Are you more wary of heavy vehicles these days when you’re behind the wheel, that bit more fearful of something untoward happening? Well, statistics seem to show you have every right to view such vehicles with caution, what with a new study revealing some rather disturbing numbers concerning mishaps involving lorries and trailers.

According to the study, which was conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), fatal road accidents involving heavy vehicles have claimed at least 1,457 lives over the past six years, working out to an average of one death every 36 hours.

As Harian Metro reports, the MIROS study found that lorry accidents on highways are more likely to result in fatalities compared to other roads such as federal roads, state roads and municipal roads. Factors such as high speed and overloaded lorries contribute to a higher risk of fatality, especially when they occur at bends.

Road safety activist Datuk Mohamad Hisham Shafe said the 1,457 deaths were linked to 3,500 lorry accidents nationwide over the six-year period, with 473 serious injuries and 1,076 minor injuries linked to these crashes. He said the average frequency was one lorry accident every 2,164 minutes, or roughly every one and a half days.

He noted that accidents involving heavy vehicles carry a higher fatality risk due to their size and collision impact. Lorries are heavy vehicles that cause significant impact during collisions, especially when travelling at high speeds on highways, he told the publication.

He added that while driver fatigue, brought on by long working hours, and excessive loads and unbalanced cargo further were significant factors, mechanical failure in lorries is one of the main causes of road accidents, something that has been highlighted enough of in the past.

He said that many lorries do not undergo proper maintenance, affecting their long-distance performance. “The MIROS study also revealed that only 32% of public transport and commercial vehicle operators complied with the Industrial Code of Practice for Transport Safety (ICOP) in 2022,” he said.

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