Kuala Lampur, Sept. 6 -- We have all been there: cruising down the PLUS Expressway or a federal road, only to find ourselves boxed in by towering 40-tonne trailers and cement trucks.

For many Malaysian drivers, it is an anxiety-inducing experience and a recent tragedy on the East Coast Expressway (LPT 1) has once again shown exactly why those fears are justified.

Over a recent six-year period, accidents involving heavy vehicles claimed 1,457 lives in Malaysia. That equates to one death every 36 hours.

The terrifying physics of heavy vehicle accidents became front-page news again on the night of August 31, 2026.

Around 10.55pm, at KM110.3 of LPT 1 near Lanchang, Temerloh, a cement tanker lorry lost control and ploughed into a line of s...