PETALING JAYA: Speakers and electronic boards will be installed on road shoulders to warn motorists against stopping on the emergency lane of the newly opened Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE), says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
The Works Minister said directives had been issued to the highway operator Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), following a crash on the emergency lane near the Bukit Teratai toll plaza.
“I have instructed Prolintas to install speakers in areas identified as lookout points (for Kuala Lumpur) to complement the cameras already installed on the highway,” he said, quoted by a news portal.
On Sunday (Sept 18), a motorcyclist was injured after crashing into a car parked on the emergency lane. The driver of the car had stopped to take pictures of the city.
It was the first collision on the SUKE since its opening on Friday (Sept 17).
Prolintas group chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah had said that Prolintas, through its subsidiary Projek Lintasan Sungai Besi-Ulu Klang Sdn Bhd, was aware that some users were overly excited and stop on the emergency lane to take photos of the scenic view at several locations of the the expressway.
Mohammad Azlan said ‘No stopping unless emergency’ signage would be installed in the identified areas as soon as possible and the same message would be displayed on the variable-message sign (VMS) along the expressway to alert users.
He also said that every kilometre along the alignment of the SUKE is equipped with 40 units of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in both directions and the operations division constantly monitors traffic movements and sends signals to ‘peronda SUKE’ to go to the location in case of emergencies or anomalies detected.
Fadillah said the installation of speakers and electronic messages “will beef up the monitoring of viewing spots posing a safety risk”.
“The CCTV control centre can send out swift warnings using the speaker and (electronic message) board to those who stop, for them to leave immediately. This procedure is quite similar to the practice in several cities in Indonesia and Japan.
“I have also requested Prolintas to work closely with the police to increase enforcement,” he said, adding that the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) would ease enforcement activities,” he said.
Fadillah added that he was also pleased with the level of commitment of SUKE and other highway operators in Malaysia in enhancing the ITS application.
“We want to encourage a safe system on highways and federal roads to reduce crashes, ease the traffic and, most importantly, strive for safer roads.
“There are several elements of the ITS that can improve safety on the road network and this agenda is high in the Malaysian ITS Blueprint 2019-2023,” he said.
Nearly 100,000 vehicles had used Phase 1 of SUKE in the first 24 hours since it was opened.
