Grab has introduced new initiatives to enhance overall passenger, driver and road safety. These new measures expand upon Grab’s stringent safety initiatives, which the company has championed from its inception.
“Safety has always been a priority for Grab – it’s the foundation of how and why Grab came to be. Grab was born out of a mission to make transport safer across South East Asia and safety remains at the core of our business. In fact, according to a passenger poll conducted, 8 out of 10 women feel safer booking a ride with Grab than other transport option. However, we are acutely aware that we are far from being perfect, and there is so much more room for us to improve ourselves as we continue to grow, serve and transport more people across Malaysia,” said Sean Goh, Country Head of Grab Malaysia.
With that in mind, Grab is introducing the following initiatives:
Emergency Button
Grab has incorporated a one-touch emergency button in the passenger app which connects passengers to the national emergency response service (MERS 999) in the event of an emergency. Grab will log all out-going calls via the emergency button to follow-up with passengers and the authorities. The company is committed to invest resources to develop this function into a smart, comprehensive and efficient emergency button.
Eagle-i CVR in-car Dash Cam
In 2015, Grab piloted a programme to provide 100 top performing female drivers in Klang Valley with in-car dash cams. Grab is now working together with Eagle-i, Grab’s official Safety Camera Partner, to provide free Eagle-i CVR dash-cam to 3,500 top performing female and platinum drivers nationwide. The camera is able to record both audio and visual of up to 90 minutes of footage with a 120 degrees view in the vehicle, and will have a safety protective sticker to avoid tampering. Therefore, the memory card can only be removed by an authorised Grab personnel in the event of an incident or if a dispute occurs. Other drivers can purchase the camera via Eagle-i’s website at 70% discount for a limited time offer only. Drivers who qualify to receive the cameras for free will receive communications from the company beginning in August for details to pick up the cameras.
Telematics Programme
Grab’s telematics programme is a combination of machine learning and predictive analytics which identifies unsafe driving habits such as speeding, swerving and hard braking or accelerating, and educating drivers about ways to improve the driving experience. Drivers will receive weekly summary of their driving performance for their reference and further improvement. The programme, which was rolled out in June in Singapore has already received very encouraging results to help improve road safety.
- 15% reduction in speeding
- 11% less instances of hard braking
- 18% less instances of sudden hard acceleration
“We recognise that many Malaysians are using ride hailing services to get around, and we are pleased that Grab responded to our request to include the emergency button in their app. We are also appreciative of their forward-thinking by going the extra mile to include other initiatives such as in-car cameras for the safety and convenience of their passengers and drivers. We hope that with the introduction of the MERS 999 emergency button, passengers will use the function responsibly and we look forward to seeing how their telematics can improve general road safety,” said Chief Executive Officer, Encik Mohd Azharuddin bin Mat Sah, Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD).
YB Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department shared that, “The Government encourages e-hailing operators like Grab to have continuous engagements with the regulators to achieve our vision of providing a safer and reliable land public transportation system in our country. Safety is a joint community effort and all parties involved must work closely to introduce a holistic set of safety measures in the best interest of the Rakyat.”
Echoing YB’s statement, Goh added, “We are very excited to roll out these initiatives nationwide. They are testament of Grab’s continuous efforts to work with local authorities, passengers and our partners so we can keep raising the bar for passenger, driver and road safety, whilst contributing to the overall development of the transport industry and infrastructure.
Prior to this, Grab (then known as MyTeksi) was the first to introduce a PDRM button in the driver. app as a one-touch tap to connect to the nearest police station. The function has since been updated to also benefit the other drivers in the 25 cities nationwide that Grab is currently in.