Twenty three accident-prone areas in Sabah (Jalan hantu?)

The rising number of commuting accidents on our roads is a very worrying trend.

In 2011, there were 24,809 out of the overall 59,897 commuting accidents in the country reported to SOCSO, for which it paid out compensatory disbursements amounting to RM1.71 billion. That is an increase of 12% from 2010 figure of 22,036 cases (out of the overall 57,639 cases), which cost SOCSO RM1.68 billion in compensation.

Remember this accident involving Shell fuel tanker and a newly acquired train belonging to Sabah Railways in Jalan Kepayan. Photo: extracted from keruak.com



I took this picture few days after the incident. Sabah Railways is almost done with the cleaning up.


Commuting accident cases is on the uptrend as indicated by this year's January-April statistics (nationwide):
January    : 1,961 cases
February  : 4,106
March      : 6,301
April        : 8,434

In Sabah, there were 111 such cases recorded from January to July this year; most of which took place in March (22 cases) and July (19 cases).

It is time to balik kampung for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration and motorise are advised to be extra careful along the 23 accident-prone areas throughout Sabah. Some call them as jalan hantu (spooky) for apparent reason. The roads are:

1. Jalan Tuaran Bypass
2. Jalan /BeluranTelupid
3. KM68 Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
4. KM77  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
5. KM90  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
6. KM93  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
7. KM107  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
8. KM121  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu (an express bus accident just happened here last Thursday)
9. KM124  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
10. KM126  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
11. KM130  Jalan Sandakan/Lahad Datu
12. Jalan Kudat/Kota Kinabalu
13. Jalan Lama Parar/Kota Kinabalu/Beaufort
14. Jalan Beaufort/Papar
15. Jalan Beaufort/Menumbok
16. Jalan Tawau/Kunak
17. Jalan Lahad Datu/Sandakan
18. Jalan Kunak/Lahad Datu
19. Jalan Bulatan Rugading-Serusup/Laya-Laya
20. Jalan Ranau/Telupid
21. Jalan Ranau/Tamparuli
22. Jalan Penampang/Tambunan
23. Jalan Sipitang/Sindumin

Please observe the 10km/h speed reduction which was implemented nationwide during this year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration period. AND DON'T DRIVE ON THE FAST LANE on a dual-carriageway if you are driving slow. That is an offence, just like when you are speeding above the speed limit.

Happy Holiday, happy balik kampung and have a safe journey home.

Personal Injury Solicitor

I took this picture 2 days after the train-lorry collision near Kota Kinabalu International Airport on 30th October 2011 and it reminds me of the few personal accident insurance policies I have signed up for.

It reminds me of a fellow Kota Kinabalu blogger (I can't really recall which one) mentioning the importance of life insurance while at the same time thinking about injuries sustained by the passengers of the ill-fated train. For those who have Personal Accident insurance (PA), I suppose it is a straight forward contact-your-agent-and-sit-wait kind of process they have to go through. I read about Personal Injury Solicitors which is available in other countries, to handle cases involving insurance claim due to negligence of other party. This ensures that nobody unduly suffers from somebody else’s mistake.

I am not saying or passing a judgement that one party or another in the above case is at fault. I'm just wondering if we have this kind of service provider in our country. You know, something like in some countries, solicitors/lawyers look for some faults and collaborate with a willing person to take some legal action and benefit from there. This is an extreme example but, yeah, someone like a helper to 'solicit' on our behalf.

Can anyone, especially insurance agent/solicitor enlighten us?