It is also evident by the number of delivery riders getting involved in accidents.

Due to popularity?

The Social Security Organisation (Socso) has revealed an increase in traffic accidents involving abang/kakak delivery riders, Malay Mail reported.

Based on data released by Socso, there were more than 150 accidents recorded involving delivery riders from the period of March to June 2020, which was the beginning of the first movement control order (MCO).

Dr Azlan Darus, the head of Socso's Prevention, Medical and Rehabilitation Division, said that the increase in accidents could be due to the expansion of gig economies as well as the popularity of ride hailing services during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

"The number kept increasing and by the end of the year, more and more crashes were happening and for these reasons, work-related safety is an important issue that needs to be tackled in terms of protection, and also prevention," he was quoted as saying.

While there are definitely a lot more delivery riders on the road, we do have to add that the rise in number of accidents could also be due to how reckless some of them are on the road, don't you think?

Commuting accidents also increased

Overall, commuting accidents have also increased in the past ten years, Dr Azlan added.

According to the data, commuting accidents had increased almost 83 per cent since 2009, where it recorded 20,810 road crashes. In 2019, the number stood at 38,142.

During the same period, road fatalities were also three times higher than the fatalities caused by industrial accidents in 2020.

Social studies by Socso also revealed that 55 per cent of the accidents happened within five kilometres of an individual's workplace, and 65 per cent of them were young Malaysians under the age of 40, of whom 80 per cent of them were male employees.