Gerik crash sparks call for mandatory telematics in transport sector
KUALA LUMPUR: The government must make it mandatory for bus and logistics operators to install a telematics system linked to a driver database as part of their licensing conditions, following the tragic bus crash involving Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) students.
Road safety and sustainable transport activist Shahrim Tamrin said this requirement should form part of a broader initiative to develop the Performance Monitoring Hub System (PMHS) for public transport and logistics operators.
This follows Transport Minister Anthony Loke's announcement that the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) will develop a database system for express and tour bus drivers, complete with their past records, to improve the safety of public land transportation.
"It has been music to our ears that drivers with so many summonses are still allowed to drive heavy vehicles, including lorries, express buses, stage buses, and tour buses," he said in a statement.
Shahrim, who is also a former board member of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros), said systemic failures over the years involving the transport and home ministries, including the Road Transport Department (RTD), Apad, and the police, had allowed high-risk drivers to slip through the cracks due to the lack of a centralised database for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) and Goods Driving Licence (GDL) holders.
He said the now-defunct Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) had attempted to address this issue with the introduction of the Driver Information System (DIS) in 2013 for taxi drivers.
"The DIS allowed driver screening based on merit or demerit, tracked traffic and criminal offences, and enabled public verification of a driver's status.
"In 2017, Spad tried to implement a centralised database system — known as the Drivers and Commercial Vehicles Information System (DCVIS) — based on the DIS template for taxis, to cover heavy vehicles in the transportation and logistics sector, including express buses, tour buses, lorries, haulage, and stage buses."
He said the plan was to integrate the system with an RFID-enabled telematics device in the vehicle so that only drivers with clean records could start the journey.
"In other words, if the system found that the drivers or the vehicles had many outstanding summonses, it wouldn't start the engine.
"Spad wanted to design DCVIS as a system that prioritised safety from within.
"However, the plan was halted when the commission was disbanded in phases at the end of 2018," he said.
As such, Shahrim said it was timely for Apad and the Transport Ministry to revive the project halted eight years ago.
"I urge the government not to stop at just a driver database system.
"This is also an opportunity for Apad and RTD to develop a comprehensive tracking (telematics) and record management system for heavy vehicle operators."
He also called on the relevant authorities, including RTD and the police, to collaborate on a comprehensive telematics-linked driver and vehicle monitoring system based on the original DCVIS blueprint, and urged political will at the highest level.
"This is where the cabinet Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Congestion, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, can step in.
"It's time to address this once and for all to make our roads safer," he said.
Shahrim also urged for the integration of the Kejara demerit system into Apad's proposed database for a more holistic approach.
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