MOTORCYCLES remain a cause for concern in traffic management as illegal, reckless and unlicensed driving continues, riding on the wings of policy flaws of the government. The situation, which is almost similar both in metropolitan cities and in outlying areas, has not only added to the incidence of traffic rules violation but also remained a major cause of traffic accident fatalities. The highest number of fatalities in traffic accidents, as reports show, has involved motorcycles. The Road Safety Foundation says that in 2024, 2,609 people died in 2,761 accidents involving motorcycles whilst the Passenger Welfare Association says that 2,570 people died in 2,329 accidents involving motorcycles that year. Road Transport Authority data report 3.78 million licences out of the 4.58 million motorcycles registered as of 2024. Whilst motorcycles account for 73.16 per cent, or 4.58 million, of the total registered motorised vehicles of 6.26 million, as official data show, the 2022 official data show that motorcycles accounted for 70 per cent of the total motorised vehicles registered. The year-wise registration figures further show a sharp increase in motorcycles on the road, which is blamed for an increased number of traffic accidents and consequent fatalities.
The reasons for the worrying situation that have come up include the failure of law enforcement, the easing of the payment for motorcycle registration fees, riding with more than one pillion riders, not wearing helmets, rash driving, signal violation, wrong lane driving and driving on the footpath. Added to the reasons is the shoddy implementation of ride-sharing services introduced in 2016, in which many riders do not use the ride-sharing app. Ride-sharers not using the app not only denies the government revenue but also makes the affair illegal and dangerous, in some cases, for the riders. There have also been allegations that the government introduced the Ridesharing Services Guideline 2017 without any research. Some say that the state of the affair 鈥� especially no use of helmets and more than one riding pillion 鈥斅� has declined to a new low after the August 2024 political changeover in the event of slack law enforcement. The Road Transport Authority keeps saying that it runs regular mobile court drives against the violation of traffic rules and takes action against errant motorcyclists. But what the government should do to improve on the situation is also to step up oversight, end corruption in the process and increase the skills of motorcyclists with training.
Making motorcycles and spares expensive by levying taxes, increasing registration fees and making registration tough, as some suggest, would not work at all as the government needs to facilitate mobility in a city where congestion on the road keeps slowing other motorised vehicles. The government should, rather, be stringent about law enforcement and arrange for proper training of motorcyclists.