Dangerous driving on highway

DRIVING along the North-South Expressway (NSE) after 9pm has become a nerve-racking experience for me.

I doubt I’m alone in feeling this way; I believe other motorists also have the same experience.

As someone who regularly travels between Seremban, Kuala Lumpur and Melaka to visit friends and family, I’ve witnessed a growing and dangerous trend where heavy vehicles speed aggressively, especially during the night.

Picture this: you’re cruising at the legal limit of 110km/h, but a massive trailer or bus comes up behind and tailgates you, flashing its high beams to indicate that you should move aside.

These vehicles are clearly exceeding their speed limit and this is an increasingly common experience.

The NSE today feels drastically different compared to what it was in the 1990s.

Heavy vehicles now dominate the highway, often outnumbering cars. Their presence, especially at night, feels overwhelming.

On my regular night drives between the Sungai Besi and Ayer Keroh toll plazas, I frequently see these vehicles overtaking on the fast lane at high speed.

For drivers of smaller vehicles, it’s terrifying.

These high-speed manoeuvres by heavy vehicles, some of which are visibly overloaded, pose a serious risk to all road users.

I have also witnessed several cases of tyre blowouts involving lorries, turning routine drives into near-misses.

Another troubling issue is a lack of proper parking for these vehicles.

It’s common to find lorries parked in long lines along the exits to Ayer Keroh Rest and Recreational (R&R) Area as well as Pedas Linggi and Ayer Keroh toll plazas, sometimes stretching for a kilometre.

This obstructs visibility and creates hazardous bottlenecks for cars trying to rejoin the expressway.

Even more unnerving is the sight of heavy vehicles tailgating one another in close formation.

It discourages overtaking and forces motorists like me to stay back and wait on stretches that should otherwise be safe to pass.

However, trailer drivers say they have their fair share of frustrations.

Three trailer drivers at the Ayer Keroh R&R shared their side of the story during my recent conversation with them.

They claimed that many car drivers misuse the fast and middle lanes, crawling along at 70 to 80km/h and braking unpredictably, leaving lorry drivers with no choice but to overtake at speed in order to meet delivery deadlines.

They also expressed frustration about the lack of parking bays at rest stops, leaving them with little option but to park along the expressway.

I also discovered during my night journeys that enforcement was lacking.

The absence of Road Transport Department officers or traffic police during these hours emboldens reckless driving.

These concerns are backed by data. Highway concessionaire PLUS Malaysia Bhd revealed last year that while heavy vehicles accounted for only 10% of total expressway traffic, they were involved in 34% of fatal road accidents in 2023.

That stark statistic cited by PLUS managing director Datuk Nik Airina Nik Jaffar should not be ignored.

To address this issue, PLUS and the relevant authorities must also act swiftly.

First, there must be more R&R facilities with sufficient parking bays for heavy vehicles, allowing drivers to rest without causing obstructions.

Second, better lighting and signage must be installed along accident-prone stretches.

And finally, enforcement agencies must step up night-time patrols to curb dangerous driving behaviour of all motorists.

All this should be done to ensure that driving on the expressway is safe and not a nightmare.