Kuala Lumpur, 30 August 2023: The Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC) with the co-operation of Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ) and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) organised the Building a Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accident webinar. The webinar had more than 800 participants from various government agencies especially the enforcement agencies, non-government agencies, insurance industry, automotive industry, financial industry, students and public. The aim was to raise awareness on vehicle theft in relation to road traffic accidents, to fill up the knowledge gap and empower the public to make safer choice.
Opening Remarks by YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of the Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC) in the Building a Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accidents webinar
In her Opening Remarks, YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC) among others highlighted the important to address and to be aware how vehicle theft able to contribute to road traffic accident. Crime of vehicle theft is not just about a missing car, motorcycle or commercial vehicle but they are so much more. Stolen vehicles have facilitated all types of crimes ranging from carry bombs and transport international criminals. The stolen vehicles were also used for smuggling drugs, humans, weapons and cash. Nevertheless, stolen vehicles being dismantled for illicit spare parts (illegal spare parts) whereby thieves sold the stolen spare parts to buyers and scrupulous workshops both online and physical to repair damage vehicles. The vehicle theft activities not just affecting financial and economy of the motorists, also it poses harm to human safety and life resulting in severe injury and death. The motorists are exposed to danger as illicit spare parts are likely to fall below recognised safety standard according to the Interpol.
YBrs Dr Wong Yau Duenn, Pengarah Bahagian Keselamatan Jalan Raya, Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ), the Moderator in the Building A Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accidents webinar organised by Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC)
The moderator of the webinar, YBrs Dr Wong Yau Duenn, Pengarah, Bahagian Keselamatan Jalan Raya, Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ) begins by welcoming all of the Panellists with a brief introduction and then continue to the objective of the webinar. The webinar gathered a list of specialists on topic of vehicle theft and road traffic accidents ranging from Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah PDRM, Jabatan Siasatan dan Penguatkuasaan Trafik (JSPT) PDRM, VTREC and MIROS. The Panellists presented statistics, data, information, ideas, techniques, and next steps in addressing the recent strategies to combat vehicle theft crime and to improve road safety and life savings.
YBrs Dr Wong Yau Duenn, Pengarah Bahagian Keselamatan Jalan Raya, Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia (JPJ) as the Moderator explained the rational introduction and objective of the webinar
The Panellists and Moderator of the Building a Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accidents webinar
The Panellists line-up were:
Panellist 1: YDH Tuan DSP Ahmad Nazri Adnan, Pegawai Turus D4 (Statistik dan Risik Operasi), Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah, Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen Polis Kuala Lumpur.
Panellist 2: YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator, Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC).
Panellist 3: YDH Tuan ASP Muhammad Abdul Hafiz Sariee, Pegawai Turus Kes Profil Tinggi/Kajian Kes, Jabatan Siasatan dan Penguatkuasaan Trafik, Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia, Bukit Aman.
Panellist 4: YBrs Tuan Mohd Zamri Samion, Ketua Penolong Pengarah, Unit Dasar Bahagian Penguatkuasa, Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia.
Panellist 5: YBrs Encik Ahmad Saife Salleh, Research Officer, Commercial Vehicle Unit, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research.
First panellist YDH Tuan DSP Ahmad Nazri Adnan discusses the automobile theft study. The subject covers automobile theft locations, causes, and solutions. The goal is to alert the public of car theft trends.
In his sharing pertaining to vehicle theft in Kuala Lumpur which is considered the Top 3 vehicle theft by state in Malaysia, recorded a decreased by 13% comparing 2022 against 2021 (ISM Insurance Services Malaysia, Q1 2023). He underlined that the decreased is not enough because criminals will be finding new methods to steal vehicles. At the same time, PDRM will never rest instead to keep abreast with the technology to defeat the criminals. Public were reminded to have a proper behaviour in securing their vehicle. They should be vigilant, alert, choose strategic area to park their vehicle and always install additional security protection, lock or systems. To install mechanical lock in classic ways such as steering lock or peddle lock will do as long as never provide any opportunity for thieve to steal their vehicle.
In addition, he asserted that the legislative punishment must be increased, harsher and severe punishments may deter criminals from committing themselves into vehicle theft crime. The fact that the vehicle theft was most likely committed by the same individual demonstrates that if the law had been updated, it might have prevented future vehicle thefts. As a matter of fact, repeat offenders steal vehicles, get charged, and then are released to do the same crime over and over again resulted by low severity of punishment. Therefore, increasing the severity of punishment may has an impact to discourage the offenders from crime of vehicle theft in the future. VTREC was suggested to look into this parameter and to work with respective stakeholders in order bring down further vehicle theft record in the country and to further establish a safe and high well-being nation.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of the Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia explained the Top 5 Most Stolen Vehicles in 2022
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid as the second Panellist, put forward on the centre stage issues of vehicle theft in relation to collisions with other vehicles. In her sharing among others, YBrs Puan Mas Tina presented statistics on vehicle theft for 2021 against 2022. Overall, vehicle theft went down by 0.27% in 2021 compared to 2022, the same shows for private car settled down by 0.49% reduction, while commercial vehicle dropped significantly about 10.78%, however motorcycle recorded a slight increased, throttled up by 1.18%. She also discussed the most stolen private car and motorcycle, with Toyota Hilux being the most stolen model for private car and while Yamaha 135LC for motorcycle in 2022.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina has pointed out the risk of vehicle theft for illegal spare parts. Stolen vehicles are being stripped of their parts by criminals for illicit spare parts. These illicit spare parts can be substandard or most likely below recognised safety standard, including stolen brake pads, axle, engines, carburettors, gear box, airbag, tyres, suspension components and so forth. The criminals and unscrupulous workshops showed a complete lack of concern for public safety and public life. Their concern centred on utterly profit, while totally oblivious to the potential severe injuries and death that can come from the sub-standard illicit vehicle theft spare parts.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of the Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia pointing out the risk of stolen spare part which most likely categorised under sub-standard quality.
