The government will allocate a budget to install the High-Speed Weigh-in-Motion (HS-WiM) system across the country, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declared in Budget 2025, in response to the rising number of fatalities brought on by traffic accidents involving overloaded vehicles, according to Bernama.
The Transport Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that 22 locations in total have been identified for the HS-WiM system's proposed installation. These locations are mostly on highways, roads close to ports, and recently discovered rail project routes that have been identified as hotspots for accidents involving overloaded vehicles and black spots for accidents.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah stated in June of this year that heavy vehicles, such as express buses, small lorries, and container lorries, were involved in 652 accidents in the first quarter of 2024, resulting in 287 fatalities and 95 serious injuries. According to an article published in September of last year by Sinar Daily, Associate Professor Dr. Law Teik Hua, head of the UPM Road Safety Research Center, stated that heavy vehicles, such as buses, lorries, and trailers that are overloaded, are a contributing factor to the nation's growing accident rate.
Some heavy vehicle operators overload their vehicles in an effort to increase their pay, neglecting to maintain them, which can result in brake failures and other issues that could eventually endanger the lives of other drivers, Dr. Law said. The implementation of the HS-WIM system is anticipated to enhance the efficacy, and boost compliance of vehicle load limit regulations by facilitating real-time and automated enforcement activities for heavy vehicles, eliminating the necessity for the vehicle stop for weighing. It is also anticipated to be a long-term resolution to the load limits problem for heavy vehicles.
