Malaysia has experienced economic expansion and growth in the population, economy, industrialisation and motorisation. The increase in population and motorisation has resulted in an increase in the number of road traffic accidents. Statistics are given for road accidents in Malaysia for the years 1994 to 2004. A road safety programme was introduced to prevent and reduce the number of traffic accidents and reduce injuries. The safety initiatives included the National Accident Database System, the Five Stages Road Safety Auditing programme, the National Blackspot Programs, road safety research and evaluation, visibility initiatives for motorcycles, revision of the Road Transport Act, a new helmet standard (MSI-1996) and a new children's motorcycle helmet initiative. The safety initiatives reduced traffic deaths and offset the upward fatality trend in Malaysia. Malaysia has targets to reduce fatality rates to less than 3.0 and 2.0 deaths per 10,000 vehicles by the years 2010 and 2020, respectively.
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