WE appreciate the Health director-general’s concern about the surge in road traffic accidents and deaths during the recovery movement control order period, as reported in The Star on June 11 (online at bit.ly/star_accidents). Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah highlighted the negative impact of lives lost and the burden of permanent disabilities on the public healthcare system and the welfare of the public.

While the public health sector has held a leadership role in dealing with the current Covid-19 crisis, we would like to point out that it can also take a potentially enhanced role in promoting road safety. While traditional public health does focus some effort in the area of occupational safety, in Malaysia it has neglected its role in other areas of safety, such as transportation safety, home/school safety, drowning prevention, etc. Collectively, all these areas account for about 10,000 deaths each year and many times more the number of citizens permanently disabled.