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New Straits Times
14 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Experts: Fatal heavy vehicle crashes expose systemic flaws
KUALA LUMPUR: Fatal crashes in Teluk Intan and Gerik involving heavy vehicles that failed safety audits underscore systemic flaws that are all too familiar, said transport and road safety experts. Transport policy expert Wan Agyl Wan Hassan said the revelations on the fatal crash involving a lorry and a Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) truck, as well as the bus accident in Gerik, Perak, that killed 15 Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris students, were hardly shocking. "They are devastatingly familiar. We've seen violations that should have triggered red flags and suspensions, yet somehow, these vehicles were still allowed to operate. "The crash in Teluk Intan involving FRU personnel and the Gerik bus tragedy are not isolated lapses. "They are evidence of a system that is structurally broken," said Wan Agyl, founder of transport think tank MY Mobility Vision. Yesterday, the task force probing the FRU accident released its preliminary report, showing that the tipper lorry involved was significantly overloaded. The report, released on the Transport Ministry's website, said investigations uncovered gaps in the safety management and operational practices of the vehicle. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the operator of the bus involved in the Gerik crash had failed to comply with all seven mandatory safety audit criteria under the Road Transport Department's (RTD) Inspection and Safety Audit. He said a comprehensive audit conducted by the RTD found the operator had neglected critical safety protocols. Wan Agyl said what was most troubling is that the tipper lorry and the bus had already been flagged as non-compliant before the crashes. This, he said, shows that these were not hidden risks but known risks and direct threats to life. He said the main issue lies in the lack of system-wide enforcement, real-time risk detection and institutional accountability. He said multiple agencies — including RTD, the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad), Puspakom, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research and Occupational Safety and Health Department — operate in silos, where data is not shared promptly. GOVERNMENT VEHICLES MUST SET GOLD STANDARD He proposed five steps to overcome issues involving heavy vehicles, including centralising enforcement under a single lead agency with full authority over planning, licensing, inspections and compliance — much like a reformed version of the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD). He also proposed making safety audits binding instead of cosmetic. "If companies fail RTD's audit, their operating licence should be suspended immediately; no exceptions. "Passing these audits must be a condition to stay on the road," he said. He added that GPS tracking and tamper-proof safety technology for commercial vehicles should be mandated, including speed limiters and dashcams with live data access by authorities. No operator, he said, should be allowed to "switch off" visibility. "As I've mentioned many times, there should also be a reform of RTD's demerit system and integrate it with a national digital registry of high-risk drivers and operators, so patterns of repeat offences are flagged early before tragedy occurs." He said government vehicles should be treated equally, noting that the FRU truck had no seatbelts or headrests. "Government fleets must set the gold standard in compliance." NOT ISOLATED INCIDENTS Echoing the same sentiment, Universiti Putra Malaysia's Road Safety Research Centre head, Associate Professor Dr Law Teik Hua, said the recent fatal crashes are not isolated incidents but rather symptomatic of broader, systemic failure in Malaysia's transport enforcement and regulatory ecosystem. While each case may involve specific failings, such as overloading, missing seatbelts or poor vehicle maintenance, Law said they collectively point to deep-rooted issues in enforcement consistency, compliance monitoring and institutional accountability. He said oversight by agencies such as RTD, Apad and Puspakom frequently lacked coordination and consistency. "Overloaded lorries, non-compliant vehicles and unsafe driving practices often go undetected until after accidents occur. "Enforcement efforts tend to be reactive rather than preventive." He said many regulations, particularly those governing vehicle safety features, inspection protocols and cargo limits, have not kept pace with real-world transport risks. "For example, mandatory seatbelts for all government vehicles or real-time monitoring systems are not uniformly enforced. "There is also little integration of enforcement data across agencies, allowing high-risk drivers or repeat offenders to continue operating without triggering red flags. "A lack of public transparency further undermines accountability." Transport analyst Dr Rosli Azad Khan said the government should consider forming an independent road safety oversight commission to audit RTD, Puspakom and commercial vehicle operators without conflict of interest. "This commission must have access to the vehicles' database in the same way that traffic police have to enforce the law and compliance," he said. He called for public whistleblower channels to encourage the public and employees in transport companies to report unsafe practices, with legal protection for whistle-blowers. "There must be zero tolerance for heavy vehicles that fail safety inspections to be on the road," he said. He added that heavy vehicle operators with failed safety audits should be made public to pressure companies to comply. Transparency, he said, would give passengers and road users safety information. He called for the installation of GPS and telematics systems in commercial heavy vehicles to monitor speed, routes and driving behaviour in real-time, where violations should trigger automatic enforcement actions.
