Reasons of Road Congestion in Malaysia

With the advancement of technology, it is undeniable that road congestion is one of the biggest issues that currently faced by transport service providers in Malaysia. As a Malaysian, we are actually dealing with road congestion every single day, especially for those who are living in places like Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya. According to Vulcan Post, a survey shows that Malaysia ranks as the country with the third highest number of car ownership, with 93% of Malaysia households owing at least a car. It is one of the reasons why our roads are so congested. As a matter of fact, there are several reasons of road congestion and impacts of road congestion for transport service providers.

First off, accidents and it is caused by driver’s attitudes. It consists of speeding, tailgating, 24/7 driving, wrong way driving, reckless driving, double parking, cutting queue, going too slow on the fast lane, driving without good judgement like changing the lanes without signalling. distracted driving such as using the phone while driving or drunk driving, and so on. All these beaviours from drivers are very likely to result in road accidents and cause a road congestion to occur. Apart from that, some drivers are even trying to slow their cars down to take a closer look at accidents which makes the situation more congested and worsening. The impact of road accident not only makes the driver injured, but also the transport service providers have to pay for the maintenance fees for repairing the car as well. Therefore, the transport service providers can overcome this problem easily just by changing their behaviours and driving more cautiously to avoid road accidents from happening.

Secondly, road conditions. It involves road construction, animals crossing, oily road, slippery road, jaywalkers, and so on. The impact of these issues not only waste the energy but also cause air pollution. As the engine is running continuously and the vehicle has to suddenly brake and suddenly accelerate which increases the cost of fuel while traffic jams. To overcome the problem of road condition, Transport service providers can listen to traffic updates on the radio. As most of the local radio stations have provided it every hour. For instance, if there is an accident on their normal route, they should find an alternative route to reach their destinations.

Moreover, festivals or occasions. For example, in Malaysia. Due to its multiracial society, festivals are celebrated almost every month. There are different festivals for different races such as Deepavali, Wesak Day, Chinese New Year, Thaipusam, Hari Raya, Hari Gawai, Tadau Kaamatan Festival, and so forth. So, it can be predicted that when the festivals are right around the corner, there will be many vehicles appearing on the road and causing road congestion. The impact of all these festivals to transport service providers is that they are unable to transport goods on time and cause customer satisfaction to decrease.

Furthermore, peak hours. It is widely perceived that peak hours such as 7.a.m, 12.p.m, and 5.30.p.m are crowded with lots of vehicles. Since all these are the time people heading off to work, take their lunch during break time, and the time people take their time off from their workplace. The impact of peak hours increases the commuting time and reduces the time available for transport service providers to work for more profits. It results in economic loss. However, transport service providers can overcome this issue easily by transporting the goods anytime except from peak hours.

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