I’m all for speed cameras and road maintenance, but today I was put in a really dangerous situation when those two things came together with driver non-compliance thrown in for good measure.
While driving up to KL from JB along the PLUS highway, I was keeping left, driving at 110km/h. In preparation for the AES camera, I kept an eye out for drivers who would ‘panic brake’, causing an unnecessary slowdown.
Instead, what I got was much more dangerous. Instead, there were roadworks on the right lane and a sign saying to slow down to 60km/h.
So, what we had was 2 lanes of traffic merging into one, ignoring the temporary speed limit of 60km/h, continuing at 110km/h until the last possible second, then slowing down to below 60km/h.
I can understand the confusion. There wasn’t enough traffic on the road to justify slowing down to 60km/h before the AES, so most cars continued at 110km/h. But once they saw the AES camera, they panicked, wondering if they should be keeping to the national limit of 110 or the temporary limit of 60.
Is this anyone’s fault for not knowing what speed the AES would be scanning for?
I don’t really blame PLUS for the situation though. The warnings were sufficient (that’s how I had enough time to get my passenger to snap photos), and PLUS probably knew that early on a weekday was the safest, lowest volume the highways would be.
Maybe more highway driving should be a part of the driving school exam. Obeying signs, especially temporary ones can help avoid very dangerous situations.
