn, and the country loses some thousands of people each year who are part of the workforce that contribute to the economy.”
“The MUFORS [Malaysians Unite for Road Safety] campaign encouraged Malaysians from all walks of life to visit the campaign site at www.090909.org.my and pledge to make a difference between the hours of 9am and 9pm on 9 September 2009 by engaging in self-introspection with regard to their on-the-road behaviour. Personal and group pledges could be submitted via text, photo upload, streaming video upload and SMS,” said Noorizah.
MUFORS was a multilateral community project, which involved PLUS Expressways (PLUS), AMP Radio Networks, Malaysian Highway Authority, Ministry of Works, Royal Malaysian Police, and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).
Facebook, bloggers and SMS
Noorizah said it was important to use popular Internet social networking sites, such as Facebook, the Malaysian blogger network, influential online communities, along with supported traditional offline channels.
“Our fervent hope is that these pledges honoured over a 12-hour period would transform into a lifetime of change,” said Noorizah “We hope each of us takes ownership of road safety and this transforms into a culture. We urge all Malaysians to rally behind this initiative as it is related to an issue that involves all of us.”
