OVER the last week, road crashes involving trailers have taken more than six lives. Five people were burnt to death when a trailer smashed into their car, hitting another trailer on the PLUS highway, and a young girl died when a trailer driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the car she was in.
According to a media report, out of the 17 major road crashes, 10 involved trailers.
Trailers are heavy vehicles, and because of their sheer size, the drivers think they are kings of the road.
Drivers of smaller vehicles steer clear of them. They can be intimidating when they are right behind you.
Most of them do not follow the speed limits and they overtake on the fast lane, which they are not supposed to do.
The speed limit of heavy vehicles is set at 90km an hour but they go beyond this limit and throw caution to the wind.
When cars do not give them the right of way, they drive dangerously close to you.
Express buses and other heavy vehicles also have a tendency to flout the law.
Traffic police and highway authorities need to monitor and keep check on the speed of these heavy vehicles on our roads and highways.
Trailer drivers who speed should be fined and given a warning. Speed kills and when these drivers speed, they are unable to brake on time, hence, causing accidents.
The driver of the trailer in the highway accident had a number of speeding summonses that were not paid. Some of these drivers have numerous pending summonses and fines but yet refuse to change their attitude and reckless ways.
What is mind boggling is how these drivers, who have so many unpaid summonses, are still driving on the roads.
According to a media report, Malaysian drivers are the fifth most dangerous drivers. We need to stop unnecessary deaths on our highways and roads. Effective and responsible enforcement is sorely missing.
It is time we take serious action against trailer drivers to prevent more lives being lost from road crashes.
Samuel Yesuiah
Seremban
