SHAH ALAM, 4 Oct: The increase in fuel prices announced by the Federal Government runs the high risk of increasing the rate of fatal accidents.
The Deputy President of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca), Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said that this is because consumers who want to save would switch from using cars to motorcycles.
“We have noted that using motorcycles run the high risk of being involved in accidents. We fear that if a lot of people use motorcycles, the accident statistics will increase,” he told Selangor Kini.
He said that motorists have limited options due the lack of public transportation.
“Many people are forced to use their own vehicles as there is no public transport in their area of residence or place of work. There are also instances where it takes a longer time to use public transport,” he said.
He said that the people who earn low to middle incomes are the majority group who will be burdened by the problem and indirectly, it will affect the prices of other goods.
He said that traders will usually increase the prices of their goods when there is an increase in fuel prices.
“This is because most of the goods sold involve the transport of goods for market purposes,” he said.
The price of the RON95 petrol and diesel was increased following the government’s decision to reduce petrol and diesel subsidies by 20 cents.
Consequently, the price of the RON95 petrol was increased to RM2.30 per litre from RM2.10 and diesel to RM2.20 from RM2.
NS