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Young & Reckless Are Losing Life And Limb
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - An alarming fact that Brunei's youngest motorists have become the nation's biggest contributors to traffic offences was revealed by Royal Brunei Police yesterday.

Youths have also largely contributed to traffic deaths for the past three years indicating 54 deaths last year alone, traffic police official figures showed.

The saddest fact is that most of those who perished in road accidents in the past three years were those between 18 to 28 years old out of which 16 drivers have been recorded last year.

Meanwhile 11 drivers have been those between the ages of 29 to 38 years of age.

These facts were highlighted to a group of village leaders in the Brunei/Muara district during a get-together session with the Royal Brunei Police Force this week.

Though the number of car accidents has dropped to 2,674 last year compared to

2,710 in 2006 and 2,771 in 2005, the number of road traffic deaths last year have reportedly soared to 54 compared to 32 in 2006 and 38 in 2005.

But minor injuries were reduced to 482 in 2007 compared to 506 in 2006, while serious injuries were up to 74 last year compared to 49 in 2006.

For the past three years, most of the road traffic deaths have involved drivers aged between 18 to 28 years followed by people between the ages of 29 to 38 years-old.

This age group also contributed to the majority of drivers caught for speeding, not wearing safety belts while driving, modifying cars, not possessing valid driving licenses and using tinted glasses while driving. Those between the ages of 29 to 38 years have been recorded to be the most using a phone while driving.

The majority of deaths involving Brunei nationals were 44 last year compared to 22 in 2006 and 28 Bruneians in 2005.

This was followed by Indonesians and Malaysians with a total of 10 deaths and 7 deaths in the past three years. Collisions between cars topped the list with 17 deaths followed by 15 self-inflicted car accidents and 4 self-inflicted motorcycle accidents.

Last year also recorded an all time high in the number of traffic violators who were caught speeding with 4,893, car modifications (585), failure to wear seatbelt (439), driving without valid license (141) and using mobile phones while driving (114). However, drivers caught using tinted glasses dropped to 133 last year compared to 214 in 2006.

Drivers caught violating the no u-turn sign and jumping the red light also recorded an all time high with 575 and 280 cases respectively. As for motorcyclists, one rider was caught for possessing an expired road tax, not possessing class I license (2) and not wearing a helmet (4). -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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