ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

PETALING JAYA: Bus driver R. Ramachandra (pic) who died in Sunday’s horrific bus crash should not be blamed solely for the accident, said Pan-Malaysia Bus Ope­rators’ Association president Datuk Ashfar Ali.

He said it was easy to scapegoat the 52-year-old Ekspres Delima bus driver.

Ramachandra was killed after the bus he was driving crashed through a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver and ploughed into five other vehicles travelling in the opposite direction along the North-South Expressway near Simpang Ampat.

“The real issue is the strength of the guardrail by hydraulic pile driver. The steel guardrail was not strong enough to stop the bus from crashing into the other side of the highway. This is very similar to the Bukit Gantang accident three years ago,” said Ashfar yesterday.

He was referring to the 2007 accident where an express bus with 29 people on board crashed through a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver by the side of the NSE and plunged into a ditch five metres below, killing 22 people.

Ashfar added that express bus passengers had a role to play in ensuring their own safety.

“If a bus driver is driving too fast, passengers should remind him to slow down because their lives are at stake,” he said.

However, he assured the public not to worry about travelling by bus.

“Based on Road Safety Department statistics, express buses are among the safest modes of transportation.

Ashfar said Delima Ekspres Sdn Bhd had been plying the Kuala Lumpur-Malacca route for more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, police said that Ramachandra had a clean traffic record.

“Initial investigations reveal that he and the bus had no summonses,” said federal traffic chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof .

“We are in the midst of interviewing witnesses and victims to get a better picture of what actually happened,” he added, “the guardrail by hydraulic pile driver should be checked carefully.”