Drive in Malaysia

Title:

    Road Safety Education, Defensive Driving, and Testing: A Capacity Building Project for Malaysia and ASEAN Countries

Ma Jie

Summary

    This write-up introduces  a neoteric  and sui generis  road  education,  safe  driving,  and  mock testing project titled “Drive in Malaysia” (DIM) solely developed for wellbeing of Malaysians and foreigners living in Malaysia. The project can truly be considered as Malaysia’s first-ever complete online outlet providing inevitable learning resources pertaining to road safety education and driving license theory test practice. Currently, an array of practice tests has been offered i.e., Auto-Car Specific Test, Color Blindness Test, Lane Rules Test, Car Dashboard Alarms Test, KEJARA System Test, General Knowledge Test for Drivers, and JPJ Mock Test. The tests are provided in a most user-friendly way, which are equally beneficial for Malaysians and foreigners interested to get mastery over traffic rules and road safety using self-learning mechanism.

    In addition to above mentioned features, a range of informational, educational and instructional articles are  regularly  published  on  our  blog.  These  resources  offered  on  (DIM)  portal  are available  in  eight  languages  making  it  easy  to  understand  and  follow  for  residents  of  a multiethnic and multilingual country like Malaysia.

Introduction

History

    In 2019, during the project’s founder stay in Malaysia due to academic purposes, the founder drove the car on Malaysian highways using driving license and an International Driving Permit (IDP) issued by his native country. He observed that Malaysian traffic police officers had many literacy issues pertaining to foreign issued driving license and IDPs, especially, with smartcard- based license. With the period, police officers deputed at various checkpoints rose objections regarding the credibility and validity of foreign issued license because they have no mechanism to verify this license. Surprisingly, they were not even able to understand the license verification letter duly issued by the embassy of the founder’s home country. To avoid wastage of time and issuance of tickets by traffic cops, the founder decided to attain a Malaysian driving license as a foreigner. Unfortunately, during various online searches to find information on topics related to getting a driving license, preparation of test, test format, components of test, and other related important topics, it was a  surprising  situation  for the  founder because  no  online outlet was available to provide a one-stop center to learn all about getting a driving license in Malaysia. The founder opted for the  standard procedure to get the  license, which was  a long and difficult process especially for foreigners due to language barriers. After getting the Malaysian driving license, the founder decided to launch a portal offering all about getting a Malaysian driving license,  test preparation,  and  learning  resources.  The  founder  started  the  project  and  solely financed it. Now, all the foreigners and locals willing to get a driving license in Malaysia and to learn road safety education have a credible outlet providing all about getting driving license in Malaysia  and  road  safety  education.  Although  driver  education  is  a  well-liked  strategy  for enhancing traffic  safety,  our  research  shows  that  it  has  not  been  successful  in  reaching  its primary goal of lowering the number of collisions, injuries, and fatalities. Malaysian government and international stakeholders should appreciate such endeavors because such resources are rare in Malaysia and ASEAN level.

Working Model

    As informed earlier, the project was solely financed by the founder Dr. Ch. Mahmood Anwar. However, due to the wide nature and scope of the project, the founder is planning to incorporate it as an NGO. The project was developed particularly for the wellbeing of people of Malaysia, foreigners, and people residing anywhere and looking to learn specific or general but important rules of safe driving, traffic signals and signs, car maintenance and other related topics. DIM provided high quality, current data for this content based on scholarly criteria such as;

● Importance of Seat Belts and its Awareness among Malaysian Drivers,

● Tips to Fasten Seat Belt during Pregnancy of Female Drivers,

●Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Cars: UN Standards and Implementation in Malaysia, Difficulties and Challenges Faced by Female Drivers in Malaysia,

● School Bus History, Color Choice and School Transportation in Malaysia,

● The  History  of Motorcycle,  Its  Types  and  Contributing  Factors  to  Motorcycle  Injury Crashes in Malaysia

● In addition, What Foreign Students in Malaysia Should Know about Driving License and its Conversion.

    For the primary goal of obtaining a driving license and road safety education, DIM aims to strengthen the bonds between theory and practical classes. Our tests and published information resources are available in open access form, which, of course, need to be fueled with heavy costs. The founder believe that stakeholders and investors should fund the project following an NGO model, which is feasible for such types of wellbeing projects. In summary, stakeholders and policymakers should consider DIM contributions.

