KUALA LUMPUR: The main cause of the accident involving a police truck carrying Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) personnel and a lorry in Teluk Intan was due to the lorry being overloaded, it was revealed.
The Transport Ministry said the tipper lorry carrying gravel exceeded its permitted gross vehicle weight load by 70%.
“This situation caused the vehicle to lose control resulting in the collision with the FRU truck which was in a convoy returning to Ipoh.
“These findings were based on the final report from the Road Transport Safety Investigation Special Task Force established to investigate the cause of the fatal accident,” it said in a statement yesterday.
Nine FRU personnel were killed, two seriously injured and seven others hurt slightly during the accident involving the truck and tipper lorry at Jalan Chikus-Sungai Lampam, Teluk Intan, on May 13.
The tragic incident that shook the nation occurred about 8.50am, with the truck carrying 15 FRU personnel from Unit 5 Ipoh.
The ministry said the report stated that no mechanical failure was detected in the lorry’s braking or steering systems.
“The accident was caused by operational and compliance factors, including weaknesses in the lorry operating company’s internal controls and the absence of a functioning Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring system,” it said.
The ministry said a total of 16 safety recommendations were submitted, covering six main areas.
“This includes improving Occupational Safety and Health Industry Code of Practice (ICOP) safety compliance, the Land Public Transport Act 2010 (Act 715) as well as safety features of government vehicles such as installing seat belts for all seats,” it added.
The ministry said the safety investigation was not intended to assign blame or determine liability of any party, but to strengthen road transport safety policies so that such tragedies do not recur.
The full report can be accessed by the public on the ministry’s official website at www.mot.gov.my.
