Failed trailer brake causes massive jam on North-South Expressway
IPOH: A malfunctioned hydraulic brake sent a 28-ton trailer rolling down the 253rd
kilometre of the North-South Expressway, narrowly missing two cars, which were behind the trailer.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the 7.45am incident, which caused a massive jam for northbound motorists, before the Kuala Kangsar exit.
The incident also caused a minor accident on the southbound side of the expressway involving a motorcycle and two cars, which slowed down to watch the commotion. Trailer driver Mohd Shafee Abdul Kadir, 45, said he had just passed the Menora Tunnel and was about to reach Sungai Perak when he applied the brake to change gear.
"But to my horror, the brake failed causing my trailer to reverse about 100m instead. "To avoid the trailer from hitting other vehicles, I manoeuvred it in such a way that it ended up blocking the highway," he said when met at the scene today.
Mohd Shafee, who was sending a consignment of screws and soap-making chemicals to Butterworth from Kuala Lumpur, said during the commotion he asked his co-driver Mohd Rozi Abdullah, 38, to jump out of the trailer to place planks under the wheels to stop the trailer from moving downhill.
"But before Rozi could do that, I managed to stop the trailer," he said, adding that it was his first accident in his 25-year career as a trailer driver. The incident caused the consignment to be strewn on the road.
Kuala Kangsar OCPD Supt Zakaria Pagan said the driver was released after his statement was recorded.
"Our investigations showed that the driver and the trailer had no previous traffic records," he added.
Beating around the Bush
Is it possible that too much attention been made on express buses that the Government forget to address another road killer – massive trucks? Can recommendations being “concocted” for the express buses be applied to the trucks and trailers as well?
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