Underrun Don't Work - Speed Do Kill!

1. Frequently there will be a sticker at trailer bumper stickers that reads "If you can read this, you're too close." Unfortunately, once the guy in the Corvette got "to close," it was "too late."

2. I am still trying to figure out how this happened along the shoulder of the road. Couldn't he find himself a better spot to park his car? I have seen some bad parking jobs before, but never this bad. Let's just hope that the driver was able to escape this mess in one piece, because his car clearly didn't.

3. Is it the fault of underrun that not working? Underrun is designed to stop or lessen the severity of the crash for only some speed (usually max at 60kmh). But this event speed is truly beyond the designated speed.

Source: Total Sport

Volvo Auto-Brake System Demo...Failed

This remembered me to MIROS 1st crash crash few months ago. The expectations were simple. Hold a press conference to demonstrate how the “Collision Warning with Auto Brake” feature on the Swedish model of the Volvo S60 worked, send it towards a stationary truck at 35k/hr, and use the tremendous new technology to stop the car without human interaction.

The truck was placed. Cameras rolled. The S60 achieved its speed. It just forgot to stop.



Volvo, their tested S60, and their reputation for building safe vehicles took a dent when, to the amused surprise of the onlooking press, the vehicle slammed into the back of the truck it was intended to avoid. The official word from Volvo was that there was human error involved in the preparation of the demonstration.

Amidst chuckles from the crowd, the Volvo MC could only say, “So ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had some kind of mishap in the testing here. I apologize for that. This car actually contains collision avoidance technology obviously not demonstrated in this crash.”

Source: Volvo News

CEO Air Fadhilat, Suhaimi Ghazali and 5 Family Members Died in Fiery Road Accident

1. Just after a few days of a fatal accident at Bukit Tagar, another road crash involving a truck parked at the emergency lane occurred. This time, it involved more casualties where six family members were burned to death. The crash configuration and profile for both cases sharing similar similarity where the car hit the parked lorry at the lateral side.

2. So how long should we wait? Until 10 died? Until 20 died? Or until the number beat the past record of 23 died? Nauzubillah. It is early to say, but based on the photos, the accident might be caused by fatigue..initially. However, the stalled lorry should not be there. It was a hazard! Especially during the night time.

3. The road must be forgiving. Human do mistake. Human should not be blamed twice. Anyway, my condolences to the family. Innalillah.

SEREMBAN: The proprietor of a herbs outlet and his family perished in a fiery crash after their car skidded and rammed into a stalled lorry at Km252 of the North-South Expressway near Senawang. Suhaimi Ghazali, 41, his wife Nor Fadhillah Isenin, 31, and their children Nor Natashahuda, 11, Mohd Daniel, 10, Mohd Hanif Iman, six, and two-year-old Adi Putra (pic) were returning home to Teluk Mas in Malacca after spending the weekend at Bukit Merah Lake Resort in Perak when the mishap happened at 1.30am.

Their remains were charred beyond recognition following two explosions after the crash. The family was travelling in a BMW 5-series which Suhaimi bought a month ago. His uncle, Norwawi Johari, 60, said at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital mortuary that he last met his nephew while playing golf on Friday.

“He said he was taking the family for a holiday the next day and would visit our stockists in Ipoh. He decided to drive back on Sunday night as his older children had to go to school today (yesterday),” he said.

Norwawi said, according to police, the car might have skidded before crashing into the undercarriage of the lorry which was parked along the southbound emergency lane. The lorry, laden with granite powder, had been parked there since Sunday evening.

It could not be immediately established why it was not towed away by PLUS, the concessionaire of the expressway. Also present at the mortuary were Suhaimi’s father Ghazali Johari, 66, mother Rokiah Idrus, 63, and in-laws Isenin Salleh, 70, and Aminah Abdullah, 64.

Thirty-five employees of Fadhilat Herbs Sdn Bhd came from Malacca at about noon to pay their respects. Nor Fadhillah was the company’s administration and financial manager. Norwawi, who is the company adviser, said police had to rely on the chassis number of the vehicle to trace Suhaimi’s next-of-kin.

“There was nothing left of the vehicle. The police only contacted me at 11.30am to tell me the news.”

Norwawi said things had been getting better for self-made entrepreneur Suhaimi since he set up the business over a year-and-a-half ago. He said Suhami had also visited an orphanage in Ipoh over the weekend to make a donation. State traffic police chief Asst Supt Halil Hamzah said the impact of the accident caused the car’s engine to be ripped off and thrown into a ditch about 30m away.

