KUCHING: Sarawak saw an increase of 37 per cent in the number of road accidents recorded last year from 2021.
Police statistics show that there were 341 fatalities in 2022, a 10.7 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The data also showed that the number of serious injuries sustained has also increased with 186 cases or 28.3 per cent more compared to the same period in 2021.
However, the number of minor injuries occurring in road accidents is four per cent less in 2022 where 309 people sustained minor injuries and 322 in 2021.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said the increase of 5,262 road accidents last year was caused by road users’ negligence to abide by road safety regulations.
“In 2022, there were 19,507 road accidents compared to 14,245 road accidents recorded in 2021,” he told a press conference after attending the Sarawak Contingent Police (IPK) monthly assembly at the Sarawak IPK headquarters here today (Jan 11).
He also noted that the growing number of crashes during the fourth endemic phase which was announced at the beginning of 2022 was due to an increase in the number of people commuting and travelling.
Meanwhile, Azman also disclosed that for the ‘Ops Mabuk’ operation, the police had conducted 81 operations throughout the whole of last year and 129 arrests were made, only a 1.2 per cent decrease compared to 2021.
“In 2021 we conducted 82 operations, however, for 2022 there were 37.5 per cent or 45 more arrests made by the police,” he said.
Azman also pointed out that the Sarawak police had arrested 123 people for ‘Ops Samseng Jalanan’ for driving recklessly in 2022 compared to only 81 arrests in 2021.
He added that the number of arrests made in 2022 was 48.2 per cent more with an increase of 40 arrests made.
