Remember the incident involving a Proton Saga FL driving against traffic on the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link highway yesterday? It turns out that the driver involved is an 85-year-old man, according to a Harian Metro report, reigniting questions about whether senior citizens should be allowed to continue driving.
Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner M Kumarasan said the individual turned up at the district’s traffic investigation and enforcement division later in the day to aid in the investigation. It was found that the driver ended up opposing southbound traffic on kilometre 14.3 of the Second Link after making a wrong turn while driving towards his home in Tampoi, he added.
“It is believed [he] then turned off at the Gelang Patah exit and drove towards Mutiara Rini before the car he was driving ran out of fuel,” M Kumarasan said. “He was then helped by the public and returned home through an e-hailing service.”
District police began investigating the incident after a dash cam video posted by Facebook user AG Naysen went viral. It showed the cam car being one of a trio of vehicles on the fast lane that had to take evasive action to avoid the Saga, narrowly missing it. The case is now being investigated under Section 42 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for dangerous and reckless driving.
This latest incident is just one of several instances of senior citizens driving against traffic. The situation became so untenable that in 2021 the police proposed a number of conditions for seniors to keep their licences, including for them to undergo a doctor’s examination to ensure they are fit to drive.
The suggestion was promptly shot down by then-transport minister Wee Ka Siong, who said a driver’s competence should not be judged solely on age. More recently, his successor Anthony Loke said last year it would be hard to impose age limits, as 30% of licensed senior citizens were still actively driving.
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85 year old man? No need medical checkup?
Usually medical checkup for age-related physical issues only. Declining mental capacity from old age on the other hand, is rarely discussed among most Malaysian families and only become focus when more serious symptoms like dementia appear.
If say ,govt impose medical check up for 80 and above,how about Madani foot the bill..I m sure many wont mind a free check up.If govt can give bailouts to Proton DRB,and Sapura Energy,dont insult our intelligence that it is too costly for a free health check to protect all road users.
If based on age alone ,also not fair.Are u going to deny Tun Mahathir from driving,alto he has a spare driver by his side ?
In this case,if the uncle has to be jailed or under “house arrest” whatever is permissible by our undang,so be it.
Give him a proper sentence but lenient a bit lah,due to his advanced age.
I hope they don’t go soft on the suspect just because he’s old. His actions could have cut short other people’s lives.
If its your grandpa would you be willing to send him to jail?
If he broke a law where the punishment is jail time, why not? Let him learn a lesson.
Yes, especially if grandpa was stubborn still wanting to drive himself when told not to anymore. Sometimes, old people are really stubborn
If someone’s grandpa drove against traffic on Penang Bridge causing a car driven by your father with all your family members as the passenger to lose control, and fall into the sea from Penang bridge while on the way to celebrate your achievement, will you smile, kiss and hug that grandpa? Such a lovely person.
Mr lets See
If your grandpa killed an innocent motorist,u think the deceased’s loved ones will let him go scot free?
They will push for jail sentence and take legal action,non stop till they get compensation.
Whether grandma or datuk…the law has to be respected.
The country will be lawless if you ever become a hakim.
Respect atoks, is why rakyat voted for 97 year old back as PM rather than a younger and moderate sitting PM, now see all of us suffer for bad choices compounding on that bad choice by rakyat.
Now you folks regret, you say no need respect atoks anymore. but nasi sudah jadi bubur.
how stupid does this excuse sound
“its hard to impose a ban on murder because there are some humans who want to kill other humans”
thats exactly what ah loke gor saying
That stupid policeman before opening his mouth again must produce genuine statistics with the means and variances comparing the amount of older drivers versus younger age drivers versus mid age drivers that causes the most accidents on the roads due to bad judgements , aggressive driving , road ragings and so on
Drivers with the most road accidents records and bullying others on the roads and not obeying traffic rules should be the one Totally banned from driving on the roads that are causing the most accidents in comparison to experience older age drivers
I encounter rage/dangerous driving almost everyday. I guess a driving test every 5 years isn’t a bad idea. At least we can make the road safer for everyone. A small sacrifice for a greater good.
nak tunggu org pass away ke? even the Mazda Rx7 grandma in Japan gave up her license when she was about to turn 80 and gave her car to Mazda
old people so what? I dont care if he is 85 or 105, he should be jailed
No age limit required. But this guy should be banned for sure.
If you don’t want to take away their licenses, fine. But when crap like this happens, they MUST BE JAILED.
I know people will hate this. Hold road competency test every 4 years for license holder 60+ years old.
Loke: “None of my business, I only care about special number plate sales.”
Malicious & untrue. Plate Sales all goes back to govt
How sure are you it goes back to gomen? Where is the proof? No transparency on the sales!
Going to raise the minimum driving age while they are at it? Don’t see these reactions when young drivers are speeding to glory and causing accidents. Knee-jerk reaction. Not much hoo-ha after that driver pandu lawan arus while high on drugs a few years ago. Penang and then later Johor (https://paultan.org/2017/03/16/video-driving-against-traffic-waiting-on-the-opposite-lane-at-a-traffic-light-junction-this-time-in-johor/).
Sure have a yearly medical sign off for driving once past 80. But a blanket limit will unnecesarily deteriorate the quality of life of so many people who still can drive. Ageist much?
Just because one senior citizen screw up, then have to punish all senior citizens?? How about rempits and Ah Bengs? Tons of them causing accidents everyday but still driving on the road, and some even without license like one recent case. Should we raise driving age to 30?
i believe the Police has competent rules and enforcement,
We are interested in the outcome.
What is 85yrs old when we have 100yrs old trying to incite hate on daily basis.
the amount of times we see kapchais lawan arus, running red lights is way way more than ol folks confused. should we ban all kapchais too?
I just wonder why you don’t keep to the emergency lane if you found out you’re driving against traffic? Why do you still have to drive in the middle of the road with cars coming at you? Something is not right
85 year old man knew that his days are numbered and he don’t want to die alone. so he intend to bring someone with him. that’s why he drove against the traffic.
can we also set an age limit for politicians?
anyone above 70 please let them retire.