The victims were buried at the Bukit Pegoh Muslim cemetery. Among those present to join in the prayers included Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam.

News and Images Resources: The Star Online and Harian Metro Online respectively

Datuk Hazam JSJK Died in Road Accident

1. From the pictures shown by Ondscene (pictures below), I think the main cause of the accident could be speeding. Then, for some reason the car lost control and spun (could be because of wet road surface, however this fact must be further verified).

2. During the car's spinning, the deceased victim could be thrown out onto the road and that could be the cause of his death (if seated at the back). If seated at the front, he could be trapped by the crumpled zone of the car (see photo 1). In the meantime, the car hit the trailer on lateral side but not underride. The driver of the car was severely injured by the impact (because of deformation on front car area - left side is more severe).

3. This is only my rough idea on how the accident occurred. Could be wrong though. Further information are needed for perfect reconstruction of the crash.

4. I have seen many severe crashes happened due to collision with trailers parked on the emergency lane. Authorities and PLUS must take some counter measure to solve the problem or else.....more casualties will happen in the future. Anyway, takziah to the family. Innalillah.

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department principal assistant director (Investigation II) Datuk Mohd Hazam Abdul Halim, died in a road accident at KM 419.7 of the North-South Expressway near Bukit Tagar Interchange at 12.45am yesterday.

Mohd Hazam, 50, was in a chauffeur-driven Bukit Aman Proton Perdana V6 travelling on from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur when the vehicle hit the back of a stalled lorry parked at the emergency lane.

Mohd Hazam died on the spot and his body was taken to the Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital, while the lans corporal driving the vehicle was seriously injured and warded at Sungai Buloh Hospital.

He had earlier attended a Commercial Crime Investigation Department conference in Ipoh. Mohd Hazam body will be taken to his home in Taman Tuanku Jaafar in Seremban and buried at nearby Muslim cemetery there after dzuhur prayers. He is survived by wife Datin Siti Norziah Abdullah, 41 and six children.

News Resource: NST Online
Pictures Resource: Ondscene Blogspot

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Proton Wira Horror Burnt Accident

1. The crash occured at Kajang, Malaysia and classified as single-vehicle accident. Proton Wira was believed to be speeding before hitting the middle barrier, and burnt. One occupant (rear passenger) was trapped and burned to death, while four others managed to escape the vehicle.

2. I'm not sure whether during the accident, the road surface was wet or not. If yes, it could be the reason but from the photos, it was unlikely the road was wet. Below are the photos taken by a passerby on the scene of the accident. Really scary.










Images Resource: Jurugambar.com

White Satria Jumps Into the River!

1. This was a crash that happened in Kuala Lumpur, where a white Proton Satria lost control and "jump" into Sungai Klang (river). Luckily the driver was safe and he managed to tell us the life-threatening incident in the email. Since the writing is in Malay language, I will write a short summary about his experience.

2. Don't take off your seatbelt during the airborne. Open the car door before hitting the water. This will make things easier because once in the water, it is almost impossible to open the door due to high pressure. Also, after landing, don't panic and control your composure. Break the car windows if the door is jammed. Immediately, you should swim away from the car if you manage to get out. That is all. :)


Jam 0130, 17 Ogos 2009, aku dalam perjalanan pulang ke Bukit Tunku selepas supper bersama rakan di Kg. Baru.. Setiba di Jalan Kinabalu, ada sebuah kereta menghimpit aku di sebelah kiri.. Aku cuba mengelak ke kanan dan terlanggar pembahagi jalan di sebelah kanan lalu kereta aku tercampak perlahan ke kiri jalan dengan keadaan tayar belakang over steer.. Untuk mengawal kereta dari terus berpusing, aku pun tekan la pedal minyak.. Oleh kerana jalan licin, tayar depan aku spin lalu tercampak dengan lajunya ke dalam Sungai Klang..

Dengan berbekalkan ilmu yang aku pelajari dari Discovery Channel, aku sempat membuka pintu sebelum kereta aku masuk ke dalam sungai.. Air masuk ke dalam kereta dengan lajunya kerana paras air sungai yang tinggi disebabkan hujan pada petang tersebut.. Cabut seat belt, aku terus pecahkan cermin sebelah driver untuk mengurangkan tekanan yang menghimpit pintu sebelah driver sambil membuka pintu dan terus berenang ke luar kereta melawan arus sungai yang agak deras....

