TS,Wednesday 14 December 2011
Heavy vehicles, especially express buses, driven at excessive speeds during bad weather or on busy highways, can cause very nasty accidents.
Those who have tried getting reckless drivers to slow down are often intimidated by their aggressive acts, such as tailgating, blaring of horns and flashing of lights.
Such retaliatory actions by recalcitrant bus drivers are common and should spur the authorities to address the issue on mental health of aggressive drivers.
However, this is unlikely to happen, as the physical health of commercial vehicle drivers is yet to be closely monitored.
It may appear to be, as they must be certified medically fit before they can renew their Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence or Goods Driving Licence (GDL) annually.
But it is widely known that runners manage to renew many PSV and GDL at the Road Transport Department (JPJ) without requiring the drivers to pass a physical examination.
If the authorities were to conduct a large-scale exercise to determine the ratio of unfit commercial vehicle drivers on the road, the results can be startling.
The authorities may at best investigate upon receiving a complaint made through the common hotline number stated at the back of all commercial vehicles. And in the meantime, the speeding bus continues to pose a danger to the passengers and to other road users.
The apathy of the authorities and transport operators can be disconcerting. There are a series of measures that the authorities can take but none more effective than to compel fleet operators to display their company’s hotline number.
This is nothing new as it had long been practised universally. However, this hotline must be manned whenever any of their vehicles are on the road and the staff must immediately call the driver’s handphone upon receiving a complaint from the public.
The standard operating procedure will be for the driver to slow down and call back the office at the next stop upon seeing his company’s number appearing on his handphone.
The driver should not be reprimanded on the spot but merely told of the complaint.
An enquiry can be conducted later. He can be cleared of wrongdoing if there is none, or action taken accordingly.
The priority is to intercept reckless driving, making good use of the surveillance provided by concerned motorists as the authorities have limited enforcement officers.
The key to road safety is prevention and deterrence. Demerit and penalty points are good but these are actions taken only after the offence has been committed and too late for road accident victims.
Since 2003, I have advocated that the surveillance part of enforcement can be privatised to complement the authorities. Also, they do not have to wait for the budget to install more static cameras which may not be noticed.
The appointed companies can train mobile camera crews and station them at strategic spots. Their presence would deter many motorists from speeding, driving on emergency lanes and jumping red lights.
Apart from the Land Public Transport Commission, the other enforcement agencies are the police and JPJ.
On road safety measures, we have the Road Safety Department and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research.
We may have these agencies and bodies in place but no measures to stop a heavy vehicle from continuing to be driven recklessly in front of other road users.
Unless it is flagged down by enforcement officers - and chances are remote - the odds are heavily stacked against other motorists using the same stretch of road or highway.
Do we just wait for accidents to happen and add them to the statistics?
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
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