Not enough done to ensure safe bus trips

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
January 3, 2017

A FORTHNIGHT ago this column raised concerns about "third class mentality" in this country that has hit a crescendo.

It is now clear that there can be no better example to demonstrate this than the involvement of express buses in so many tragic accidents. The latest was in Pagoh at the North-South Expressway on Christmas Eve that claimed 14 lives.

The bus departed from JB Sentral in Johor on its way to Kuala Lumpur.

Reportedly, it went off the road before rolling over and coming to a fatal halt after hitting a hard structure in a deep ravine. All this happened while we were still reeling from another episode barely a month ago near Behrang in Perak involving an express bus from Hatyai in Thailand to Johor Baru.

Overall since 2013, 10 tragedies involving express buses with more than 70 deaths and close to 90 injured have been recorded. Such frequent repeats with more than half last year alone, is indicative of a third class mentality on the part of express buses plying our "first class" highways.

More so for the ministry that is supposed to minimise such occurrences if not put a stop to the toll in lives; what is more given the multiple promises to arrest the situation.

The chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) as well as member of the National Road Safety Council, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, was quoted as saying: "When a tragedy happens, we hear the same statements repeated … the authorities say they will do this and that."

Indeed, this time the Ministry of Transport parroted the pledge to work with the police and other stakeholders to investigate the cause of the accident. To this Lee responded: "There is no point carrying out investigations if they are going to deprive the public of the outcome."

"We deserve to know what went wrong and how the culprit(s) will be dealt with," he said. Familiar accusations were bandied about, such as both the bus driver and the company involved have a record of traffic offences, including speeding. In addition, the Miros director-general reportedly did not rule out another familiar excuse that the driver (who died) might have been in a "drowsy" state because the accident took place at 3.45am.

And the fact there was no co-driver. Yet another suggests possible mechanical fault. To this the local police sources claimed that "a 150m-long uninterrupted skid mark was found on one side of the highway" with no clear evidence of brake marks on initial checks.

So what is exactly "unpredicatable" that the relevant authorities could not pre-empt another killer-ride?

In similar vein, others are critical that the proposals and recommendations made by the Independent Advisory Panel to the Transport Minister following the 2013 Genting Highlands bus crash killing 37 have yet to be fully implemented.

This includes the setting up of the National Transportation Safety Board as an independent investigative agency (presumably not of third class mentality type) to look into such incidents.

Indeed, the installation of seat belts in all express buses by Jan 1, 2015 has still not been seriously adhered to according to some. Worst, the 1988 proposal that all buses should be equipped with a black box remains a proposal after almost two decades.

The level of tardiness in implementing such no-brainer actions fuelled further perceptions as to how deep-rooted the third class mentality has been.

The minister while forthright in saying that road users "should learn from this incident so that no other lives are lost during this festive season", must be equally forthright to detail out to the public what he and his ministry have learnt after five tragic accidents between 2013 and 2015; and why 2016 saw even more accidents raising the number of lives lost to 85 in all.

After all they are privy to the investigations carried out, apart from the proposals and recommendations put forward by expert panels.

The detailed explanation is imperative as the public has grown tired of knee-jerk statements of condolences and urging more investigations or issuing "stern" warnings blah, blah, blah – while lives continue to be lost.

In other words, how many more tragic bus crashes and lives lost will it take to jolt the ministry and the relevant departments to spring into first class action in living up to their expected public roles?

Thus in welcoming the New Year we resolve that there will be no more express bus tragedies. Failing to do so, we should insist on some official resignations when a tragedy takes place.