Review of Penang Bridge guardrails needed
Published on: Tuesday, January 22, 2019
BUTTERWORTH: The concession companies were urged to review the appropriate mechanisms for the guardrails installation of the Penang Bridge and the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge to prevent incidents of vehicles plunging into the sea from recurring.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the existing guardrails were probably not tall enough to meet the standards to prevent vehicles from plunging into the sea.
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“In order to stop such incidents from recurring, it is very important for the authorities to further review the specifications and standards of the guardrails to reduce the risks faced by bridge users.
“Perhaps it (the barrier) is sufficient to prevent ‘normal’ accidents but the crash on early Saturday morning was a high impact... which may prove the guardrails to be incapable of preventing vehicles from plunging into the sea, so they need to be reviewed,” he told reporters after launching a road safety advocates programme for the upcoming Chinese New Year, ‘Drive Safe With Us’, for Bagan Jermal constituency here today.
He was commenting on the incident where a sports utility vehicle plunged into the sea at Kilometre 4 of the Penang Bridge towards Perai here at 2.54 am yesterday.
The driver, identified as 20-year-old private college student, Moey Yun Peng and his vehicle were still missing and the second day of search and rescue (SAR) operation continued today.
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Meanwhile, the Penang Road Safety Department (JKJR) director M. Thurkahthevi, who was also present, said the statistics of road accidents for the state as issued by the Royal Malaysian Police showed an increasing trend every year.
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“In 2017, the number of reported accidents was 43,007 cases compared to 42,244 cases recorded in 2016, an increase of 763. While in 2018 the figure also showed an increase, but we have yet to receive the full data which will be updated in the near future,” he said. – Bernama
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