MELAKA: Melaka Chief Minister advocates for enhanced road safety campaigns targeting schools after witnessing five pupils left shaken and in tears following an accident at Rembia in Alor Gajah, here.
Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh was on his way to an event after returning from Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Exhibition at the Malaysian Agro and Exposition Park in Serdang, Selangor on Thursday (Sept 12) when he witnessed a wrecked sport utility vehicle (SUV) landed on its side along the Alor Gajah-Melaka Tengah-Jasin Highway near Sungai Petai here.
He then stopped to help, only to see the pupils of a Chinese-type primary school in Alor Gajah were the victims and being rescued.
Ab Rauf said more high-level road safety campaigns must be activated to lower traffic accidents among schoolchildren and parents in the state.
"The children looked traumatised when I was at the scene and hopefully all of those receiving treatments would be out of danger.
"I was also emotionally moved to see these kids in such a situation," he said when interviewed on Friday (Sept 13).
He also commended members of the public as well as the Melaka Fire and Rescue Department for their prompt action in helping to rescue the victims
Alor Gajah Fire and Rescue Department commander Mohd Nazri Mat Rais said there were five schoolchildren and an adult female driver in the SUV.
He said the injured victims were rushed to the Alor Gajah Hospital for treatment.
"We arrived at the scene at 1.34 pm on Thursday (Sept 12) after receiving a distress call.
"The SUV was believed to have rammed into a tree before landing on its side," he added.
It's learnt that the SUV was trying to avoid another vehicle before losing control and ramming into a tree.
Last week, the Melaka Road Transport Department (JPJ) director Muhammad Firdaus Shariff revealed that road accidents involving schoolchildren in the Alor Gajah district were the highest in the state between Jan to July of this year.
He said 10 accidents from 14 cases were reported in Alor Gajah during the first seven months of this year while the other four were registered in Melaka Tengah and Jasin districts.
Early last year, the then Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali revived the once defunct Road Safety Council in view of the increasing number of road fatalities in the state.
Sulaiman was quoted as saying that the functions of the council were still vital to identify accident-prone areas as well as preventing the number of deaths.
The council was among five other state agencies that were closed in May 2018 by the previous Melaka Government, citing the functions were no longer relevant.