Aku selamat.. Cuma cedera ringan di tangan, siku, bahu, dahi, tengkuk dan juga peha.. Syukur.. Nak kena bertaubat ni..Kereta aku mungkin total lost coz chassis dah lari habis.. Pillar dah bengkok..

Aku bersyukur masih selamat.. Banyak kebarangkalian yang tidak berlaku yang mungkin akan menyebabkan kematian aku seperti short circuit masa aku masih dalam kereta atau kereta aku hentam konkrit yang kat tepi sungai tu.. syukur....

Berkongsi ilmu sikit, Kalau kereta dah nak masuk air, cepat-cepat buka pintu dan tingkap.. Macam kes aku, aku sempat buka pintu je.. Tapi bila dah jatuh, pintu tu tertutup balik... Tapi tak rapat la.. Even tak rapat pun, aku masih susah nak buka balik disebabkan tekanan air yang kuat.. Aku kena pecahkan cermin tingkap sebelah aku untuk kurangkan tekanan air dan buka pintu.. Tekanan masih kuat masa tu tapi tidak la sekuat kalau tingkap tak buka.. Aku cuma mampu buka pintu sikit je, muat-muat badan aku nak keluar..

JANGAN TANGGALKAN SEAT BELT SEBELUM KERETA MENDARAT.. Ini penting.. Seat belt memang akan menyusahkan anda keluar.. Lagi-lagi yang pakai harness dan full bucket.. Tapi dalam kes aku, seat belt la yang selamatkan aku dari terhumban ke cermin depan aku yang memang dah pecah.. Seat belt juga la yang buatkan aku masih melekat kat seat.. Kalau tak pakai, aku rasa air dah tolak aku kena kat body kereta dah, tak pun kena kat cermin depan yang dah pecah..

Dah masuk dalam air, memang lemas.. Macam kes aku, lepas kereta dah mendarat kat dasar sungai, air terus masuk sampai tenggelam kereta.. Takde kesian dah... Lemas camne pun, JANGAN GELABAH.. Mula memang aku gelabah.. Sebab aku gelabah la aku buang masa dalam 5 minit kat dalam kereta untuk cabut seat belt.. Lepas 5 minit baru aku try tenangkan diri dan hasilnya, aku dapat cabut seat belt senang je..

Dah cabut seat belt, cuba cari jalan keluar dari kereta secepat mungkin.. Macam kes aku, aku pecah cermin belah driver dan buka pintu.. Aku keluar ikut pintu.. Kalau terpaksa pecah cermin, pecah pakai kaki.. Aku pecah pakai tangan sebab aku dah tak fikir apa.. Akibatnya, aku mengalami kesukaran untuk berenang sebab tangan aku pedih giler..

Dah keluar, JANGAN LEPAK ATAS BUMBUNG KERETA menunggu bantuan.. Berenang secepat mungkin ke tebing.. Tak reti berenang pun, cuba juga berenang.. Berenang macam anjing pun takpe, asalkan berjaya jauhkan diri dari kereta.. Kita tak tahu bila kereta akan meletup atau short circuit akan berlaku.. Macam kes aku, aku tak berenang ke tebing.. Aku asyik fikir nak selamatkan beg dan juga external drive office awek aku.. Pas dah keluar kereta, aku hulur tangan kat boot untuk amik beg, kemudian baru aku berenang ke tebing.. Nasib aku baik sebab tak jadi apa-apa... Aku tak dapat bayangkan kalau masa aku tengah sibuk nak tarik beg tu kereta aku short atau terbakar.. Mahu rentung aku..

Itu sahaja yang mampu aku kongsi pengalaman.. Harap korang boleh ambil masa baca apa yang aku taip ni untuk kegunaan kemudian hari.. Kita tak mintak tapi takdir kita siapa yang tahu.. Yang paling penting, bawa kereta berhati-hati dan ikut peraturan.. Nak mod kereta bagi laju boleh tapi biar guna dengan cara yang betul..

Kenari Vs. Trailer 5 Death - Fatigue Killed People!

Resource: Perodua Singapore

1. Above is the photo of normal Perodua Kenari that you can easily find on Malaysian road. However, during the crash with a container trailer last week, the car had "lost" its original-well-being. Five members of a family including a 10-month-old baby boy were killed in the accident.

2. The impact of the crash threw four of the victims out of the car and the baby's body was sadly found in a drain. The Perodua Kenari was dragged for about 80m before coming to a stop at the edge of a hill. Based on words from the witnesses, the trailer rammed into the middle road divider and a lamp post which broke into two before colliding with the car from the opposite lane.

