Fatal accidents involving heavy vehicles, vehicles stopped in the emergency lane increased – PLUS

This year, PLUS Malaysia Berhad (PLUS) reported an increase in fatal incidents involving large vehicles and automobiles stopped in the emergency lane.

Statistics reveal that heavy vehicle accidents increased by 2% in 2019 compared to 2018, according to PLUS Chief Operating Officer Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi.

"In comparison to 2019, accidents in the emergency lane involving damaged vehicles increased by 5%."

"Studies also show that heavy vehicles, in addition to the issue of obstacles involving pieces of heavy vehicle tires, are the main contributors to traffic management problems when accidents occur," he said.

"PLUS and JPJ will take a number of new approaches to further increase safety levels including digital enforcement using ANPR cameras and Weight-In-Motion technology to identify heavy vehicles exceeding the load limit.

"Vehicles carrying more loads have the potential to cause accidents due to loss of control, damage and burst tires in addition to damaging the road surface," he added.

In addition, he added, PLUS statistics also show that highway areas near industrial areas are the location of accidents involving motorcyclists.

Until last September, PLUS recorded 333 deaths due to accidents and of that number, 216 involved motorcyclists. 

PLUS and JPJ have been working together for a long time in an endeavour to improve highway safety. Since 2017, 317 Barrier Ops have been deployed on roadways. Furthermore, PLUS provided three JPJ Enforcement Stations, a Highway Enforcement Unit Center (UPLR), and JPJ police cars.