Gov't mulls implementing OBD on buses

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Transport is mulling the implementation of a drivers' score, which is aimed at monitoring the attitude of commercial vehicle drivers especially buses to avoid accidents.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said it involved the installation of Onboard Diagnostic (OBD) equipment on the vehicles to collect driving data.
"Installing the equipment is to monitor the movements of the bus and actions by the driver which posed risks to the passengers," he said at the Minister's Question Time session in Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question from Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad (BN-Mersing) on the effort of the ministry in measuring the credibility of bus drivers to avoid mishaps.
Liow said most road mishaps, especially those resulting in deaths, were found to be caused by the attitude of the drivers who were negligent and did not comply with safe driving regulations including exceeding the speed limit.

He said 7,152 deaths were recorded due to road mishaps last year.
"This is a big number. Recently, another serious accident took place involving two factory buses which killed eight female factory workers and injured 35 others," he said.
The mishap at the Km147 of the North-South Expressway near the Juru toll plaza at 5.30am on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of a local and three Indonesian nationals.
In addition, Liow said the government also planned to make it compulsory for all commercial vehicles to install cameras to record the actions and attitude of the drivers.
"The installation of the modern gadgets will allow us to track all the bus drivers' record for a more effective monitoring of their attitude and actions.
Currently, he said the ministry took action including blacklisting drivers found to have summons record, to avoid tragedies.
"At the same time, ongoing monitoring on all commercial vehicles and their drivers are carried out to ensure they comply with all procedures and standards stipulated by the Road Transport Department and Land Public Transport Commission," he added. — Bernama