KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: People should start wearing rear seatbelts now instead of waiting for the law to be enforced, as it concerns their safety, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said.

"There is no excuse (not to buckle up) as 91% of cars in Malaysia have rear seatbelts," he said after the launch of the Chinese New Year integrated road safety enforcement campaign yesterday.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, who was also present at the function, said the wearing of rear seatbelts would be made compulsory once it becomes law in the near future.

He said the relevant agencies such as the Road Transport Department (JPJ), police, the Road Safety Department and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research would study the best way to implement it and produce a report.

"Once implemented, it will be compulsory to wear," he said.

Launching the campaign yesterday was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's wife, Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah.

She said the majority of motorists were adults and that they had to think for themselves and not be impatient or irresponsible on the road.

"The responsibility of road safety is not the Government's alone. Parents must also play their role in educating their children," she said.

On the campaign this festive season, Chan said there were about 5,000 enforcement officers who would be on duty.

He said there was a huge reduction in both the number of deaths and accidents on the road over the past 10 years but reminded all parties not to be complacent.

"Although the number of vehicles has increased, the number of accidents leading to injuries has fallen from 55,693 in 1998 to 33,999 in 2007.

"As for the number of deaths, it has gone down from 8.4 for every 10,000 vehicles in the 1990s to 3.7 for every 10,000 vehicles last year," Chan said.

Musa noted that whenever integrated enforcement operations were carried out, there was a significant reduction of motorcyclist deaths.

"From Dec 31 last year till today, there were 2,500 accidents with 17 deaths. During the same time last year, there were 40 deaths," he said, adding that he had proposed to the JPJ to always carry out operations together.