3. Fatigue is the most probable cause of the accident. Based on words from trailer driver assistant, the trailer driver had driven for 48 hours in a row without sleep and rest. As for any braking marks, the investigation team found them on the trailer travelling lane but cannot confirm as yet because they are probably due to brake marks from other vehicles which suddenly stopped after saw the accident. Plus, the widths of the skid marks were not matched with the width tire of the trailer. Below are some more post-crash photos of the unlucky Perodua Kenari.




4. And this is the photo of the trailer which hit the Perodua Kenari.

5. Well, it is not the lorry driver was 100% to be blamed. Instead, we should blame the trailer company because they were not implementing a good safety, health and environment (SHE) procedures for their employees. Look what has happened? It is not impossible that same accident will happen again in the future if the fleet company still do nothing and can easily escape during this kind of incident.

6. In conclusion, fatigue can really kill people. So, please make sure before you drive any vehicles, you are in a good shape, getting enough sleep and eating well. If not, we might kill people without intending to do it. Five persons were not a small number to begin with. So let's drive safe.

Resouce: Local Newspaper

Proton Wira Underride a Trailer!

1. Can you believe this? The crash looks scary but all occupants of the car survived the crash! Great! How is it happened? The car hit the trailer when the trailer was in reverse motion from a steel factory at KM 199 Jalan Kuantan - Pintasan Pelabuhan, Kuantan.

2. Please watch out for the trailers/lorry when you are driving at industrial areas. Remember your loved ones :)

Via

Bus Crash at Rawang 6 Died General Investigation Findings

1. Today I read a letter in News Straits Times entitled No Reason to Keep Findings a Secret with regard to the latest bus crash at Rawang, involving 6 deaths. The author of the letter was conveying his concerns and disappointment to the authorities who mostly try not to share the findings on public. To be truth, there are many reasons to not share it on the public but from my opinion, even so, it is quite unfair to the public. They are actually deserved to know as this is a national issue.

2. This is the preliminary findings in response to the letter. I personally went to the crash site the day of the accident and MIROS has been given task to do the analysis and reconstruct the crash to determine the cause of the accident. Let me start with the sketch diagram of the crash, as shown below and go through with the issues.

3. Speeding. So basically, based on the evidence found from the crash site (skid marks and etc), the bus went to the middle guardrail, hit it, bounced a bit and then hit back, then bounce straight to the rest position. Based on conservation of energy theory, we determine that the speed before the bus hit the median was in the range of 87.1km/h to 100.2km/h with assumption the speed of the bus after it left the median area to the rest position was 10km/h and 50km/h respectively.

4. Improper Guardrail Installation. The W-Beam has been installed on the embankment slope. From the standard guidelines, the slope must not exceed 9.46 degrees but we found the slope of installation was at 23 degrees. Also, the required dynamic clearance for installation was supposedly is 1.2m but on the site, we found it to be only 0.5m.

5. Guardrail Intrusion Mechanism. The W-beam broke off from the mounting post leaving its end hanging and intruded the frontal part of the bus through the metal sheet which is vulnerable with such impact. The section intruded deep into the bus longitudinally which killed ALL six (6) passengers of the lower deck. The guardrail would have not intruded the inside of the bus if the contact impact was resisted by the strong and stiff structure of the bus chassis at the right level height.

6. Driver Fatigue at Wee Hours. Nobody can drive normally during wee hours as our body biological clock is meant only to rest and sleeping during this time. The bus driver was in fatigue condition and possibly falls asleep based on pre impact skid mark before crash (parallel with road stretch).

7. In conclusion, this is just general findings (specific ones are still confidential) and these analyses are not meant to blame anybody. It is solely means for the research and recommendations to related government agencies for improvement in the future so that no similar cases will be happening again.

Mini/Small Car Buyers Sacrifice Safety?

1. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) was recently testing crash on 3 small or mini cars which were Smart for Two, Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris with a middle car. The purpose of the test crash is to determine whether the mini cars are crashworthy during collision with a bigger-size car or not. What they found as follows.

..All three models tested — the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris and the Smart Fortwo— fared poorly in the collisions. By contrast, the midsize models into which they crashed fared well or acceptably. Both the minicars and midsize cars were traveling 40 miles per hour, so the crash occurs at 80 m.p.h.

2. There is an issue or debate on fuel save or safety. The current trend shows many people prefer to buy small-size cars due to economically proved can save lots of gas, which implicitly means our money. However by doing so, you will make a big trade-off by sacrificing your safety. So is it worth?

