PLUS plans average speed cameras installed to deter speeding on Penang Bridge

GEORGE TOWN, July 16 (Bernama) -- PLUS Malaysia Bhd, which operates the Penang Bridge, is looking into installing average speed cameras on the bridge as an additional enforcement measure to deter speeding on this crossing facility.

Its chief operating officer, Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi said PLUS was currently working together with the Road Transport Department (RTD) to install such cameras, which would capture the speed and registration details of vehicles entering and exiting the bridge.

“The average speed of a vehicle will be calculated to determine whether it was speeding or not and this is one of our enforcement strategies,” he said when interviewed on the sidelines of the Highway Concessions Conference 2019 at a leading hotel in Teluk Kumbar, near here.

He said PLUS was also awaiting the outcome of a road safety audit it had carried out on the bridge in order to determine measures to be taken to enhance the safety features on the bridge.

“Although we have already complied with all the engineering standards for the bridge, we are also conducting our own road safety audit. From the audit, we will act accordingly if there is a need (to add more safety measures),” he said.

Safety concerns arose among the bridge users following an incident where a car, which was allegedly driven at high speed, collided with another vehicle before plunging off the bridge and into the sea last February, killing the driver.

Zakaria said PLUS had always placed safety as paramount importance and through this emphasis, only 2.4 per cent of over 13,000 accidents recorded nationwide last year occurred on its concession highway.

“We take pride in incorporating safety into whatever we do and we also take pride of the PLUS Expressway being one the safest highways in the country. We broadly put together three elements that we always focus on which we call 3E, which is enforcement, engineering and education,” he said.

These elements prevailed through PLUS’ continuing collaborations with enforcement authorities such as the RTD and police, adoption of new technology for the maintenance of its expressway and facilities, and holding of regular safety awareness campaigns, he added.

-- BERNAMA