E-hailing companies are also responsible to inculcate safe driving etiquette among their riders

SHAH ALAM – E-hailing companies that utilise the contractual service of thousands of delivery riders are also responsible to inculcate a culture of safe road etiquette, said General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) chairman Anthony Lee Foo Weng.

Lee said delivery riders face a Key Performance Indicators (KPI) based on the number of deliveries that needed to be completed within a short amount of time which ultimately encourages them to break traffic laws.

“Delivery drivers on motorbikes, p-hailing drivers or parcel hailing drivers, they are driven by how fast and how many they can deliver. So that KPI is going to encourage them to break the law.

“We know that these are the ones that run through a red light, go the wrong way, make a U-turn where there isn’t any and we are watching them do it and they are getting away with it.

“Police are doing a great job targeting them by the way but we also need to go these companies and say that you are also accountable for creating this behaviour، ’’ he said, adding there is an urgent need for local authorities and other stakeholders to work with e-hailing companies to change the current culture of delivery riders breaking traffic violations to meet their KPI.

Lee added that the e-hailing companies could help correct this culture or behaviour by penalising riders that have committed traffic violations.

Lee was speaking at a forum following the launch of a nationwide road safety campaign by the PIAM and Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) together with the cooperation of the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the police earlier today.

Also in attendance was Bukit Aman Traffic Investigations and Enforcement principal assistant director Superintendent Dr Bakri Zainal Abidin, JPJ director-general Datuk Zailani Hashim and MTA deputy chairman Mohamed Sabri Ramli.

Agreeing with Lee, Bakri also chimed in stating it was high time for local authorities to directly engage with e-hailing companies on this issue. Bakri also revealed that during a special month-long operation in Nov 2021, the police had issued 20، 986 summons to motorcyclists and p-hailing drivers alone.

Zailani also concurred, stating a need for all stakeholders to sit down and discuss how best to tackle the issue.

“We (the local authorities) together with the operator, the company itself, need to sit down and discuss the fine line of what needs to be done, ’’ he said.

The year-long campaign initiated today, themed “#steadybrader” hopes to educate and promote defensive driving while encouraging road users to remain steady when riding or driving vehicles.

ENDS