The government needs to spend RM1 billion to repair road accident "black spots", but the government can't afford to do the job straight away.

The Star newspaper quoted Works Minister Samy Vellu as saying that the government has so far spent RM130 million repairing 230 high-risk stretches of state roads.

"Many of these areas... which are notorious for major accidents, have been upgraded," he said.

"The government cannot afford to repair all the accident-prone and dangerous areas at one go. So I hope motorists will follow instructions by the police, the Road Transport Department and the Highway Authority and keep to the speed limits."

Motorists prefer to drive fast

Samy Vellu said that despite continuous road safety campaigns and tighter speed limits and traffic laws, the government had still failed to change the mentality of road users.

"They prefer to drive fast. They will rather risk their lives than drive slowly," he said.

Malaysia celebrates the Hindu Deepavali and the Muslim Hari Raya festivals in quick succession this week.

Police have deployed some 5,554 personnel to enforce a nationwide safety operation, but 91 people have died so far in the five days since it has been launched, according to television reports.