Genting bus crash: Let's not point fingers, says Hisham

 As Transport Minister, Datuk Seri should know that any investigation shall be carried out by SPAD and not JPJ. Please bring SPAD under your wings as well and not leave it with the Prime Minister's Department which might have sidelined the importance of SPAD.

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/08/22/Lets-not-point-fingers-says-Hisham.aspx






KUALA LUMPUR: All efforts should be focused on saving the victims of the horrific bus crash in Genting Highlands, and not on pointing fingers at anyone, said acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said he did not want innocent parties to be blamed in this highly emotional situation.

“The most important thing now is to identify whether any survivor has been left behind,” he told reporters during the Defence Ministry’s Hari Raya open house here yesterday.

Hishammuddin, who is also the Defence Minister, expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and gave his assurance that the Government would leave no stone unturned in uncovering the cause of the incident.

“I have asked the agencies under the Transport Ministry, including the Road Transport Department, to start investigating the cause of the incident.

“I don’t want to say more than that because efforts are still under way to rescue those who are still trapped,” he said.

Hishammuddin said this was not the first such incident to occur at Genting, adding that there were many factors which could have caused the 2.20pm crash to happen, whether it was the fault of the driver, the vehicle, the road, or a combination of these.

“As long as I am heading the ministry, we will ensure that no innocent party will be made a victim out of something I believe everyone sees as a tragedy,” he said, adding that he was awaiting further reports on the situation.

Meanwhile, Bentong MP Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said bus companies need to be accountable for their drivers’ conduct as negligence could put lives at risk.

According to Liow, the bus was “very wobbly” moments before the accident.

“This could mean that it may not have been in the best condition,” he said after a briefing by rescue personnel at the site.

“I don’t want to speculate. Some say it was the driver’s fault, while some said it was the brakes. Let’s leave it to the investigations.

“But what is clear is that bus companies have not taken past incidences here seriously. They should be making sure their buses are well-maintained and their drivers healthy.”

37 dead in Genting bus crash

Five and a half years have passed since this blog was established, the safety of our public transportation have remained in a sorry state. I still see many express buses speeding on the road, many stage buses which are not road-worthy so on and so forth. Promises were made by ministers, politicians and authorities after each fatal accident but they were never fulfilled.

Folks at Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) have worked tirelessly over the last 3 years and the same folks have presented many brilliant ideas and proposals to SPAD's Member of Commission to transform Malaysia's public transport at the annual strategic meeting. Unfortunately, I have not seen any implementation over the years. What are the Members of Commission for? Did they escalate these ideas to the Prime Minister's Department or do they have other priorities?

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/08/21/Bus-accident-Genting-Highlands-ravine.aspx

PETALING JAYA: Thirty-seven people were killed in the country's worst road tragedy, after a bus carrying 53 plunged into a 60m ravine near Genting Highlands around 2.45pm Wednesday.

The dead included 24 males and 13 females. Sixteen people were injured in the incident.

The search and rescue operation was called off at 10pm.

According to Fire and Rescue Department deputy director-general Datuk Soiman Jahid, the dead included the driver of the bus.

It is believed that the driver had lost control of the bus, which then rammed a divider before plunging down the gorge.

Some of the passengers were flung from the bus during the incident.

According to the police, more than half the passengers on the bus were foreigners, from China, Bangladesh and Thailand

The bus was also overloaded as its capacity was 44 passengers, authorities said.

The accident occurred at KM36 of the Genting-Kuala Lumpur road, some two kilometres from the Chin Swee Caves Temple, as the bus carrying 53 people was coming down from Genting Highlands and heading towards Kuala Lumpur.

Pahang Sultan Ahmad Shah and Bentong MP Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai were among those who arrived at the scene earlier in the evening and were briefed by authorities.

Earlier, rescuers worked frantically to reach people trapped in the bus. Some 30 policemen and nine ambulances were at the scene.

Traffic in the area was at a standstill as police ensured rescue vehicles could reach the scene of the accident.
Bentong OCPD Supt Mansor Mohd Noor confirmed the incident to The Star but could not give further details.

"I can confirm that there were passengers on the bus but how many there were I don't know yet.
"Authorities are en route to the site now," he said.

