KUALA LUMPUR: An expert has suggested going beyond reactive measures such as ad-hoc enforcement to ensure road safety, especially where it concerns buses.
Universiti Putra Malaysia Road Safety Research Centre head Associate Professor Dr Law Teik Hua said reactive measures fail to provide lasting solutions and do not effectively mitigate the risk of future incidents.
As such, he said, a sustainable solution like implementing a comprehensive safety performance index to monitor the safety of bus operations is needed.
"This index should evaluate three key aspects namely driver behaviour, bus safety conditions, and road/weather environment.
"To ensure the accuracy of this index, data collection must be conducted covertly, without the knowledge of bus drivers and operators, to reflect their true performance in road safety," he said.
Law said that this index will also identify any significant road safety mismanagement or issues within specific bus companies or operators.
"Consequently, enforcement bodies can use this information to screen and investigate problematic operators more effectively."
Law was commenting on the crackdown by authorities following a recent road crash involving a tour bus at Genting Highlands.
The incident had resulted in the death of two Chinese tourists.
Law also called for transparency in the safety performance index, which will allow consumers to make informed decisions on their choice of bus operators.
"This transparency will create economic pressure on bus operators to improve their safety performance, as customers will naturally gravitate towards companies with higher safety ratings.
"By incentivising safer practices, this approach encourages continuous improvement in the industry," he said.