Woman loses child in crash, trailer driver fined RM10,000 for careless driving

GERIK: A trailer driver involved in a road crash involving several vehicles on the Gerik-Jeli East -West Highway (JRTB) in October last year, which resulted in a pregnant woman suffering a miscarriage, was fined RM10,000 by the Magistrate's Court here today for careless and inconsiderate driving.

Magistrate Savinder Singh Jugindar Singh meted out the fine, in default 12 months jail, on Alias Awang, 49, who pleaded guilty to the charge.

The magistrate also ordered the particulars of Alias' conviction to be endorsed on his driving licence.

Alias was charged with driving the trailer without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other road users at KM69 JRTB Gerik-Jeli here at about 10.50 am on Oct 29 last year.

The charge was framed under Section 43(1) of the Transport AQct 1987 which provides a fine of between RM5,000 and RM10,000 and shall also be liable to imprisonment for up to 12 months, if found guilty, and the particulars of the conviction to be endorsed on his driving licence.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Nor Atiyah Shafiee requested for the court to impose an appropriate sentence on Alias as a lesson.

However, a lawyer from the National Legal Aid Foundation, Nur Murni Che Mood, representing Alias, requested a lower fine, saying that her client was not speeding and the crash occurred due to the condition of the road and its surface, causing the load (ceiling) in the trailer to slip and fall.

She said it was also her client's first offence and that his guilty plea saved the court's time and cost.

Alias has four children, aged nine to 10, and his wife is a housewife.

According to the facts of the case, the ceiling load on the trailer slipped and fell, hitting four vehicles coming from the opposite direction, and causing a passenger, who is eight months pregnant with her first child, in one of the vehicles to suffer a miscarriage.

Alias paid the fine.

-- BERNAMA