Cut-and-join are the most hazardous of all kind of vehicle structure. A cut-and-join vehicle is where the remains of two vehicles have been welded together to create a new vehicle. For example, a vehicle with frontal damaged due to accident, to reduce repair costs and to increase profit, the scrupulous workshop steals a similar model vehicle and then chop the frontal part of stolen car, remove the damaged frontal of the accident vehicle then welded it to the damaged vehicle that has been rear ended. The resulting vehicle is then repainted and trimmed up to look like the original vehicle. The practise of such act seriously compromised the structural integrity of the vehicle, it compromised the roadworthiness of the vehicle. In the event of accident, even with the slightest impact will leave the vehicle spilt into two. As a result, not just driver and passenger but also motorists around are pose to very dangerous risk, most likely severe injury or death.
At the conclusion, YBrs Puan Mas Tina urged participants to pay close attention on vehicle theft motivated by illicit spare parts, do not sell and do not purchase them. Instead, public should purchase used vehicle from licensed used car and purchased spare parts from licensed spare parts outlet or licensed workshops. Motorists need to change their behaviour and care for their vehicle for the sake of their and their family lives.
YDH Tuan ASP Muhammad Abdul Hafiz Sariee, Pegawai Turus Kes Profil Tinggi/ Kajian Kes, Jabatan Siasatan Penguatkuasa Trafik, Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen Polis Bukit Aman explained the statistics of the accident and the cause of the accident
The third member of the panel, YDH Tuan ASP Muhammad Abdul Hafiz Sariee discussed the information in respect to number of accidents that occurred on the roads in 2021 and 2022. Statistics of cars that were engaged in traffic accidents (categorised by the kind of vehicle) and a comparison of fatalities (categorised by user). The following table provides statistical information on the number of accidents and fatal accidents following the state’s rating. The following table provided data on the number of accidents and fatal accidents that occurred in each district as well as factors that lead to deadly accidents.
At the conclusion of his presentation, YDH Tuan ASP Muhammad Hafiz highlighted the causes of the accident. He emphasised that the most significant aspect that led to the disaster was the individuals’ inability to maintain control on their own. His parting advice was to observe defensive driving procedures at all times. Always take it gradually while approaching corners or confined spaces. It is rather important for government sector and non-government sector to share responsibility and improve effort to reduce incident of road traffic accidents. All parties can be allies through various form advocacy and awareness campaign to promote public safety.
YBrs Tuan Mohd Zamri Samion, Ketua Penolong Pengarah, Unit Dasar Bahagian Penguatkuasa, Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia explained the factor that important that could decrease the risk of road traffic accident
The fourth panellist, YBrs Tuan Zamri Samion highlighted the cause of road accident and the factor that important that could decrease the risk of road traffic accident. He said that factors that caused the road traffic accident are the driver’s attitude, vehicle conditions, and the infrastructure of the road. He also shared three (3) ways to reduce road traffic accidents based on a study that has been done by MIROS. In his sharing, he gave focused on the enforcement of Perception on Being Caught (POBC) that always been the classic and effective way to ensure people are more afraid to commit crime.
Rising public awareness on road safety is considered as one of key measures to improve safe driving practice and to ensure their vehicle is well maintained in a safe and roadworthy condition. Road traffic accident can be reduced when public’s behaviour is trimmed with good driving behaviour.
YBrs Encik Ahmad Saife Salleh, Research Officer, Commercial Vehicle Unit, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research shares how he as a crash investigator detects absolute evidence if any accident occurs by referring to a vehicle
YBrs Encik Ahmad Saife Salleh, the final Panellist, emphasised the comprehension of the temporal overview and secure system. When an accident occurs, MIROS examines pre-crash and post-crash. Pre-crash is referred to as roadworthiness, whereas post-crash passenger safety is how to save the victims. Vehicle Type Approval (VTA) is now a requirement for vehicle protection. He explained how our car could act as a Perception of Being Caught (POBC) devise because modern cars able to store data that be used if an accident happens. Crash investigators will know by just using the data integrated items in a car about the actual scenario before the accident happened. In the context of vehicle theft, the Global Positioning System (GPS) which acts as an in-car system may detect if the car has been stolen by locating the position of the car.
As a remark, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should always be worn when taking risks on a vehicle, whether driving a car or a motorcycle in order to reduce the fatality rate. For instance, when using a car, always wear a seat belt, and when using a motorcycle, always wear a helmet. MIROS always strives to reduce fatalities because, in the event of an accident, the driver and passenger are the top priorities.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia taking up question from the participants
The wrap up session by the Moderator
The event ended smoothly while participants joining in the zoom meeting room as well as joining through the Facebook Live. During the event there were many questions forwarded by the participants for Panellists to answer. Participant were active throughout the whole webinar session asking questions which shows attentive listening to all the sharing that have been put forward by all panellists. The webinar came to an end with a Group Photo session and a brief wrapped up by the Moderator.
Puan Nur Alwanie Iberahim as the Emcee welcomed and thanked the participants in the Building A Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accidents webinar organised by Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC)
At the end of the session, the Moderator and Emcee commended the Panellists and attendees for their co-operation, undivided attention, and thanked all participants for their interest and participation in posing the queries which contributed to the success of the webinar.
The VTREC team to ensure the webinar is a success
Among the participants in the Building A Strong Defence Strategy: Combating Crime of Vehicle Theft in Relation to Road Traffic Accident webinar organised by Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC)
