December Crashes

Road Accident at Serian - Sri Aman Road

I could sense something was not right when I got phone calls at almots midnight when acquaintance and friends called me up at almost midnight and start asking about hotel accomodations. Some were asking for recommendations and some asking for help in getting some special rates from hotels. Colleagues from other departments complained about the lack of hotels in Sri Aman and requested for accommodation at the Government Rest House. I did not really ask them why the have this sudden interest to spend the night in Sri Aman. Being in Kuching on official duty I did not really put much though to that. It was when I drove up to Sri Aman in the morning that I saw the long line of vehicle,s of various shapes and sizes along the Serian-Sri Aman road (near the junction to Simunjan). Here are some pictures of what caused the long traffic jam and probably the reason why some chose to spend the night in Sri Aman as the accidents happened that evening.

Traffic stalled at the Simunjan junction due to the accident which was about 200 metres uphill towards Sri Aman

The culprit? You may think this was the only culprit if you approach from the Simunjan side direction. This incident happened ealier in the morning after another accident occurred over the other side of the hill

This is the jam from the Sri Aman side and it was informed that the distance of the line went as far as Sabal which was more than 10 kilometres away

Another view of the accident where the two lane road was almost blocked by the tanker which caused the traffic jam

In trying to see what happened over the hill I managed to see this express bus at the back of a large Tow Truck

The first accident at night was between another tanker (downhill towards Sri aman) involving this tanker and the express bus

Another view of the overturned tanker and also the sand on the road to prevent the road from being too slippery due to oil spill

The tanker from another angle

The tanker's company which caused the traffic jam sent an empty tanker to siphon the oil from the stalled tanker. This will make the stalled tanker more lighter for towing.

The view of the other tanker can be seen next to the stalled tanker as they begin the operation of clearing the road.

Short video clip for viewing

This accident happened because of a few factors I believed. One can't put this on human factor but the roadworthiness of one of the vehicles was said to be in question. failed brakes, slippery roads, speed...you name it. With the right combination of wrong factors, accidents will occur. Lives will be lost. Monetary and emotional impact, how do one put value to that? How about putting that money to put into developing our roads in Sarawak? Wider roads could reduce the risk of our mainroad here being cut off just by a small accident. So drive safe people, holiday season which is marked with the rainy season is here. Take care, NNN 'sighing out'. *sigh*