Liow: Report on fatal bus crash covers four aspects

KUALA LUMPUR: The full report on the express bus accident at KM137.3 of the North-South Expressway near Pagoh which killed 14 people and injured 16 others in December last year, was tabled in Parliament on March 1.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said a comprehensive analysis was carried out by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research which covered four major aspects, namely the condition of the road and its environment, the building and design of the bus, the bus operations and enforcement.

“The report was completed and was waiting for approval from the Cabinet for announcement to the public,” he said at the Senate sitting yesterday.

He was replying to a question from Senator Datuk Yahya Mat Ghani on the measures taken by the Government to ensure the safe- ty of bus passengers, due to the frequent accidents involving express buses.

Liow said improvements on the four main aspects were identified, and the ministry was committed to improving public bus services in the country and learning from the various incidents on the road.

He said the Land Public Transport Commission also organised the Laboratory on Express Bus Transformation Work from Feb 20 to April 7 as one of the efforts to improve express bus operations in the country.

“The report on the accident in Pagoh, Johor, has also been adopted as the main reference in outlining the transformation of the bus industry in Malaysia,” he said.

The accident which happened at about 3.30am on Dec 24 last year involved an express bus which was travelling from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama