RTA at km223 of the North-South Highway

The Nike 10k run in KL was marred by the horrific accident on the N-S Highway when we were returning home to Spore.  No, we were not involved and we did not know of the extent until later.

After the race, I fell ill - probably from having too much fat and cream in my post race celebratory coffee at Starbucks.  Jamie also woke with a fever that morning so things were already not going well.  It could have been a sign of the horror that would come on the highway.  I wanted to start off home early-ish but slept through and woke up late.  By the time we started our journey home, it was 8.30pm.

Somewhere at Rembau, traffic came to a standstill. Most of the time, the traffic would crawl but this time, it stopped.  We could even switch off the engine and wait.  Every 25min or so, there would an ambulance or police car coming down and traffic would have to make way.  There were more ambulances than anything.  Even the emergency lane on the highway was at a standstill.  After about 2-plus hrs, we crept through Rembau and traffic picked up.  Seems the jam was caused by traffic exiting the N-S Highway to get into the small roads at Rembau.  Within 2 min of driving, traffic came to a standstill again.

Nisa had been driving up to this point and she was tired.  We changed places.  I then drove for what must be close to 3 hrs before we came to the accident.  I could only see a little because I was driving and Nisa told me about the rest.  There was a bus whose's front had been smashed at the driver's cockpit.  The car in front of the bus waas smashed, totalled.  The Myvi in front of that was also wrecked.  Police and ambulances were everywhere.  Seeing the number of ambulances that had pasted us, and came back up the other way, we knew it must have been bad.  To be honest, I actually swore at being in the jam until I came to the cause; I felt bad but I now know I would feel worse later.

We were stuck in the jam for some 5 hours.  Never in the years travelling along the highway had I been in a jam this bad.  Traffic speed returned back to normal after the accident but we struggled to get home.  Nisa and I were tired and none of us could drive.  Jamie was ill.  On reaching Singapore, the customs chaps asked about the accident because returning cars must have brought back bits and pieces of information.  "Were any Spore cars involved?"  I said I did not know and again complained of the length of time I was stuck in the jam (I would now come to regret speaking so flippantly over something as trivial as this).

The next day, we read the true extent of the accident.  A bus travelling northwards lost control and came onto the south-bound lanes.  It hit another bus (the one we saw), and a few vehicles. 12 dead.  Over 50 injured.  Everytime I see an ambulance on the N-S Highway, I know someone is hurt; everytime I overtake an ambulance, I wished I could carry the injured, simply because I can travel quicker.  Waiting in a jam now seems so trivial, when compared to those hurt and dead.