With the Chinese New Year festivities wrapping up, thousands of Malaysians are getting back on the highways and returning home from their ‘kampungs‘. Back to the daily grind, y’all!
Of course, one of the things about the journey home that everyone dreads is the intense traffic, but it’s something everyone bears with gritted teeth. However, this jam on the Penang Bridge is a thing of nightmares!
Earlier this week on Tuesday (20th February) at around 11.15am, a lorry filled with sand reportedly overturned and crashed into a divider at km7.6 heading towards the mainland.
Source: The Star
Sand was spilt across the road, blocking the entire three-lane bridge and bringing traffic to a standstill. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
In a report by the New Straits Times, the accident was one of the worst in the last two years, and caused a 6km crawl from the bridge heading towards the mainland. Four traffic policemen were initially deployed to the scene to monitor the situation and report back to the control room.
However, when they arrived, they noticed how bad the accident actually was and decided to help clear up the sand-covered lanes using shovels to ease the traffic. They reportedly did not receive any instructions from their superiors to do so, either!
“If it is a solid item like ice cubes or meat, it can be easily carried to the side of the road but this was something else… on a whole new level of difficulty – sand,” one of the officers, Corporal Azidin Ahamad told the daily.
Source: NST
“We refused to stand there and do nothing about it. I know how it feels to be stuck in a massive traffic congestion.”
“So, we asked for help from other lorries plying the road if they had shovels. We then used them to clear up the road and opened up two lanes to ease the congestion.”
Thanks to their efforts, the road ended up being cleared and reopened about 4 hours later at 3pm that same day.
These four policemen have since been rewarded for their dedication, as Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng presented each of them with RM250 along with certificates of appreciation.
Source: NST
The chief minister was quoted as saying,
“Instead of being the usual traffic policemen who monitor the traffic, they got down dirty and cleared the sand spill by themselves. This is an example for others, that at times, we must go the extra mile for the people.”
Hats off to these dedicated policemen. We’re glad the accident got cleared out efficiently and no one was hurt!
Also read: M’sians Praised for Showing Civic Consciousness During PLUS Road Accident
