MSM Title: Whipping for illegal road racers
The Paragraph: Federal Traffic chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Hamza Taib warned that once the amendments became law, they may be given three strokes of the rotan. Those who are underage could face up to 100 hours of community service under the supervision of the Welfare Department.
Beat Around Bush: Good law but the enforcement of it is yet to be seen
Blacklisted bus in yet another fatal accident
GUA MUSANG: A blacklisted bus and a sleepy bus driver with outstanding summonses led to yet another crash that killed a Cambodian passenger and seriously injured four others.
The driver of the express bus fled the scene when he realised that one of his 29 passengers had died on the spot after he lost control of the vehicle that skidded and overturned at Km30 of Jalan Kuala Krai-Gua Musang at 1am yesterday as it headed towards Kuala Lumpur.
The roof of the bus caved in and it took rescuers two hours to extricate Punmin @ Benjamin Ali from Cambodia, said state police chief Senior Asst Comm I Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi at a press conference.
Punmin was a teacher active in religious schools in the east coast who had entered Malaysia on Saturday, he said.
Initial investigations revealed that the driver had been negligent and was also sleepy.
SAC Abdul Rahim said police were tracking him down.
The driver has two outstanding summonses in his name while the Triton Express Bus, WFQ 381, has been blacklisted by police after it chalked up nine summonses totalling RM1,920 over five years, a check with the police online summons-checking service revealed.
However, the driver has a valid commercial driver’s licence and has not been blacklisted by the Road Transport Department. The passengers on the Triton bus said they had urged the driver to take a rest after he revealed to them that he had had only two hours of sleep the night before.
The bus left Kota Baru at 9.30pm on Monday with 29 passengers comprising 17 men and 12 women, including three children.
Transport Ministry proposes making wearing of rear seatbelt mandatory
Transport Ministry proposes making wearing of rear seatbelt mandatory
SERDANG: The Transport Ministry will propose that the Government makes it mandatory for passengers to wear the rear seatbelt in all passenger cars.
The move is hoped to reduce the number of fatalities during accidents. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said although the Government understood reasons why the public would be against it, the ruling had to be put in place in the interest of the public.
"It is definitely something we want to put in place as soon as possible," he said.
According to Chan, the main reason why the public opposes such a ruling is that only three passengers would be allowed to sit in the backseat.
Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh pointed out that study by the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research in rural and urban areas as a whole showed that the availability of rear seatbelts was greater than the number of occupants.
"For this reason, we think it can be done," Suret said, adding that the first time there was a move to make the wearing of rear seatbelts compulsory was in 1993
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.
Driver broke every law – and got away with it
PETALING JAYA: Rohizan Abu Bakar had committed every traffic offence possible and yet the system failed to keep him off the road.
The 37-year-old bus driver, who was killed with 19 of his passengers in one of the country's worst road accidents, habitually broke road rules over more than six years and chalked up 13 summonses - none of which have been settled - totalling RM1,980.
Rohizan had been caught speeding six times, for not wearing a seat belt, not producing a driving licence and driving a bus which did not have a permit.
He had accumulated enough demerit points to have his licence revoked but no authority ever caught on.
However, The Star found all of Rohizan's wrongdoings by checking http://www.rileks.com.my/ – a social service website.
If the driver committed every traffic offence possible, then where was the enforcement on the previous offences?
