SHAH ALAM: Puspakom says the two vehicle inspectors who were questioned by the Road Transport Department (JPJ) over alleged improprieties over commercial vehicle inspections have no recent disciplinary issues.
"I have spoken to the two personnel, one with a service record of three years, and the other, 14 years," said Puspakom Sdn Bhd's CEO Mahmood Razak Bahman in a press conference at Puspakom's Alam Megah branch here on Thursday (Jan 2) afternoon.
He confirmed that JPJ had questioned the two personnel at its headquarters at Putrajaya on Dec 31, 2024, while he himself spoke to them a day later.
"The staff member who served for three years did not have any disciplinary cases, while the other one did not have any issues in the past four years that warranted concern," Mahmood said.
Following a five-vehicle collision on the North-South Expressway near Ayer Keroh on Dec 23, 2024, which was apparently triggered by the detachment of the right front wheel of a bulk cement carrier that was headed south, questions have been raised on the integrity of the compulsory vehicle inspections, a process that is mandatory for commercial vehicles.
The incident resulted in seven fatalities, with some blaming the use of retreaded tyres, while others queried why the issue was not detected during periodic compulsory inspections.
JPJ conducted a series of unannounced inspections at Puspakom branches nationwide called Ops Gempur, which conducted 87 audits on its 53 branches (with some audited twice) as of Jan 2.
The surprise audit at the Wangsa Maju branch in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 30, 2024 found that a commercial vehicle that was in questionable condition had received the Puspakom go-ahead, and the staff members involved were summoned for questioning.
It is understood that the vehicle has since been impounded by JPJ.
On the truck that triggered the Ayer Keroh incident, he said pictures from the accident scene, as well as the impounded truck, showed that the entire right wheel came off, with the right axle stub displaying damage, though no exact cause has been attributed to it yet.
"The inspection report from Puspakom has been forwarded to the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros, an institute under the Transport Ministry).
According to Mahmood, inspectors are still puzzled at how the wheel detached as the vehicle, a fully imported prime mover that was used as a bulk cement carrier at the time of the accident, is barely a year old.
Elsewhere, he said that Puspakom is close to perfecting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for vehicle inspections, especially for its mobile inspection services.
"The camera-based system, implemented since November 2024, cuts undercarriage inspections from 10 minutes to just one, thus saving the customer nine minutes.
"Jointly developed with JPJ, the use of AI in this pilot project can quickly identify shortcomings, and works well especially for our mobile inspection services calling on places that don't have inspection pits (a facility that allows the inspector to walk under a vehicle). In instances like this, a camera based system works better."
Mahmood added that Puspakom is also working on the development of an above-carriage automated inspection that is also based on AI, with the module likely to be ready this year, though he stopped short of giving an exact date.