The argument over weight versus safety is not a new one but took on greater significance when gasoline prices rose sharply last year, making minicars more popular. Consumers also seek out vehicles that burn less fuel so they will contribute less to global warming. Production of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas, is proportional to fuel use, and the Smart claims to be the highest-mileage car powered by gasoline on the American market.

3. It is a matter of fact that during any collision, a lighter car tends to absorb more collision energy. For example, if Perodua Kancil collided with Mitsubishi Pajero, Kancil is more likely to have great deformation due to according to mass ratio theory, the bigger the weight difference, the bigger the severity to the lighter vehicle will have.

4. Bear in mind, the fact that the small car is not safe has been tested on among very safe mini cars in the world. How about Malaysian Perodua Viva or Proton Savvy? Even very safe mini cars failed to compromise our safety. So please think and consider this before you buy any new car.

Resource

What is Brake Fade and How to Overcome It

1. I'm currently at Sabah, investigating 2 cases, which is one at Lahad Datu (Tipper lorry vs Glue Tanker 4 died) and one at Penampang (Iswara hit roadside barrier 3 died). But this post is made specially to discuss Proton Iswara case which I think very interesting one: brake fade.

2. What is brake fade? Brake fade manifests itself by a spongy feel on the pedal and has little of no braking force at all. But please don't confuse brake fade with bad brakes or a mechanical fault since the brake fade is unexpected event that can occur to all kind of vehicles; new or old. You are more likely to experience brake fade if you do not change the brake fluid frequently.

3. When Will You Experience Brake Fade? Brake fade is usually happening when you are driving downhill. When you use your brakes you are converting the forward momentum of the car into heat. The heat will build up on the disks where it will be dissipated into the air. As a result your brake disk will turn up red and little smoke will be visible. When the brake disk is hot, it losts its sturdy property (softer) and thus, the brake grip lessen.

4. On this case, the distance between the accident site and the peak of the mountenous road stretch is about 14km. The victim car was travelling downhill and during those 14km distance, he would keep pressing his car brake. And 500 metres before the very acute corner of accident site, it was at least 11 degrees slope road. People who are not common with the road stretch would not be prepared with this kind of sudden high slope and acute corner. Thus, my hypothesis is when the victim tried to apply his brake, the brake was already in the state of brake fade and ended up the car went straight hit the roadside barrier. Morever, no sign of any skid marks before the point of impact with the barrier.

5. Above is the picture of passing by car during my investigation on the site. I found out there was a little smoke came out from its front wheel which indicated that the brake was already in brake fade condition. It was not only this car, I found out like every 8 out of 10 passing by vehicles have a little smoke on their wheels.

6. If you watch carefully on the photo above, there was a memorial stone at the point of impact site. According to locals, the case is not the first one, as many similar accidents occured at the very place before and already took so many lives.


7. How to Avoid Brake Fade? To avoid brake fade, do not keep your brakes on frequently when driving downhill, change into a lower gear and let the engine maintain a safe speed of the car. Rather than brake heavily at the very last minute, try to spread your breaking over a longer distance. An emergency stop from 70km/h is sometimes enough to cause brake fade. So jab the brakes quite hard at first and kill most of your forward momentum, the speed you are travelling at will help the disks to dissipate the heat and then reapply the brakes more gently bringing the car to a stop. If you have made heavy use of your brakes always assume that fade will manifest itself for the next few minutes and thus increase your distance from the car behind and keep your speed down a little.

8. Hopefully this post will help you all to understand the hazard of brake fade and teach you to be more careful when driving downhill. Let's share this info to everyone.

Reference

Disturbing Crashed Black Toyota Vios 2009 Photos

1. Above is the newly black Toyota Vios 2009 photo during the launching. Looks pretty cool huh. Have you wondered how the crashed Toyota Vios looks like? Last time I have submit some photos of Toyota Vios crashed onto a Palma Tree. This time, another newly black Toyota Vios hit the wired rope barrier and this accident claimed 3 lives. The accident happened at wee hours (4 am) and the driver suspected using a pill.

2. From this kind of crash, what we can learn is you should try avoid driving during wee hours as our body clocks are just not suitable to work optimally. Second, please wear your rear seatbelt. The rear seatbelts are there not just for the show. You must wear it for your own safety. Lastly, wired rope barrier might be hazardous to road users, so please be careful when driving on those highway stretch that using wired rope barrier (since no research has been done yet to justify this).

3. Below are the photos of crashed black Toyota Vios 2009 for you to take a lesson.