Thursday, January 29, 2009

Don't Park Your Lorry at Emergency Lanes

Funny lorry
Few days ago, I read a news about the authority wants to ban the lorry from parking at emergency lanes. It is very interesting movement as lately lots of crash involving lorries which parked at the emergency lanes. The most significant one was a crash at PLUS highway near Rawang. The broken down lorry parked at the emergency lane got rammed by a car. 2 died. Few hours later, 80 metres from the scene, another crash happened. A lorry rammed rear end of the parked lorry and 2 died if I'm not mistaken. See how bad this problem is?

Lorry drivers should not park their vehicles along emergency lanes, even in the event of a breakdown, to prevent getting rammed from behind. Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh’s advice is to find a way to bring the vehicle to the nearest rest stop area. It is sounds really difficult. For example, my lorry broke down and can't move, so how the heck should I bring my lorry to the nearest rest stop area? However, I admit and without doubt think that such behavior (parking lorry at emergency lanes) could be a real hazard to the road users.

He said the department had asked lorry associations to come up with a circular advising lorry drivers against parking along the emergency lanes. Earlier, Suret Singh gave out coffee sachets to road users and crash helmets to motorcyclists at the Sungai Besi toll plaza. Yes, to not allow them to stop the vehicle on the emergency lanes, careful study need to be done. If the lorry can't move during the break down, what kind of alternative can be done? I'm thinking on strenghtening traffic management rules for broken vehicle like putting cones, calling highway rescue or anything related.

Some 10,000 sachets and 50 helmets were distributed to road users. The sachets and helmets were sponsored by CNI Holdings in the “One Million Up Cafe” giveaway campaign in conjunction with the company’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

On the proposal to ban express buses from roads after midnight, Suret Singh said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat would make the announcement in due time. On Saturday, Ong said he was contemplating whether to present the proposal to the Cabinet after seeking feedback from all stakeholders, including government agencies, bus operators and consumer groups.

The ministry wants the ban in a bid to improve road safety following a research by the Road Safety Department and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS). The research showed a human being would encounter mental and physical fatigue after midnight, even if he had sufficient rest in the day. It's all about human biology clock. You think you can drive midnight after long sleep or rest, but in fact, you still feel sleepy when driving. Why so? Think.

Source: TheStar Online

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