Nibong Tebal Bus Accident

[PROSKY]

12 pilgrims were killed and 10 seriously injured in the above bus accident.
Other than the driving factor contributing to the death, the bus structural
built-up is not up to standard. Imagine the bus rolled over twice, the whole bus roof cave in as can be judged from the photo.This is the main contributory factor of the high death figure. The government should come up
with new safety standard for buses where the roof shouldn't cave in on roll
over test. This means the supporting pillars of the roof should be strong, able to hold the air conditioning unit located on the roof and not fly/slice off should there be a head-on collision of two heavy vehicles. Road worthiness
is one thing but the structural built-up is equally more important on the window portion upwards. Should this be implemented, the death toll will
be reduced significantly.

[jack10dd]

Heard over the radio - gone re train the drivers every 2 yrs - but what bout the unworthy trucks & buses that pass through P_ _ _ _ _ _ M with flying colors.

JD @ 12.20 am

[isarahim]

that pass through P_ _ _ _ _ _ M with flying colors.

The colours you refer to are Red, like the RM 10 note, Greenish, like the RM 50 note, and slightly Blueish/Purple like the RM 100 note. With a bit of 'lubrication', you cannot imagine what vehicles that pass through those 'tests' without a single remark.

[uchangeng]

that speaks volume of the safety standard our public transport!

[wsl]

The government should come up with new safety standard for buses where the roof shouldn't cave in on roll over test. This means the supporting pillars of the roof should be strong, able to hold the air conditioning unit located on the roof and not fly/slice off should there be a head-on collision of two heavy vehicles. Road worthiness is one thing but the structural built-up is equally more important on the window portion upwards. Should this be implemented, the death toll will be reduced significantly.

The government should have implemented this long time ago. This is not the first time, roof of busses cave in. In addition, I think the government should also imposed seat belts for all bus passengers like what they imposed in Australia. At least the passenger will not be thrown all over. Then, how secured are the seats bolted to the floor of the bus question will arise?

[LMei]

The safety quality and standard of our buses came out in the local newpapers several years back. But nothing has really came out of it as it costs money and no one is so willing to spend money to change all the current buses.

[joker2107]

safety standard for buses where the roof shouldn't cave in on roll
over test. This means the supporting pillars of the roof should be strong, able to hold the air conditioning unit located on the roof and not fly/slice off should there be a head-on collision of two heavy vehicles. Road worthiness
is one thing but the structural built-up is equally more important on the window portion upwards. Should this be implemented, the death toll will
be reduced significantly.

agreed, prosky, but this will only be effective if applied concurrently with a strict observance of the belt up rule. at the moment there're no seat belts in buses, not even for the driver.

if u think the flying monsters which traverse the plus h'ways may be suspect where maintenance is concerned, u might swear never to get on a city/town bus in penang or kota baru or anywhere in sarawak and sabah. at tleast thats from my observation during my travelling days of yesteryear.

btw, mandatory inspection of public vehicles by puspakom is but another "well-intended" initiative of a 22-year regime...

[ericchan]

Its no use to cry over split milk. This tragedy should have never taken place. As long as there is greed and a corrupted system without strict safety regulations and guidelines, more will happen. I am sorry to say.

[patrick]

We saw it coming all along. Only the authorities couldnt or refuse to see it coming. Road users have been complaining all along about the devil may care attitude of heavy vehicle drivers on Malaysian road. But no one seems to care. The once-in-a-while Operasi is just not good enough. Enforcement must be carried out at all times. And as long as no one is going to move their butt or kick butt, we are going to continue to see hell drivers in heavy vehicles on Malaysian roads. And we are going to hear of more such accidents...just a matter of time, not when. All the authority is good at doing is coming out to say "we are going to investigate fully..." after each accident. Hey come on lah, how many times have we heard that? Each time I hear that statement, I just cringe!!

[pcyeoh]

The Road Transport Dept. had great plan at one time to install a black box and due to the financial crisis back in 98, it was called off as it didn't want to burden the transport operators. That Tun Ling should have a work around solution. Today, the RTD can still prevent this reckless driving. Place the registration number of the bus inside the bus and a statement that says "If you have concern on the manner I am driving this vehicle, please call my General Manager at 03-XXXXXXXX and report my driving to him." Likewise, the passenger can also call the CVLB at 1-800-88-9600 and report those errant drivers while still in the bus. No one will know who made that call. Of course, the toll free line must be operating 24 x 7 to cater the round the clock bus business. This will weed out those reckless drivers and take them off the road.

[patrick]

If Tun had bothered to talk to us, we could have told him that EVEN IF they had installed those black boxes, it still wouldnt have worked lah! I feel that often in Malaysian, people want to implement projects without first doing a careful feasible study. Imagine all the blackboxes in heavy vehicles...who's going to check them next? JPJ and police already always claim to be understaffed. Then who? Tun himself? It work in companies like oil companies because the system is internalised. They have the people who are specially tasked to check the black boxes. Aiyaa....talk more....heartache lah!!

[chookyan]

No need go Nibong Tebal. Look at the way the Metro Bus drivers speed and beat traffic lights in our own back yard sudah cukup. Just park yourself at the MPSJ multi media library and count how many cars/buses beat the traffic lights and you will be amaze!

[joker2107]

when they got rid of the bmw's (bus mini wilayah lah) i was of the opinion that the game is the same and the plyers are the same but the weapons are now the much more lethal monstrous 100+ capacity 10+ tonners.

[gtl]

btw, whenever you are near a container truck, pls take a look at their tyres, most retreads and already "botak". when there is no enforcements, how to improve on safety............

[kwchang]

With regards the theory that the driver was speeding, I don't think that was the cause. I remember reading one survivor's account where he said the bus started swaying left and right just before running off the road. From that, I would guess the driver fell asleep and when he snapped out of it, his reflex movements caused the bus to swerve as the driver made sudden moves to correct the path of the bus.

This very same event happened to a group of our officers. all of them fell asleep on the road due to a very late night (over-worked) and when the driver woke up with a start, his reflex action caused the car to swerve left and right on the highway. The car overturned and one officer who was sound asleep in the back-seat went into a coma and eventually died in the hospital.

Driver fatigue is one of the main causes of highway accidents.

However, we should be mindful of making conjectures with regards the event. Let the investigators tell us what might have actually happened.