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Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian back-seat passengers will have to buckle up beginning January 1 in a move aimed at reducing an increasing number of traffic deaths, the head of the Road Safety Department said Friday.

Road safety officers would begin educating the public on the importance of using seatbelts before the law kicks in, Director General Suret Singh said.

'The rate of wearing rear seat belts in this country is still low, that is, between 1 and 4 per cent, while the [department] targets to increase it to at least 70 per cent within six months,' Suret was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Currently, only the driver and front passengers are required to buckle up.

Malaysia continually holds road-safety campaigns to encourage drivers to buckle up and keep within speed limits, especially over holidays when the road mortality rate surges.

In 2006, there were more than 340,000 road accidents resulting in 6,287 deaths.

The government has said it hopes to reduce the number of road deaths to two deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles by 2020 from the present 5.17.

Jun 6, 2008,Asia-Pacific News.

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