Our tragedy: failure to act

How many more must die before we act on rogue heavy vehicle drivers?

Another day, another headline that should shake us, but somehow no longer does. A family crushed to death near Bukit Tinggi by a trailer. Lives ended instantly. The driver? Reportedly carrying 15 outstanding summonses.

Fifteen — and still on the road.

This is not just shocking. It is indefensible.

In a system where traffic law enforcement is fully digitised and data is readily available through the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the police, how does a repeat offender continue to operate a heavy vehicle?

These are not private cars. These are multi-ton machines that kill in seconds. The threshold for tolerance must be near zero.

Yet, this tragedy is not an outlier. It is part of a growing and deeply troubling pattern.

In Genting Highlands recently, a fatal crash involving a heavy vehicle drew attention to a driver allegedly with more than 20 summonses.

Along the Karak Highway, we have seen repeated incidents of lorries losing control on downhill stretches, often linked to speeding, overloading, or poor vehicle maintenance.

In Johor, a trailer rammed into multiple vehicles at a traffic light, killing and injuring several road users.

In Penang, a cement mixer crash raised serious concerns over brake failure and fleet maintenance standards.

Across the Klang Valley, near-misses and collisions involving heavy vehicles occur with alarming frequency, many unreported unless lives are lost.

Let’s stop calling these ‘accidents’ 

When drivers with long records of offences remain behind the wheel, when companies fail to vet or act, and when enforcement does not intervene early, these are systemic failures.

And the cost is staggering.

Malaysia records hundreds of thousands of road accidents annually, with fatalities in the thousands.

Beyond the human toll, shattered families and erased futures, the economic impact runs into billions of ringgit each year in healthcare costs, lost productivity, insurance claims, and infrastructure damage.

Heavy vehicle crashes, given their scale, contribute disproportionately to both fatalities and economic loss.

So, the question must be asked: what exactly must happen before intervention is triggered?

Is, five summonses not enough? 10? 15?

At which point does a driver become a known risk to public safety?

The issue here is not the absence of systems. It is the absence of decisive, coordinated enforcement.

There should be an automatic escalation mechanism. A driver who accumulates a threshold number of serious offences must immediately be flagged, suspended, and, where necessary, disqualified.

This should not be discretionary; it should be built into the system. Transport companies must also be held accountable.

Hiring a driver with a history of traffic offences cannot be treated as an administrative oversight. It is a public safety risk.

Mandatory background checks, real-time database access, and strict liability provisions must be enforced. Failure to comply should result in heavy penalties, including suspension of operating licences.

Equally critical is integration. JPJ, the police, and relevant transport authorities must operate on a shared, real-time platform where data is not just stored but acted upon.

Enforcement cannot remain reactive, issuing summonses after offences occur does not prevent escalation. We have the data. We have the technology. What we lack is the discipline to act before lives are lost.

Public statements after each tragedy have become predictable. Investigations are promised. Actions are “being considered”. Commitments are reiterated.

But on the ground, there is little change.

Meanwhile, families continue to pay the ultimate price for a system that tolerates repeat offenders until it is too late.

This is no longer just a road safety issue. It is a governance issue.

If we are serious about protecting lives, then zero tolerance for high-risk drivers, especially those operating heavy vehicles, must become policy, not rhetoric.

Because every time we allow a driver with 10, 15, or 20 summonses to remain on the road, we are not managing risk.

We are enabling the next tragedy.

How many more must die before we act? Who will act?

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.