Express Bus Drivers Deserve Better

Posted on 13 August 2012 - 06:56pm

Azman Ujang

OVER the next few days, express buses are set to roll out of cities and towns in huge numbers for the Hari Raya "balik kampung" exodus.

Normally, tickets for these trips are sold out well in advance as thousands of people who work in the urban centres join in the big rush back to their hometowns to celebrate the festive occasion.

Besides the established bus companies doing roaring business, there are also others who are given one-off permits to use factory, tourist or even school buses to cope with the high volume of travellers.

Given the high number of express buses criss-crossing the country during the period, sufficient laws are in place by the police, Road Transport Department and Road Safety Department to govern the industry. And due to frequent fatal accidents involving express buses in the last five years, a new set of legislation called the Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Code of Practice has been added.

This has created greater awareness and concern among operators over passenger safety. There is also the fear of having their permits suspended or revoked in cases where bus accidents result in many deaths.
As far as enforcement is concerned, there seems to be an upsurge during the Ops Sikap safety campaign which runs a week before and a week after the festive season. This year, Ops Sikap has been renamed Ops Selamat.

But for the most part of the year, the problem lies with lax enforcement and this is when accidents involving express buses are reportedly on the rise.

While many bus companies are investing heavily on new fleets of luxury and double-decker buses, they don't seem to be particularly generous when it comes to the welfare of what I consider to be the most important people in the industry – the bus drivers.

I sat down last week with two drivers at Kuala Lumpur's Hang Tuah Bus Station to get their side of the story and true enough, the impression I got was that the people behind the wheel carrying so many lives on long and monotonous journeys are a demotivated lot.

"Do you have basic pay and how many days off do you have in a week?" I asked.

It came as a shock to me to find that they don't even have a basic salary and are on the road most of the week.

They are paid "trip allowances" of RM80 a trip and to take home between RM2,000 and RM3,000 a month, they have to make as many trips as possible, foregoing sleep and rest.

The Consumers' Association of Penang once highlighted the case of bus drivers staying awake with the help of psychotropic pills. It cited the confession of a drug-using driver plying the Kuala Lumpur-Terengganu route for 10 years. With the pill, he said "eyes are awake but the brain is asleep", adding that most drivers tend to speed because they would otherwise feel sleepy.

The bus drivers I spoke with said most accidents tend to happen towards the end of a long journey when the body is fatigued.

A lot of factors have been blamed for fatal express bus accidents but common sense dictates that a sleepy driver is a major cause, and this seems to be ignored by the authorities and industry players.

In cases where the driver also gets killed in an accident, the authorities investigating the tragedy can not determine the cause because a dead men tell no tales.

Malaysia's worst ever road accident occurred at 4.20am on Aug 13, 2007 when an express bus from Johor Baru skidded and overturned near Bukit Gantang in Perak, killing 20 people including the driver.

According to co-driver V. Veeraman, the driver Rohizan Abu Bakar, had driven 700km over nine hours with only a brief break in between on that fateful day.

Although the two-driver regulation was in place then, it proved to be useless because, according to Veeraman, he himself was fast asleep when the accident happened.

On Dec 26, 2009, 10 passengers died when the express bus they were travelling in crashed through a guardrail near the Ipoh toll plaza. Driver Mohd Kamil Rashid told police he was sleepy at the time of the crash. Being sleepy proved to be no defence as Mohd Kamil is now serving a four-year jail sentence.

There is no excuse whatsoever for a co-driver, who is supposed to take over in the event the first driver becomes tired or sleepy, to be fast asleep as in the Bukit Gantang tragedy.

The fact that this is still happening goes to show that bus companies have done little or nothing to give their drivers a better deal.

To enhance road safety, the government set up a Road Safety Department a few years ago. But this department has not been able to enforce the mandatory use of safety belts on board express buses, despite the high death toll in crashes. If such regulations can be enforced on car drivers and passengers, why not on express bus passengers and drivers?

I'm told that this is because many buses have plywood flooring which is not strong enough to retrofit anchorage points for seat belts. This means that, although on the outside our express buses look tough and modern, the flooring is not up to international standards and poses high safety risks.

The Transport Ministry should revisit this aspect given the vulnerability of these vehicles. It's also time for another rule to enhance the status of bus drivers through more caring incentives.

Everyone must play their part in ensuring safe travel this festive season.

Azman Ujang is a former editor-in-chief of Bernama. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com