The coronavirus pandemic brought about some drastic changes in all of our lives. For one, during the 3 month movement control order(s), we’ve barely had to use our cars. This was especially true during the first phase of the MCO. You’d think that with quite literally no one on the road, the odds of meeting a car accident would be dramatically lower.

Well, you’d be wrong. In his daily press briefing, Health director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah shared some pretty worrying news. During the first phase of the MCO, 5,498 road accidents and 58 deaths were recorded between 18 and 31 March, with an average of 392.7 road accidents daily.

If you think that’s bad, it gets worse. It turns out that during the CMCO, that number increased to an average of 738 road accidents daily. That’s higher than the number of daily Covid-19 cases!

“Police data have shown that there was a total of 5,904 cases with 68 deaths reported between May 5 and 12 (eight days),” Dr Noor Hisham said. “From May 13 until June 9, a total of 25,251 road accidents were recorded, with 231 deaths reported (average of 738 road crashes daily).” he added.

Prior to the CMCO, the ministry’s hospitals had actually recorded a 65 to 75 percent decrease in road accidents involving injuries during the MCO period compared to pre-MCO, which makes sense given that the roads were dearth of any vehicles.

Since the CMCO however, the number of injuries from road accidents has shown a 30 percent increase. It’s almost like as if the MCO made everyone forget how to drive or something.

Dr Noor Hisham added that he expects the number of road accidents to increase as the number of vehivles on the road increases. Remember guys, stay safe out there and don’t drive if you’re drunk or tired.