New Straits Times
14 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Fatal heavy vehicle crashes expose systemic safety flaws
KUALA LUMPUR: Fatal crashes in Teluk Intan and Gerik involving heavy vehicles that failed safety audits underscore systemic flaws that are all too familiar, said transport and road safety experts. Transport policy expert Wan Agyl Wan Hassan said the revelations on the fatal crash involving a lorry and a Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) truck, as well as the bus accident in Gerik, Perak, that killed 15 Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris students, were hardly shocking. "They are devastatingly familiar. We've seen violations that should have triggered red flags and suspensions, yet somehow, these vehicles were still allowed to operate. "The crash in Teluk Intan involving FRU personnel and the Gerik bus tragedy are not isolated lapses. "They are evidence of a system that is structurally broken," said Wan Agyl, founder of transport think tank MY Mobility Vision. Yesterday, the task force probing the FRU accident released its preliminary report, showing that the tipper lorry involved was significantly overloaded. The report, released on the Transport Ministry's website, said investigations uncovered gaps in the safety management and operational practices of the vehicle. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the operator of the bus involved in the Gerik crash had failed to comply with all seven mandatory safety audit criteria under the Road Transport Department's (RTD) Inspection and Safety Audit. He said a comprehensive audit conducted by the RTD found the operator had neglected critical safety protocols. LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY Wan Agyl said what was most troubling is that the tipper lorry and the bus had already been flagged as non-compliant before the crashes. This, he said, shows that these were not hidden risks but known risks and direct threats to life. He said the main issue lies in the lack of system-wide enforcement, real-time risk detection and institutional accountability. He said multiple agencies — including RTD, the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad), Puspakom, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research and Occupational Safety and Health Department — operate in silos, where data is not shared promptly. GOVERNMENT VEHICLES MUST SET GOLD STANDARD He proposed five steps to overcome issues involving heavy vehicles, including centralising enforcement under a single lead agency with full authority over planning, licensing, inspections and compliance — much like a reformed version of the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD). He also proposed making safety audits binding instead of cosmetic. "If companies fail RTD's audit, their operating licence should be suspended immediately; no exceptions. "Passing these audits must be a condition to stay on the road," he said. He added that GPS tracking and tamper-proof safety technology for commercial vehicles should be mandated, including speed limiters and dashcams with live data access by authorities. No operator, he said, should be allowed to "switch off" visibility. "As I've mentioned many times, there should also be a reform of RTD's demerit system and integrate it with a national digital registry of high-risk drivers and operators, so patterns of repeat offences are flagged early before tragedy occurs." He said government vehicles should be treated equally, noting that the FRU truck had no seatbelts or headrests. "Government fleets must set the gold standard in compliance." NOT ISOLATED INCIDENTS Echoing the same sentiment, Universiti Putra Malaysia's Road Safety Research Centre head, Associate Professor Dr Law Teik Hua, said the recent fatal crashes are not isolated incidents but rather symptomatic of broader, systemic failure in Malaysia's transport enforcement and regulatory ecosystem. While each case may involve specific failings, such as overloading, missing seatbelts or poor vehicle maintenance, Law said they collectively point to deep-rooted issues in enforcement consistency, compliance monitoring and institutional accountability. He said oversight by agencies such as RTD, Apad and Puspakom frequently lacked coordination and consistency. "Overloaded lorries, non-compliant vehicles and unsafe driving practices often go undetected until after accidents occur. "Enforcement efforts tend to be reactive rather than preventive." He said many regulations, particularly those governing vehicle safety features, inspection protocols and cargo limits, have not kept pace with real-world transport risks. "For example, mandatory seatbelts for all government vehicles or real-time monitoring systems are not uniformly enforced. "There is also little integration of enforcement data across agencies, allowing high-risk drivers or repeat offenders to continue operating without triggering red flags. "A lack of public transparency further undermines accountability." Transport analyst Dr Rosli Azad Khan said the government should consider forming an independent road safety oversight commission to audit RTD, Puspakom and commercial vehicle operators without conflict of interest. "This commission must have access to the vehicles' database in the same way that traffic police have to enforce the law and compliance," he said. He called for public whistleblower channels to encourage the public and employees in transport companies to report unsafe practices, with legal protection for whistle-blowers. "There must be zero tolerance for heavy vehicles that fail safety inspections to be on the road," he said. He added that heavy vehicle operators with failed safety audits should be made public to pressure companies to comply. Transparency, he said, would give passengers and road users safety information.