    Recently, the founder of the project won the Best Social Entrepreneur of the Year award i.e., Universal Perficio Award (UPACRI 2022) which is a joint award by the DHS Foundation, India, Faculty  of Entrepreneurship  and  Business,  Universiti  Malaysia  Kelantan,  Malaysia,  and  the Janardan  Rai  Nagar  Rajasthan  Vidyapeeth  University,  India  (Award  attached).  The  online statistics show that a wide cross-section of society would be benefited from this educational resource.  Currently, the portal  is  attracting  over  15,000  visitors  and  60,000  page  views  per month, which is considered as an outperformance for a project in its embryonic stage.

    Since the project has a tremendous potential to grow as a social wellbeing educational resource, the main targeted areas are to establish itself as a premier source of information on driving license testing   and  preparation   in  Malaysia.  To  serve  as  a  one-stop  online  resource   for information on driving and road safety education as well as to support organizations that focus on the behavioral dynamics of drivers and road crime by providing information and research.

Body

    The project has become a Google Star due to unique services it provides. All of (DIM) published content appears on top in Google search. The content is also included in Feature Snippets and Google Questions. The website is available in 7 languages. Most of the organic traffic comes from Malaysia and United states. In following paras, the tests offered by the portal will be briefly explained.

    - (DIM) Color Blindness Tests is developed for People with color blindness who are unable to see certain or all color. This abnormality can be dangerous and cause serious accidents on road. Because traffic signs and indicators follow coloring scheme internationally, people with color blindness are not eligible to get a driving license. To get Malaysian driving license, candidates are tested for any possible color blindness and vision deficiency problems. Passing color blindness test is prerequisite to attempt the computer based traffic signs and rules test, and practical driving test. To test Deuteranomaly, Protanomaly, Protanopia, and Deuteranopia (Red-Green color blindness types), candidates will be asked to indicate correct numbers, letters, and/or shapes,surrounded by colored dot pattern, on a multiple choice response format. In addition to Red-Green test, candidates will also be asked to answer correct sample car registration numbers and basic color in order to test their reading and color detection ability. The duration of this test is 15 minutes only. Total eight questions will be asked. To pass the test, candidate needs to achieve 100% marks. A distance of 75cm is recommended between computer screen and candidate to achieve good results. If a candidate fails in color blindness test, JPJ will direct him to seek a medical advice and eye examination. Anyhow, JPJ will decline the application of all such candidates failed to qualify color  blindness test and vision deficiency test.

    - Lane rules are obligatory to be followed in every country. Similarly, drivers in Malaysia  are required to follow lane rules strictly in order to avoid traffic offense and congestion.  Lane rules educate drivers on how to follow lanes properly, when to change lane, how to enter in or exit from a lane, how to drive in aroundabout, roundabout traffic signs, etc.

    - Car warning light symbols and indicators shortly appear in different color i.e., red, amber, green and blue on your instrument cluster display in motorbikes, cars, buses, and trucks.    The following test will help you understand meaning of various car warning light

    symbols and indicators that can be found on your dashboard for most makes and models of cars,trucks, buses and motorbikes.

    - Enforced on April 15 2017, Demerit Points System for Traffic Offences (KEJARA) is a system of giving demerit points to vehicles' drivers who commit scheduled offences under the Malaysian Road Transport Act, 1987. Kesalahan Jalan Raya (KEJARA) is a specialized road safety mechanism implemented in Malaysia to reduce the number of    road accidents. This system is somewhat similar to road safety systems implemented in other countries like Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Singapore etc.

    -  This general knowledge test includes questions about how to reverse a car, apply the handbrake, drive in the rain, the safety of other road users, accidents, driver's

    responsibilities, weather, driving conditions, both uphill and downhill, driving while intoxicated, driving at night, defensive driving, driver education, using car mirrors, overtaking principles, parking, lane rules, riding a motorcycle, and more.

    Significant and ongoing collaborations

    - Collaboration with Malaysian Psychiatry Services to conduct Research on Driving

Behavior.

    It is commonly known that results from psychiatric studies—which concentrate on psychopathology, psychopathy, stress, alcoholism, and accident-proneness—as well as those from other studies—which employ psychological testing instruments to gauge personality traits—support the role of personality factors in traffic accidents. How a person’s personality affects his or her driving styles, an issue of interest in psychiatry and psychology and it is also relevant to road safety. The way a person's personality influences their driving habits is a topic of discussion in psychology and psychiatry as well as being important to road safety. In this context, (DIM) started correspondence with Faculty of Medicine Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Sungai Buloh Campus, focusing on achieving experience, conducting rehabilitation programs and activities, awareness campaigns, about the relationships between various driving behaviors and various personality traits in Malaysia.

