Grab rider speeds through KL traffic jam via opposite lane; crashes into innocent, unsighted Honda Civic Leave a comment

This could be any of us, as scenarios such as this happen everyday in the city.

This video posted by Nizam Haji Darimi on Facebook shows a typical rush hour traffic jam scenario in KL city centre. The dashcam timestamp shows that it was yesterday evening, and from the buildings, this is Jalan Yap Kwan Seng from KLCC heading towards Jalan Tun Razak, with Megan Avenue on the left and Star Residences on the right.

A Grab rider zooms past the traffic jam, and he’s using the empty opposing lane. We don’t even bat an eyelid as this is such a common scene, and while it’s technically against the law, it’s also not very logical for bikes to sit in the queue like a car, more so a delivery rider. Not condoning, just being realistic.

The problem is that the rider is going fast and is unaware of vehicles coming out from the left. A red Honda Civic then turns out from the left towards KLCC – legally – and he/she proceeds as it’s all clear from the driver’s left, and the cars in the queue have (rightly) given room. The Grab rider collides with the Civic’s nose, sending him and the bike flying.

The Civic is an innocent party here – the driver inches out of the junction (he/she didn’t zoom out) but there’s just no way the driver would have seen the speeding bike from the opposite direction. We hope that the rider is OK and no bones were broken in the making of this dashcam video.

There’s nothing much we can do other than install a dashcam and being on high alert at junctions, not just where we must look, but all directions. Even so, one can still be unlucky. Drive safe.