“Misleading & Inaccurate,” Works Ministry Says After M’sia Ranked #12 for The Worst Roads in The World

By Karissa Lund  •  05 Oct 2022 in News

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Earlier this week, Malaysia was ranked No.12 in the world for the worst roads in a study conducted by drivers’ education firm Zutobi. In the data released on Monday (Oct 3), the firm said Malaysian road quality has decreased by over 5% in the last five years.

“Over 22 road traffic fatalities per 100,000 have occurred on Malaysia’s highways — the second highest number of road traffic deaths in the world after Saudi Arabia,” it said.

However, the Works Ministry (KKR) has denied the statement and said it is inaccurate, misleading and creates a negative perception of the overall quality of roads in Malaysia.

The ministry said today (5 Oct) that the Zutobi firm only calculated the scores based on four factors, namely road quality, improvements in road quality, road death and the relative size of the road network, and it only took into account data for 59 countries.

KKR said it always pays attention to all published research reports as a check and balance method to ensure the delivery of the best services for the people.

“There are various ongoing commitments carried out by KKR, specifically in maintaining the quality of roads in the country. These maintenance works are focused on Federal Roads, totalling 20,017 kilometres. KKR also received over RM900,000 in allocations for road maintenance costs throughout the country.

As of August, 6,656 pothole repairs have been conducted, the ministry reported.

ICYMI, the list of the worst roads in the world was topped by Kuwait, followed by Costa Rica, Georgia, Panama and New Zealand. Kuwait also had the third highest number of road deaths per 100,000 people at almost 19.

The study also gave Malaysia an overall safety score of 3.32 in comparison with Singapore which achieved the highest overall score with the fewest road deaths at 1.69 per 100,000.