Bus driver fined RM8,000 for reckless driving

IPOH: A bus driver was fined RM8,000 in default eight months imprisonment for reckless driving which resulted in damage to ten vehicles near the Menora Tunnel in July last year.
In the incident on July 10, a Road Transport Department surveillance camera recorded the speeding bus ramming into the vehicles at KM265.8 of the south bound lane on the North South Expressway (PLUS) near the tunnel.
Kadershah Sabaruddin, 51, had claimed trial when he was charged on Nov 14 at the Traffic Court.
However when the case came up for mention today, the father of three changed his plea to guilty.
During sentencing, magistrate Siti Hanum Mohmad Sah ordered the particulars of the conviction to be endorsed on the driving licence held by the accused under Section 43 (2) of the Road Transport Act 1987.
Kadershah from Bukit Saujana, Johor Baru was charged with driving the bus with the registration number BLB 6936 in a reckless manner at KM265.8 at 2.45pm on July 10, 2016.
The offence under Section 43 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 provides for a fine of not less than RM 4,000 and a maximum of RM10,000 and a jail term not exceeding 12 months.
Prosecution officer ASP Jasli Mohd Yusoff told the court that based on Puspakom's report, brake leakage was the cause of the crash.
"The leakage was not new but occurred throughout the journey," he said.
In mitigation, Kadershah who was not represented asked the court to impose a lower fine as he has three children and an aged mother to care for.
"I am jobless and the company did not bother to look into my problem ... no job was offered," he told the court.
In the incident which went viral on social media, the bus knocked into the first two cars before it rammed into the other vehicles.
Video footage showed the bus negotiating a corner going through the middle of the lane and knocking the cars.
All 28 passengers onboard the bus and the passengers in the other cars escaped unhurt in the incident except a 21-year-old-girl, a passenger in one of the cars who suffered abdominal pains.