On Christmas eve 18 lives were lost in two road accidents, one occurred in Muar, Johor and the other in Tampin, Negri Sembilan.
Early this morning at about 3.30am, an express bus plunged into a 10 metre ravine at Km137.3 of the North-South Expressway, northbound, near the Pagoh, Johor rest and service area.
In the accident 14 people died and 16 were injured, while in Tampin four family members including two of three one-year-old triplets died in the crash involving two vehicles at Jalan Tampin-Gemas.
The 3.20pm incident (in Tampin) today was believed to have occurred when the Proton Saga car, carrying six family members skidded before it crashed into an oncoming Proton Persona car driven by a 62-year-old man.
The festive season sees an increase in road traffic accidents despite the authorities taking various measures to create awareness on road safety.
The tragic bus accident also attracted the attention of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who on his Twitter account today expressed condolences to families of the victims involved in the express bus accident which claimed 14 lives.
In an immediate response the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) suspended the service licence of Goldstar Express (M) Sdn Bhd, the operator of the express bus involved in the accident.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also directed the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros), Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the Road Safety Department (JKJR) to conduct an investigation into the bus crash.
Liow said the ministry viewed seriously the incident and the investigation should cover various aspects to determine the cause.
Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chairperson Azman Ujang, in his news analysis today, said: "Yet another express bus crash has claimed many more lives but it is business as usual, without serious efforts to make such travels safer and no lessons seemed to have been learnt from past tragedies."
"This Christmas Eve tragedy is just one of quite regular express bus tragedies in the last decade or so that have killed so many people, especially during festive seasons, when the demand for this public transportation normally reaches its peak," Azman said.
He said although a lot of factors have been blamed for the fatal express bus accidents, sleepy driver was a major cause whether their employers would like to admit it or not.
And this should jolt the road safety authorities to think out of the box and take some drastic action instead of being satisfied with status quo which could only lead to more crashes and deaths, he added.
"Just how many more highway tragedies must we see before preventive measures such as banning express buses from travelling during 'sleepy hours' and mandatory use of seat belts for passengers are enforced?" asked Azman.
- Bernama