    - Collaboration with Onboarding Malaysian Universities to create Road Safety awareness and to conduct academic research.

    One of DIM's top priorities is working with Onboarding Malaysian Universities to raise awareness of road safety among both domestic and international students. For this, With the University of Malaya in Malaysia's Road Safety Engineering department, (DIM) has begun a conversation. University Malaya offers a program called the Master of Road Safety Engineering that is pertinent to the nation's current needs in addressing road safety issues. The program's main goal is to give participants exposure to both theoretical and practical learning in the field of road safety. (DIM)’s noteworthy areas of shared interest with (UM);

    1. Making informational materials about road safety available to the public and UM students through the (DIM)’sportal.

    2. Cooperation in formulating methods for data analysis and collection that adhere to the scientific track.

    3. Keeping an up-to-date statistical database on road and safety statistics for Malaysia.

    4. Plans for road shows, public awareness campaigns about traffic laws and safety, and other relevant events.

    5. Creating a content analysis that compares Malaysia with developed nations in regards to road safety measures.

    6. The creation of psychological tests to evaluate the mental health and condition of drivers and other road users.

    7. Conducting tests of the accepted road safety concepts in Malaysia and publishing the findings on scientific basis.

    - A one-stop online resource for knowledge about driving and traffic safety.

    To apply for a driving license in Malaysia, it is compulsory to be registered with a certified

    driving institute. All the driving institutes must satisfy structural and intellectual standards to get a status of certified institute as defined by JPJ. JPJ is an authority to recognize any driving

    institute as legitimate to offer admission to students interested in road educational programs and getting driving license. After registration with driving school, candidate has to attend a 5 hours course [Driver’s Education Curriculum Course (KPP01)] in which instructor covers basic curriculum that should be learned to drive in Malaysia. Please note that the medium of instructions in driving schools is Malay, however, only few institutes offer English language instructional programs. Candidate will be given a handbook in Malay language (English language handbook is also available now). This handbook covers all about traffic rules, regulations and subjective understanding of driving on road. In addition, the handbook provides 500 multiple choice questions candidate must read, understand, and memorize. In some questions, candidates are shown text-based questions and they are asked to give text-based answers; some questions are graphics-based and text-based answers should be selected; some questions are graphical and graphical answers are required.

    In order to simplify and expedite the aforementioned laborious manual process, to cut expenses by doing away with the preparatory courses Printing of the materials given to candidates in driving schools (DS), offering hassle-free live demonstrations to candidates in DS, and streamlining and modernizing the process of obtaining a driving license are all important roles played by dim's portal. By making presentations to government-affiliated organizations like JPJ and MIROS, offering suggestions like issuing digital licenses, having conversations about international driving licenses at airports for short-term visitors, and distributing materials about road safety awareness, among other things.

    In terms of how the government will profit, the specific objectives are, in brief, as follows:

    - Project is an invaluable online resource for traffic laws, road safety education, and tests that goes beyond traditional JPJ-approved driving schools.

    - Helping the government spread the word about road safety education by working together with the Road Transport Department Malaysia and The Malaysian Institute of Road

    Safety Research (MIROS).

    - Cut expenses by doing away with the Pre-Practical courses printing of the materials that driving school candidates are given (DS).

    - No-hassle live demonstrations for DS candidates.

Competitors

    As per Google Analysis & Competition Policy, (DIM) services are unique, therefore, ranked on top of search results.

    Few private products like KPP Test, Ujian-Kpp (applications) are very narrow in scope and incomplete.

Conclusion

    This project is special because it is the first of its kind to be introduced in Malaysia, focusing on road safety and testing education. Since the project was successful without the support of a corporation, equity financing is used. However, the founder currently intends to incorporate the project as an NGO due to its broad nature and scope. In order to expand the project's scope to include the ASEAN and Chinese regions, the project developers look for funding opportunities from the pertinent stakeholders.

Recommendations

    - Collaboration with Malaysian Psychiatry Services to conduct Research on Driving Behavior.

    - Cooperation with the Malaysian Ministry of Education to raise awareness of road safety among students from elementary school through high school.

    - Promoting services at ASEAN level.

- Onboarding Malaysian Universities to create Road Safety awareness among local and foreigner students.

    - Networking with stakeholders at ASEAN level.

    - Awareness of Road Safety at School level.