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Reinstate SPAD-like powers to fix land transport failures
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must re-establish a centralised statutory body with the authority once held by the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to address deep-rooted failures in land transport governance, says transport policy expert Wan Agyl Wan Hassan. Following recent fatal crashes in Gerik and Teluk Intan, Perak, Wan Agyl who previously served as SPAD Operation Group, Head of Policy and Planning, said that despite its imperfections, SPAD was the only agency with a comprehensive mandate over land transport, covering licensing, planning, enforcement, and reform. That clarity of mandate, he said, had been lost since SPAD was dissolved. "What we are seeing in the wake of these tragic crashes is not merely an enforcement failure — it is a governance vacuum. "Malaysia urgently needs a central authority akin to SPAD, empowered to plan, regulate, enforce, and reform the entire land transport system. "At present, responsibilities are scattered across multiple agencies with overlapping but uncoordinated mandates. That is why serious safety lapses continue to fall through the cracks." Wan Agyl said it was unacceptable that operators with hundreds of outstanding summonses were still permitted to operate, with enforcement only occurring after lives were lost. "It is time to return to a single, empowered and accountable authority that can drive long-term transport policy, not just react to crises," he said. SPAD was dissolved in 2018, with its functions absorbed into the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD), which now operates under the Transport Ministry. Wan Agyl, who is also the founder of the transport think tank MY Mobility Vision, said the administrative restructuring had weakened Malaysia's capacity to manage complex, cross-agency transport issues. Unlike SPAD, which developed the National Land Public Transport Master Plan and coordinated closely with state governments, APAD no longer leads on long-term strategic planning, he said. "Key public safety reforms have stalled. For instance, the master plan has not been updated in over seven years. We still lack an integrated system to track operator safety performance — even after multiple fatal crashes involving repeat offenders." Acknowledging that SPAD had its shortcomings, he said its dismantling resulted in a loss of institutional continuity and accountability. "What we need is not the return of SPAD in name, but a revival of its core function — a professional, independent, data-driven authority with the legal powers to prevent tragedies, not just respond to them." He added that it should not take another fatal incident to highlight the need for centralised, transparent, and technically capable leadership in transport governance. "Parliament must act with urgency. This new body should retain the planning and policy responsibilities previously held by SPAD, but be strengthened with internal oversight, digital monitoring tools, and clearly defined coordination with the ministry, JPJ, and state authorities.
