Road Safety Dept to conduct study on buses

The Star Online


MUAR: The Road Safety Department has been directed to carry out a viability study on express buses operating at night to prevent accidents.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Kiat said he had received views and also discussed this with his counterparts in other countries on the matter.

Speaking to reporters here he said although a person had rested and slept during the day, it would be going against his biological clock to drive throughout the night.

“A person can become fatigued and we must accept the fact that the human body has been accustomed to resting or sleeping during the night,” he said.

The department is expected to complete the study soon, he said after opening the Muar Lions Club’s renal centre building in Sungai Abong yesterday.

Ong said besides night operation, the department would also consider extending the regulation on bus roof specifications for new buses to include older buses.

He said the specification was outlined by the United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe and the ministry wanted all buses to observe the R66 regulation ‑ which deals with roll over strength of buses.

He said the new regulation was imposed only on new buses but there were many old buses which the ministry felt should also comply with the R66 regulation.

Commenting to the crash of an express bus near Tangkak which killed 10 passengers recently, he said all related agencies would be involved in the study into the cause of the accident.

‘Introduce safety belts for express buses’

The Star Online

IPOH: The Government should make safety belts mandatory for express buses to minimise injuries and deaths from accidents.

Perak Gerakan publicity bureau chairman Choong Shean Yang said the safety of passengers would be greatly improved if seatbelts were used.

They would minimise injuries as passengers will not be thrown about during an accident or when the bus overturns, he said in a statement here Wednesday.

He said that the latest bus crash in Tangkak, Johor, on Sunday was a reminder that such a ruling was needed.

While bus operators had earlier objected to the move due to the cost, Choong said it was not valid anymore.

“Human life is more precious than the cost involved,” he said.

In the Sunday incident, 10 people, including a nine-year-old girl, were killed when the express bus they were in skidded and crashed into a tree at KM146.5 of the North-South Expressway near Tangkak.

They were among 26 passengers and two drivers heading to Johor Baru and Singapore from Perak in the 2am mishap.

Seven died at the scene while the others succumbed to their injuries at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital here.

Nine die, 19 injured in bus crash near Tangkak

MUAR: Nine people, including five women, were killed and 19 others injured after an express bus overturned at Km146 of the North-South Expressway near Tangkak early Sunday.

However, the identities of the dead, including the driver and co-driver, have yet to be ascertained.

Muar police chief ACP Nasir Mohd Ali said the bus was carrying 28 people, including the driver and co-driver, when the accident occurred at about 2am when it was travelling from Ipoh to Johor Baru.

The injured passengers and the nine bodies have been taken to the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital in Muar.

Initial investigation revealed that the driver lost control of the vehicle and it skidded and overturned, jolting the passengers out of their sleep.

The police and Fire and Rescue personnel took about an hour to remove the body of the driver who was pinned to his badly crushed seat.

Nasir is scheduled to give further details of the accident at a news conference later Sunday. - Bernama

Rear Seatbelt Dilemma

The Star

SUNGAI PETANI: Parents with four children are confused as to how they are to seat all their children into the back of the car without being caught for overloading.

“We cannot leave a child behind in the house when going out, neither can we afford to buy another vehicle to adjust to the new requirement on rear seat belts,” lamented trader Nordin Ahmad from Bandar Perdana Jasmin.

Nordin, 44, drives an Iswara Aeroback and is worried how he, his wife and four children would fit into their car without running the risk of being stopped by a policeman.

Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh has warned that motorists with more than three rear seat passengers could be fined for overloading.

“I am a low-income earner and have no other choice but to use only my Iswara for family travels. It is unfair to hold the driver responsible for ferrying more than three children in the rear seats,” said Nordin whose children ranged from seven to 13 years of age.

Restaurant operator Yeow Boon Fey, 44, from Taman Legenda Indah, said he would now have problems going out with his four children, aged between three and 15, his wife Yong Nyok Ching, 40, and mother Kong Yoke Mooi, 68.

“Tell me, what should I do? Should I buy another car or leave behind my mother or some of my children? I am confused.

“The authorities should be less rigid when imposing the regulations. We are not operating taxis but only want to take our family out in our car,” said Yeow, who has a Viva fitted with rear seat belts.

Kindergarten teacher Suzana Abdul Aziz, 38, from Taman Seri Jenaris, who also has four children, aged between five and 12, said although her family had a second car, they relied on their Iswara for balik kampung trips.

Mohd Desa Saidin, 42, a clerk at the National Registration Department in Kulim and married with four children aged between six and 13, said wearing rear seat belts was no guarantee that accidents would not endanger passengers’ lives.

“Even with all the safety measures, there are fatal accidents. What about accidents involving buses where many passengers die? Buses do not have safety belts,” he said.