Excitement and anticipation is in the air in Malaysia as Hari Raya, a festive religious celebration, is fast approaching. As with any other annual celebration, times like these are when traffic is the worst. With the increase in vehicles on the road, its no real surprise that the risk of road accidents are usually at the highest during these festive times.
Volvo Car Malaysia has launched a road safety campaign called #SafeDrive with Volvo Car Malaysia in order to raise awareness on the importance of using safety belts for all car occupants, especially during the holiday season.
This campaign is in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the three-point safety belt, an invention by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959. An interesting tidbit that is not widely known outside of the automotive industry is that Volvo opened the patent for the three-point safety belt to the public because they believed that it was too important an invention for car safety to be held by a single manufacturer.
“All automotive safety technologies rely on the three-point safety belt as a reference point. Without the safety belt, any protective or preventive feature in a car would become ineffective. The misconception that the public have is that airbags, crash structures, and active safety systems alone are enough to protect in-car occupants; this is of course, inaccurate”, explained Managing Director of Volvo Car Malaysia, Mr Nalin Jain.
Mr Jain also stated that Volvo Car Malaysia will be working with the Road Safety Department (JKJR) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS) to spread awareness on car safety. He also stressed the significance of safety belt usage by all in-car occupants, which will help reduce the number of road fatalities and injuries in the country.
According to data provided by MIROS, an average of 16 road fatalities is recorded daily during the month of Ramadan and Syawal (Hari Raya month) in 2017 alone.
To ensure the campaign receives maximum exposure, Volvo Car Malaysia’s message will be rolled-out via various mediums including radio, newspapers, websites, social media platforms, and through authorised dealerships.
