PETALING JAYA: The driver involved in the tragic Gerik bus crash has 18 traffic summonses against him.
Of that, 13 were for speeding, said Federal Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri.
He said three other offences were for not wearing a seatbelt, while one each was for not having a third brake light and being involved in an accident.
“Investigations also found that the bus involved has a record of 21 summonses for traffic offences. Of the number, 16 have been settled, while the remaining five are still under investigation,” he told Sinar Harian.
The driver, Mohd Amirul Fadhil Zulkifle, however pleaded yesterday that he was not speeding.
“I wasn’t going as fast as many claimed because I am familiar with the Jeli-Gerik route, especially the downhill section where it happened,” he said tearfully from his hospital bed.
“I am so sorry. The brakes suddenly stopped working,” he said of the accident which left 15 Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris students dead and 31 others injured.
“I tried various things, but because the air (for the air brakes) was empty, everything stopped working, including the handbrake, and the gear couldn’t be changed.
“I tried to avoid other vehicles, and as far as I can remember, I avoided four vehicles, including a lorry, before the accident,” he said at Hospital Taiping where he is being treated.
He said he lost consciousness for a moment and when he woke up, he started calling to the students to get out through the broken windows.
He too crawled out of the bus and broke down in tears when he saw the condition of the students, said the 39-year-old driver from Besut, Terengganu.
He said he would now have to carry the weight of what happened and did not know whether he could face the victims’ families.
“This is the first time I have been involved in an accident that has claimed a life, and of course, I feel guilty.
“If there are parties who want to take legal action, what else can I say?” said Amirul, who has been driving buses since 2016.
“Because the accident happened on a bend, I couldn’t do anything. I shouted to the students to be ready and be alert as soon as I realised the brakes were not working.
“The students sitting at the front heard my instructions, but those in the back were mostly asleep. Maybe the screaming made them think I was angry.”
Amirul will be issued a remand order once he is discharged from the hospital, Perak police chief Comm Datuk Noor Hisam Nordin said.
Mohd Yusri had said earlier that the police would conduct a comprehensive investigation into the crash in a task force together with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, the Road Transport Department, the Land Public Transport Agency and relevant parties.
