Genting Highlands bus crash report made public today

Hishammuddin holding evaluation report.

KUALA LUMPUR: The evaluation report on the Genting bus crash tragedy on Aug 21 last year has been officially released with 51 recommendations made to face similar incidents in the future, said acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the recommendations were not limited to the bus crash but can be applied to all hill side roads that were prone to accidents and classified as black spots across the country.

The report had proposed 16 recommendations on involving roads, 20 recommendations on vehicles, eight recommendations on safe operation practices, four recommendations on emergency response and rescue as well as three recommendations on strengthening and empowering the public for road safety.

Among them include establishing a nationwide systematic road safety assessment and risk mapping, strengthening the enforcement for the use of safety barrier at high risk sections, review the existing approval and licensing processes of public service and goods vehicle, setting up a national roll-out of computer aided dispatch (CAD 999) systems.

"The independent advisory panel had also been extended to become the National Transportation Safety Board after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"The board is tasked to advise, investigate, analyse and submit report of any recommendations to the Transport Ministry involving any road safety isssues, railways, and maritime," he said in a news conference at the Defence Ministry headquarters on Thursday.

It understood that the evaluation report can be obtained at the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety and Research website.

In the report, the panel acknowledge that many factors contributed to the crash however it is concerned that the issues are institutional and system based.

The report elaborated that these concerns points that the problems are not isolated cases.

"With this view, the panel decided that the proposed recommendations would not only be specific to the case but also applicable to transport industry as a whole," it stated.

In the accident at Kilometre 3.6 Jalan Genting Highlands-Kuala Lumpur, 37 people were killed while 16 others were injured, making it the worst ever road tragedy in the country.