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KLANG, March 10 — A total of 776 accidents reported by PLUS Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) last year were caused by fallen objects from vehicles onto the highway.
Selangor Road Transport Department (RTD) director Nazli Md Taib said the statistics were worrying and PLUS also reported that 19,218 stray objects were collected along the highway throughout last year.
“Of the total, 46.1 per cent were tyre debris, steel (18.4 per cent), wood (11.9 per cent) and the rest are other objects such as vehicle components and plastic items,” he said in a news conference in conjunction with “Op Halangan” at the Bukit Raja Toll Plaza here, today.
Nazli said the integrated operation in collaboration with PLUS and the Royal Malaysia Police today aimed at creating awareness among trailer and lorry owners and drivers so as not to place items such as wood and steel under the vehicles’ body which could cause road accidents.
He said from 8 am to 11 am today, the RTD has issued 196 summonses on various offences such as wooden stopper offence (46 cases), technical offence (21), retreaded/bald tyres (11), overload (four) and two cases related to the Land Public Transport Agency.
“Although they stressed that the wood or steel have been tied neatly and used to hold goods, that should not be an excuse for trailer owners to have unauthorised items,” he said.
Nazli explained that under the Road Transport Act 1987 and Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Rules 1959, vehicle owners were not allowed to place any object on the vehicle’s body.
He added that Op Halangan would continue until the end of the year and to date, the Selangor RTD has issued 14,142 summonses to trailer and lorry owners on various offences. — Bernama