The drivers, identified as DH, 45, and S, 40, were driving overloaded freight trucks, which the police believe had affected the brake system when the vehicles went downhill at the 91-kilometer point of the toll road, leading to the accident.
n investigation into a multi-vehicle crash on the Purbaleunyi section of the Bandung-Jakarta or Cipularang toll road in Purwakarta regency, West Java, has resulted in the naming of two drivers as suspects for allegedly causing the road accident that has claimed eight lives.
The drivers, identified as DH, 45, and S, 40, were driving overloaded freight trucks, which the police believe had affected the brake system when the vehicles went downhill at the 91-kilometer point of the toll road, leading to the accident.
Purwakarta Police chief Adj. Comr. Sr. Matrius said the result of investigation involving the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), West Java Transportation Agency and the National Police’s traffic department, found that the accident started when the two trucks passed the road on Monday.
DH, the driver of a dump truck, lost control of his vehicle when driving downhill on the toll road, causing the truck to tip on its side. Around 18 cars behind it decided to slowdown and eventually stopped on the road, Matrius said.
When the cars waited for the truck to be removed from the road, a sand-loaded truck driven by S experienced brake failure ─ allegedly related to its overloading ─ while going downhill and crashed into the awaiting vehicles.
“Our inspection into the vehicle roadworthy test [KIR] certificates of the trucks found that their maximum freight capacity was 12 tons,” Matrius said on Wednesday, “However, the two trucks […] carried around 37 tons of load or 25 tons more than [the capacity].”
According to the police, the overloading had caused the trucks to experience break failure, causing the drivers to face difficulties in controlling the vehicles’ speed when going downhill.
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