I read with horror about the accident that killed three people in a fire at the Jelapang toll plaza on the North-South Highway on Sunday. I also learnt that the Perak state government is not keen to relocate the toll plaza.

I live in Glasgow, Scotland, for the moment, and the M8 highway goes through the city. Often, traffic jams occur when the four lanes converge into two lanes and we have stationary vehicles in the middle of the highway. The authorities here have installed a traffic management system whereby warning lights will flash a few kilometres before the point of traffic jam or stationary vehicles.

The warning lights also show the reduced speed limit on the highway from the usual 60mph (90kmh). As we get closer to the jam, the speed limit on the flashing boards will reduce progressively from 90kmh to 70kmh, and then finally to only 50kmh. This will give drivers a fair idea of how close the jam is and thus, reduce speed accordingly. By the time new vehicles arrive to join the jam, they would have slowed down considerably and this makes it safer for the vehicles already stationary.

For our application, my suggestion is for the authorities to install these warning lights just outside the tunnel as we head south towards Ipoh. I believe this is necessary as fast-moving vehicles from the tunnel would reach the toll plaza within minutes. We can have a series of warning lights and variable speed limit indicators (depending on the traffic condition). We can also have speed cameras to ensure that vehicles adhere to the speed limit. Furthermore, we can have large electronic boards so that south-bound drivers can read and understand that there is a vehicle queue in front and they should slow down.

Everybody has a responsibility here. The government needs to coax Plus into installing the warning system, Plus has to bear the cost and maintain the system but more importantly, drivers must be sensible and adhere to the speed limit and maintain their vehicles' roadworthiness.

It might cause a few million ringgit, but think about the lives we can save in the future.