The directive from works minister Fadillah Yusof comes in the wake of a crash in the emergency lane near the SUKE’s Bukit Teratai toll plaza on Sunday.
“I have instructed Prolintas to install speakers in areas identified as lookout points (for Kuala Lumpur) to complement the cameras already installed on the highway,” Fadillah told FMT.
In the incident, a motorcyclist was injured after crashing into a car parked on the 3m-wide emergency lane. It was the first collision on the SUKE since its opening on Friday.
Police said the driver had stopped to take pictures of the city.
The road shoulders on the highway segment between Bukit Teratai and Bukit Sungai Puteh have attracted motorists to stop briefly and enjoy Kuala Lumpur’s panoramic landscape.
Prolintas said nearly 100,000 vehicles had used Phase 1 of SUKE in the first 24 hours since it was opened. The 24.4 km expressway is 90% elevated.
It is learned that 40 units of CCTV have been installed at every kilometre in both directions of the highway.
Fadillah said the installation of speakers and electronic messages “will beef up the monitoring of viewing spots posing a safety risk”.
“The team in the CCTV control centre can send out swift warnings using the speaker and (electronic message) board to those who stop, for them to leave immediately. This procedure is quite similar to the practice in several cities in Indonesia and Japan.
“I have also requested Prolintas to work closely with the police to increase enforcement,” he said, adding that the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) would ease enforcement activities.
Fadillah was also pleased about the level of commitment of SUKE and other highway operators in Malaysia in enhancing the ITS application.
“We want to encourage a safe system on highways and federal roads to reduce crashes, ease the traffic and, most importantly, strive for safer roads.
“There are several elements of the ITS that can improve safety on the road network and this agenda is high in the Malaysian ITS Blueprint 2019-2023,” he said.