Yet another crash that claims 8 lives (at the time of writing) at the deadly Jelapang toll plaza of the North-South Expressway (NSE) near Ipoh recently. While work is under way to remove the Jelapang and Ipoh Selatan toll plazas giving a non-stop journey from Johor Bahru to Penang, the highway authorities should also take note of the Jalan Duta toll plaza in Kuala Lumpur.

Several mishaps had happened, although not as serious as the Jelapang toll plaza. Immediately after the Menora tunnel, there is a 4km long descent all the way till the toll plaza, causing brake failures particularly with heavy vehicles, resulting in them crashing onto other vehicles in the queue, or worse, onto the toll booth itself. Approaching the Jalan Duta toll plaza, there is also a descent immediately after the hills of Bukit Lanjan. Crashes happened before, although not deadly as the ones in Jelapang.

I used to travel very often from Teluk Intan to Kuala Lumpur exiting to the city via Jalan Duta until I shifted to Petaling Jaya 3 years ago where I would now use the Damansara exit. From my experience passing through the Jalan Duta toll plaza, I have seen many vehicles speeding at the descent towards the toll. There is no use imposing a low speed limit such as 80kph at that stretch. Shifting the toll plaza may not be the best way too given that there may not be any suitable location for relocation.

However, something ought to be done before any serious accidents occur. Perhaps, speed-breakers such as those yellow-painted bars should be put right from the beginning of the descent at the Bukit Lanjan hills all the way to the toll plaza. Warning indicators should be erected along the stretch to warn vehicles of the steep descent.