Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I'd Rather "NOT" Go By Bus

By Felicianna Ashwinie Stanley

2013-121748

Topic: Ministry of Transport


 During the 70's,  the best way to travel around town was by bus. It was the fastest, cheapest and safest way around rather than walking for miles. Nowadays, people rather not travel by bus after reading, hearing and seeing numerous bus crashes and accidents. Statistic’s shows that in 2010, 10.2% of people travel by bus daily. From the year 2006 to 2008, bus accidents have skyrocketed with a significant increase of 48%. This has affected the people of Malaysia as this has given them the fear to travel by bus.

Approximately 121 buses were involved in fatal accidents from 2006-2011. Malaysia, being a developing country has suffered losses amounting to RM7.8bil, which is equivalent to 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product. This due to the road accidents including fatal ones in 2008, according to studies done by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS).  The MIROS director-general, Prof Dr Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah said "Among the main causes of fatal accidents were negative attitude of drivers like driving recklessly, stopping suddenly, tailgating and beating traffic lights." Hence, extreme actions have to be taken under consideration to overcome this problem.



One of the major bus accidents that have occurred recently is the Genting Bus Crash. This incident occurred on August 21, 2013 at 2:15 pm when the bus carrying 53 passengers lost control as it was going down an incline and it plunged into a deep ravine at about 60 meters at the kilometer 3.5 of the Genting Sempah-Genting Highlands Highway. 37 people died whereas 16 people cheated death. According to Ipoh deputy traffic chief Assistant Superintendent R. Ganasan said " Early investigations showed that the bus driver had problems shifting gears when he reached a sharp corner". In my opinion, the cause of this fatal accident was the faulty breaks and the overload of passengers.


FIGURE 2: The analysis of bus accidents that have occurred from 2009 to 2013 
Source: The Star news paper

Therefore, due to the recent increment of bus accident, I as the Minister of Transport would place more concern to correct this problem. Firstly, bus companies should be more responsible and check all the buses before departure. By checking the buses, the rate of accident would decrease tremendously as over 53% of bus accidents occur due to faulty breaks, which causes the bus drivers to lose control of the bus. Secondly, only trained and experienced, driver that have been taught the correct manner of overtaking should be allowed to drive the bus as the current bus drivers drive like Formula drivers. Hence, they have to be checked and monitored, to prevent reckless driving. Next, new buses with stronger aluminium and steel bars should be used to build sturdier bodywork to provide maximum protection to bus passengers. This will make the express bus much heavier, thereby causing these buses to be unable to travel fast. Lastly, a mandatory fine has to be implemented to stop reckless driving nationwide, thus, reducing the number of accidents in Malaysia.



Figure 4 and 5:Buses derailed out of roads, crash due to faulty breaks.


In conclusion, the suggestion stated above have to be carried out to overcome this major problem. Many lives have already been lost, therefore a mandatory and extreme action is a must for the betterment for the people of Malaysia. This issue has to addressed immediately with full force to make Malaysia a safer and accident-free place to live.



Reference

 1. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/08/23/genting-bus-crash-driver-has-traffic-offences.aspx 

2. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/07/25/Two-brothers-die-in-collision-with-bus-and-car.aspx 

3. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form
 http://www.panducermat.org.my/ms/

 4. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form http://www.unescap.org/ttdw/roadsafety/Reports2006/Malaysia_RSpaper.pdf 

5. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form
 http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Miros--Accidents-caused-RM7-8bil-write-off.aspx 

6. Retrieved October 20, 2013 form
Statistical report Road Accident, Road Traffic Branch, Royal Malaysia Police Bukit Aman. 2001-2003. Website of Royal Malaysia Police Bukit at http://www.rmp.gov.my/ 

7.Retrieved October 20, 2013 form http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/spad-fatal-genting-didnt-break-rules-not-overloaded#sthash.qXyrsnkK.dpuf
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9 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 6, 2013 at 1:25 AM

    Your work is very impressive as the facts are true and accurate and your suggestions too are very good indeed.I feel that the frame of the bus should be made from alloy though as we know it is more durable and strong with high crash resistance but on the other hand it will force the impact on the passengers in the bus. This is because the frame is a bit too rigid.So the government must approve for the ministry to work on new types of metal to withstand a devastating impact. Apart from that it is an awesome work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ShashastanleyNovember 12, 2013 at 9:22 AM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. ShashastanleyNovember 12, 2013 at 10:05 AM

      Thank you for your comment! And i agree that a stronger alloy has to be used to build the frame and structure of the buses. Thus, these bus will be more durable and are able to withstand any impacts.

      Delete
  2. UnknownNovember 10, 2013 at 9:27 PM

    I totally agree with your article that precaution should be taken before the departure of the vehicle.The ministry of transport should carry out their duty and penalized the drivers that do not obey the road rules.Thank you.:)

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    Replies
    1. ShashastanleyNovember 12, 2013 at 9:19 AM

      Thank you for your comment! And i agree to your suggestion that bus drivers that do not follow the rules such as the speed limit should be penalized.

      Delete
  3. UnknownNovember 12, 2013 at 12:55 AM

    I like your article very much as the accident rate of buses now days are increasing drastically. The data provided awareness for everyone as bus rides are not as safe as past days.
    There's some question according to your sentences "new buses with stronger aluminium and steel bars should be used to build sturdier bodywork to provide maximum protection to bus passengers. This will make the express bus much heavier, thereby causing these buses to be unable to travel fast."
    1. When the bus is heavier, it will cause the bus to stop using a longer period of time especially for cases applied in Genting buses, they will tend to fall off the hill more easily when turning, how is this applicable?
    2. Even using heavier body on bus the bus, the bus driver can still press on the accelerator to increase its speed, is a heavier bus body effective to reduce speeds of bus? Plus, the impact will be higher when high speed meets with heavy body.
    3. When heavier body of bus and better materials are used, the price of the bus fare will increase together, the particular company will suffer loss when come to business aspect, how it can be prevented?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ShashastanleyNovember 12, 2013 at 9:17 AM

      Thank you for you comment!
      Firstly, the main reason why bus accidents occur is due to two factors
      1. faulty breaks
      2. reckless driving eg. speeding
      Therefore, by increasing the weight of the buses, this would make sure that bus drivers are unable to drive fast, thus decreasing the number of accidents. And as i mention above, only trained and capable bus drivers should be given the licences to drive a bus. Thus, they should have the knowledge not to drive above speed limit although they are able to accelerate to move faster.
      If the bus is travelling down hill, why not travel at a slower rate? Better safe than sorry! Buses or any large and heavy vehicle should be given a special lane which is further from the edge of the hill.
      Lastly, to answer your last question, In my opinion, rather than having faulty and flimsy buses, buses that can protect and ensure safe travel is far better. People are dying every minute due to bus accidents, why not spend a little extra to ensure the safety of everyone in the bus. Prevention is always better than cure. Thank you!

      Delete
  4. RaveenaNovember 12, 2013 at 5:49 AM

    I agree with your suggestions.Using public transport is a better way to travel. The license shouldn't be given easily to the bus drivers unless they are trained properly to avoid accidents.

    ReplyDelete

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