Bus Crash *- Malaysia - Today's one, the Worst In Nation's History
The express bus crash in Perak early today is the worst in the nation's history in terms of casualties suffered in road accidents involving busesKuala Lumpur,Malaysia -Bernama -Aug 13, 2007: --
... "This is the worst (bus) accident in the nation's history," Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy told reporters after going to the scene of the accident and calling at Taiping Hospital... Twenty people were killed and nine others injured in the accident at Km 229 of the North-South Expressway in Bukit Gantang near Taiping at 4.30am when the express bus with a driver and co-driver and 27 passengers, travelling north from Melaka to Butterworth in Penang, crashed through the railing on the side of the road while going down an incline and plunged into a ditch five metres below... (The Shanghai Daily -Shanghai,China- A view of the wreckage of a Malaysian express bus that crashed near Taiping town in the northern state of Perak yesterday. The bus smashed through a road barrier and plunged into a ditch, killing 20 people and injuring nine, police said)
* Comment: Wake-up alarm
Persekutuan,Malaysia -The New Straits Times -15 Aug 2007: -- Since accidents involving buses have mercifully been few and far between, bus safety seldom receives the attention that it really merits, except in the wake of horrific crashes like the one at Km229 of the North-South Expressway... But even as the focus has sensibly been on probing into the causes and putting in place rules and regulations, standards and practices, training-based strategies and other preventive measures to reduce accidents, it is time to go beyond treating crashes involving buses — and other commercial and heavy vehicles — as just a road safety issue... Even if the official probe were to find that human error was the cause, and affirm the early conjecture that the bus driver may have been tired and fallen asleep at the wheel, or worse, drugged to the eyeballs, it would still be a grave mistake to put all the blame on him... Certainly, he does not seem to have an exemplary record on the road, as the two warrants of arrest and 13 summonses for traffic offences against him indicate. And as the driver, he is in control of the bus and responsible for the safety of his passengers and other road users... But in public transport, the chain of responsibility should not end with the driver. Certainly not in an industry characterised by high levels of competition and a large number of small operators, where there seems to be a tendency to cut corners when it comes to fleet purchase, maintenance and repairs, and to put drivers under pressure with demanding trip schedules, stressful driver rosters, strenuous working hours and penny-pinching compensation... Whether or not the driver may have been sleeping on the job, this horrific accident should serve as a wake-up call to widen the scope of the investigation and look into company policies and working conditions which may have driven drivers into a corner, encouraging them to drive too fast and too recklessly, and putting them at risk from fatigue caused by driving long hours and excessive distances without adequate rest breaks... It is also time to bring on board the related issue of the terms of employment and the welfare of workers in the transport industry...
Labels: accidents
posted by Unknown @ 6:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home