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- New Straits Times
Expert: Inaction, weak enforcement to blame for unresolved bus safety issues
There is no need for the government to reinvent the wheel to ensure better bus safety, an expert said, pointing out that decade-old plans introduced after past crashes were not properly implemented. Wan Agyl Wan Hassan, founder of transport think tank MY Mobility Vision, said the Road Transport Department (RTD) and the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) had developed multiple plans and initiatives to tackle bus safety issues. "The problem is that, for the most part, they remain plans, largely due to a failure to implement or enforce the rules." He cited SPAD's 2015 mandate for public service buses to be equipped with GPS tracking systems, allowing real-time monitoring by bus companies. A failure to comply would breach licensing conditions. "If this has been implemented and enforced, why do drivers seem unafraid of speeding?" he told the New Straits Times. Wan Agyl also called into question RTD's Kejara demerit system. "When you have a demerit system, a driver should be suspended after several infractions or whatever threshold is set by the authorities," he said. "In the case of the Gerik bus crash, the driver had 18 summonses, 13 of which were for speeding." He said one of the root problems in enforcing rules was that authorities were "working in silos" and there was a lack of transparency. "Every time there is a major crash, we read in the news that the driver had outstanding summonses, but what was done with that information before the crash?" he asked. "The RTD, police and Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) should have access to the number of summonses a driver and a bus company receive from each agency. "This should be marked in the Kejara system immediately. Right now, the demerit is recorded after a summons is paid. This is wrong." He said summonses should be recorded when issued and once a driver or company accumulated a certain number of demerits, their licences should be suspended. "In the interest of safety, these summonses should be visible to the public, so they can check and make the right choice when selecting a bus service." Wan Agyl, a former SPAD group operations head of policy and planning, said as far back as 2013, the agency had proposed introducing a driver information system, which would allow users to check a driver's record. "We can implement that now with QR codes. For example, put a bus driver's information on the bus, then people can scan the QR code to find out if he has any summonses," he said. "If there is improved transparency, drivers would be more careful and companies would select their drivers more carefully. "We just need the political will to execute what has already been studied, debated and agreed upon."
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Experts call for new guardrail tech to enhance road safety
KUALA LUMPUR: Experts have called for the authorities to rethink the use of current guardrails on roads and consider using newer technology to absorb hits from heavy vehicles and diffuse kinetic energy. The call comes after 15 people died in a bus crash in Gerik, Perak, on Monday. The accident saw a section of the metal guardrail pierce through the bus interior, leaving many to question the safety of using such methods. Transport consultant Wan Agyl Wan Hassan said while it was premature to determine if the steel guardrail had caused injury to any of the victims, it was clear that they did not function to effectively dissipate the force of a crash. "Guardrail impalement incidents often arise when the guardrail end terminal fails to perform its critical safety function of absorbing and redirecting crash energy. "Instead, poorly designed guardrails can cause it to detach, bind or remain rigid, turning it into a dangerous spear that penetrates vehicles and causes catastrophic injuries," he told the New Straits Times. Wan Agyl said over time, steel guardrails could become rusty or corroded, weakening them and making them less effective at absorbing impact. Associate Professor Dr Law Teik Hua, who heads the Road Safety Research Centre at Universiti Putra Malaysia, said images of the initial crash highlighted a critical failure in guardrail safety. "This type of failure significantly increases the risk of severe injuries or fatalities for vehicle occupants. Guardrails are designed to redirect vehicles and dissipate kinetic energy, but in this case, the structure acted more like a spear, compromising passenger safety. "This suggests either a flaw in the design, improper installation, or a mismatch between the guardrail's specifications and the vehicle type involving its height or weight," he said. He said modern, energy-absorbing guardrails, such as those compliant with the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware standards, were engineered to deform progressively, reducing the force transferred to occupants. "Flexible barrier systems, like high-tension cable rails, are another alternative, as they stretch upon impact to slow the vehicle more gradually. "Additionally, impact attenuators — often filled with crushable materials — are effective in absorbing energy near fixed obstacles like bridge supports." Miros chairman Prof Wong Shaw Voon said the guardrail in question was not suitable for large and heavy vehicles. "Our analysis of the incident will take into consideration all aspects of road safety, including the type of guardrail used as well as the speed that the affected vehicles were travelling at when the incident occurred," he said. Yesterday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke acknowledged public criticism over the outdated condition of road barriers. He said while the East-West Highway falls under the Works Ministry, he would raise the matter at the cabinet meeting today to discuss urgent steps for improvement. "We take this matter very seriously, and there is a need for cooperation across various ministries."
