Reining in speeding drivers

NST Online 2009/08/09

WHEN was the last time you saw an express bus barrelling past you on the highway at more than 130kph?

The GPS trackers allow bus companies to monitor the speed and route of their buses to avoid horrific accidents like this.

If you do, it certainly won't be a bus that has a GPS (Global Positioning System) device installed.

Konsortium Bas Ekspress is one such company that has fitted GPS trackers on its fleet of 200 buses.

Its director, S.K. Lau, said before that one of his drivers had done over 130 kph on the highway (the speed indicated on the traffic summons).

Since then, Lau said the company had seen a huge reduction in speeding among its drivers.

"The most important was controlling speed," said Lau.

"We tried imposing a penalty for speeding, but this was not very successful and hard to implement."

Now the company can monitor the speed of all its buses anytime of the day, in any part of the country.

To encourage drivers to keep to speed limits, the company provides a financial incentive.

"If we fined them for speeding before, now we provide an incentive of RM10 for each journey completed without speeding."

With GPS, the company can also track if the buses follow the determined route.

"We now know which rest area they stop at and how long.

"We even know what time they switch the engine off and on," Lau said.

Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board chairman Datuk Halimah Sadique said at present the GPS was a requirement only for buses with newly issued licences, or when a bus is due for replacement after it is 10 years old.

Halimah said in the event a driver was suspected to have broken the law or was involved in an accident, data collected from the GPS device would be handed to the police and Road Transport Department.

Speed Kills...

Have you been driving lately on the North South Highway especially after the recent Rawang bus crash last week..??

If yes, how many buses and trucks managed to overtake or at least tail-gated you?

These drivers seem like they never learnt, do they? And of course these drivers also include government drivers that drive government owned buses and trucks which include the PDRM; yes, PDRM the police force who are supposed to be upholding the law….

Continue on driving until at a point where vehicles on the other side of the highway flashing their headlights and suddenly all the vehicles in front of you slow down to a halt..and yes, it’s a traffic police roadblock to get those speed fiends and to your surprise the buses and trucks that have overtaken you much earlier were no where insight… ha ha… and surprise, surprise….. you were the one being stopped by the policeman for over speeding….!! SHEESH….

*Now, how in the world did those buses and trucks get away....?

Another Sad Bus Tale

6 Killed As Double Decker Bus Crashes

RAWANG: Five passengers and the driver of a double-decker express bus died and five injured after the bus skidded, hit the divider and toppled at Km443 of the North-South Expressway near Rawang Monday morning.

Police said the accident occurred at about 5.30am after the double-decker bus, carrying 34 passengers from Changlun, Kedah, went out of control.
The wreckage which took authorities about four hours to clear caused a massive crawl heading south from Bukit Beruntung toll plaza in the morning.

The AB Express bus, carrying about 34 passengers, was travelling to Kuala Lumpur from Alor Setar when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle at 5am.
The out-of-control bus skidded against the divider railings causing about 64 metres of the metal railings to break off and spear into the lower deck of the bus before the bus came to a stop beside the road on its side.

The who died at the scene are, Md Zaher Mohamad , 33, C. Magenthiran, 26, Mohamad Fauzi Awang, 57, Muhammad Ismail, 27, Mohd Yusril Zakaria, 27, and driver Zulkhibri Md Saad, 35, but who was resting at the time of the accident.
Magenthiran was the only one not from the lower deck. He was thrown out of the bus. Zulkhibri was decapitated by the metal railings.

Federal traffic police chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Abd Aziz Yusof said the co driver, who had been driving at the time of the incident, and two women, one of them seven months pregnant, have been warded at Hospital Sungai Buloh. Two others, who suffered light injuries, went home after outpatient treatment.
“The others were taken to the Gombak police headquarters to have their statements recorded,” he said.

SAC Abd Aziz said initial investigations revealed that the driver, Fauzi Mohammad, 33, had received eight summons previously for speeding while his co-driver, Zulkhibri, had six summons and five arrest warrants under his name for the same offence.
“We are investigating the case as reckless driving leading to death under Section 41 of the Road Transport Act,” he said.
He confirmed this was the worst road accident in the country so far this year.

**this news piece was taken from The Star

* Human or machine error...?