In Malaysia, a pilot project is underway to see if reflective stickers placed on motorcycle license plates will reduce the number of night-time accidents. An army of volunteers will be going around the country and sticking the stickers on motorcycle license plates.

"We will be going to car parks in mosques, shopping complexes and other public places to stick these strips," said centre director Professor Radin Umar.

"If (this pilot project) helps to reduce night-time accidents, then we will implement it nationwide."

The volunteers are expected to hit the streets in a fortnight armed with 80,000 stickers.

Apparently, they tried this before, but by placing stickers on the back of people's helmets. However, it didn't work because the headlights of vehicles were not high enough to illuminate the stickers.

I would be kinda alarmed to walk out to my motorcycle and see that someone placed a sticker on my license plate. My initial reaction would be to take it off. But then again, technically, license plates are the property of the government. So, I guess they can do it.

UPDATE: Kudos to Uncaged Librarian for finding this first.

Labels: Malaysia, Reflective Products

Here's something interesting to think about. There apparently is some public opinion going around in Malaysia that there are too many motorcyclists riding in convoys, or groups I presume, and that this poses a danger to other road users.

Thus far, the government has no plans to do anything about it. According to Malaysia's Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy:

"There are no provisions in our laws relating to road safety that limits the number of motorcycles in a particular convoy but moving in a convoy is generally not encouraged. We hope those going back for this holidays in a convoy will not be a nuisance and cause danger to other road users," he said.

The minister went on to say that he hopes motorcyclists would discipline themselves, and be considerate to other road users.

This seems kinda reverse from what I typically see here in Southern California. It's often the cagers who are not considerate to bikers. Since I haven't done any riding in Malaysia, it's hard to understand what's going on there. But the notion that motorcyclists riding in groups poses a threat to other drivers is a new twist.

Labels: Group Riding, Malaysia