Lives could have been lost if not for the quick thinking of
the driver of an express bus that rammed into 10 vehicles near the Menora
Tunnel on the North-South Expressway here on Sunday.
Zakaria Ahmad, the co-driver to the 51-year-old driver being
remanded over the 2.45pm incident at the 265.8km mark of the southbound lane,
said the outcome could have been a lot worse had he steered to the side of the
expressway.
“The brakes were not working. As it is very dangerous to
pull the handbrake in such a situation, all he could do to slow down the
vehicle was to drop gears.
“It was extremely tough to slow it down, given the weight of
the bus and that it was coming down a slope at the time,” Zakaria told
reporters outside the district police station here yesterday.
Zakaria said the suspect, a temporary driver for the bus
company, managed to avert a catastrophe by driving in between the other cars.
“He saved all of us,” he said, adding that the driver
frantically sounded the horn to warn other motorists.
Zakaria, 50, who had driven from Kuala Lumpur to Penang the
night before, said the suspect was well rested prior to taking over the wheels
for the journey back to Kuala Lumpur on the day of the incident.
“We checked the bus prior to our journey. All the systems were
good,” Zakaria added.
According to the police, the bus driver had nine outstanding
traffic summonses issued between 2011 and last year, while the bus was issued
with a total of 63 traffic summonses. Police have obtained a four-day remand
order against the driver, who is being investigated for reckless driving under
Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act.
Perak Traffic chief Supt Wan Jamil Wan Chik said the suspect
tested negative for drugs.
Ipoh OCPD Assistant Commi-ssioner Sum Chang Keong also confirmed
that the brakes on the vehicle were faulty.
-The Star Online-
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