Transport minister Loke Siew Fook says he has presented to the Cabinet his ministry’s recommendations for safety upgrades to government vehicles, following the fatal crash involving a Federal Reserve Unit truck in Teluk Intan in May.
He said their implementation now rests on the home and defence ministries.
“I presented the report to the Cabinet last week before it was made public.
“As such, I request the cooperation of the ministries involved, particularly the home and defence ministries, to take further action,” Utusan Malaysia reported him as saying after his ministry’s monthly assembly.
Loke, however, conceded that the recommendations would not be easy to implement as they involved upgrades to existing assets or the acquisition of new assets.
Last Friday, the transport ministry presented 16 safety recommendations, including upgrading the safety features in government vehicles with the installation of seat belts.
It said the safety investigation was not intended to assign blame or determine liability to any party, but rather to strengthen land transport safety policies so that such tragedies would not recur.
The final report on the crash, prepared by a special task force established at the Cabinet’s instruction, also confirmed that the overloaded lorry that crashed into the FRU truck was the main cause of the incident.
Nine FRU personnel were killed and nine others injured in the May 13 collision along Jalan Chikus-Sungai Lampam in Teluk Intan, Perak.
The report stated that no mechanical failures were detected in the braking or steering systems, and the crash was due to operational and compliance factors, including weak internal supervision by the lorry operator.
