On Wednesday (13 July), a fatal accident had taken place at KM277.1 of the North-South Expressway (southbound) near Ipoh, Perak around 3 pm when a trailer rammed into a Proton Persona and five other vehicles, killing a family of 4 in the accident.
According to NST, the impact of the collision caused the trailer and Proton Persona to plough into the other vehicles. Unfortunately, 3 passengers and the driver of the Proton Persona, who were pinned to their seats, did not survive the accident and were pronounced dead at the scene by a medical team.
The tragic accident killed a retired policeman Rahim Ramli, 60; his wife Siti Petimah Omar, 59; and their two daughters Nor Hadirah, 28, and Nor Hamizah, 27.
The police investigations found that the 34-year-old trailer driver fell asleep behind the wheel and his urine test came back negative for drugs too.
Meanwhile, Perak police chief Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the trailer driver, who is from Rawang, Selangor, has 13 traffic summons from 2018 to 2021 with three of them involving road accident cases in 2012, 2020 and 2021.
He has since been detained and the case is investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1957 for causing death by reckless driving.
In a statement, the police also said that other vehicles involved in the accident were damaged but no one was hurt.
Microsleeping when driving
Microsleeps are especially dangerous for drivers because a split second is all it takes to cause a horrific accident on the road. Studies have also found that microsleeps are as dangerous as driving drunk.
According to health publisher WebMD, sleep deprivation is the main cause of microsleep. One study found that 20% of those surveyed needed 90 minutes more sleep per night than they were getting.
However, shift work and long hours at work are also part of the problem.
Here’s a few ways to prevent microsleep:
- Take a power nap. Sometimes you can’t work your way through your sleepiness. Sleeping for 20 minutes or so can help. Set an alarm if you have trouble waking up.
- Interact with someone. Conversation wakes up the brain cells. Also, talking speeds up breathing and pumps extra oxygen into the bloodstream.
- Have some caffeine. Allow about 30 minutes for it to kick in. And try not to consume it too close to bedtime.
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