KUALA LUMPUR: The Road Transport Department (RTD) should set up a special institution to check the backgrounds of bus driver candidates, apart from carrying out health checks and regulate their working hours.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the proposal would set a high standard for bus drivers.

“The new approach should be similar to the regulation practised by the Department of Civil Aviation for pilot’s licensing.

“It does not have to be the same, but the RTD can emulate the same approach. They (bus drivers) must be strictly controlled,” he told the New Straits Times yesterday.

He said there should be an acceptable standard for bus drivers, just like those in other transportation services.

Aziz supported the statement by Land Public Transport Commission chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Syed Albar that bus drivers deserved better fixed salaries and benefits.

He said it was time to revamp the old approach and come up with a new system to monitor the industry.

The changes, he said, should cover the management of bus companies.

On Monday, Syed Hamid said bus drivers deserved better fixed pay because due to their salaries at present, they had to earn extra income by making more trips, which affected their health.

He was commenting on the bus crash in Pagoh, Johor, on Saturday, where 14 people were killed, including the bus driver.

It was reported that the driver, Zakeer Zubir, had only three hours of sleep after driving for nine hours from Penang, before he was at the wheel again at 2am.

-New Straits Times