Federal Highway bike lane crash – road safety experts call for skid tests on green-paint surface treatment

Questions have been raised about the safety of the painted stretch of the Federal Highway motorcycle lane near Subang during wet weather following a mishap involving multiple motorcycles. In a video posted on Threads, several motorcycles can be seen lying on the lane after their riders skidded and lost control on the stretch.

According to the post accompanying the video, the incident allegedly occurred during rainfall and was the second such incident at the location, the New Straits Times reports. The footage has prompted questions over whether the painted surface provides sufficient grip in wet conditions,

The footage has prompted questions over whether the painted surface – intended to highlight areas with a higher risk, including bends and exit lanes, alerting motorcyclists to exercise greater caution – provides sufficient grip in wet conditions. The incident has prompted road safety experts to call for skid-resistance tests to be carried out on the painted surface to establish if the coating used at the location provides sufficient traction under wet conditions.

Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) chairman Wong Shaw Voon said that while the idea of having a painted surface to warn riders of an accident-prone zone was good, repeated incidents at the same location warranted serious attention, and that further inspection and testing were needed. “We need to test the skid resistance on both dry and wet surfaces,” he said.

He said that a road’s grip could decline over time as its surface becomes ‘polished’, and warned riders against assuming that a newly painted surface allowed them to travel faster. “You cannot say, ‘Now I’m on a new road, so I can drive fast’,” he said, adding that taking a bend at high speeds causes a loss of grip regardless of surface quality, and regaining control is difficult once that happens. He added that many small motorcycles lack anti-lock braking systems (ABS), increasing the risk of wheel lock when braking while cornering.

While the video alone was not enough to prove the paint caused the falls, Universiti Putra Malaysia road safety research centre head Law Teik Hua said there does appear to be a legitimate safety concern following repeated loss-of-control incidents. He recommended a technical inquiry to assess whether the painted surface was slip-resistant enough under wet conditions, particularly during braking, acceleration or turning.

He said friction on the painted surface and adjacent bare asphalt should be measured and compared under wet conditions, along with factors such as drainage, surface texture, contamination, tyre condition, speed and rider paths.

“Research suggests that macrotexture is highly significant for wet performance since the texture allows effective drainage at the tyre-pavement contact patch. If the colour application shows significantly poorer wet friction performance compared to asphalt, the treatment area should not be applied at the bends. Alternatively, the application design could be revised to ensure satisfactory wet friction performance,” he said.

Following the incident, works minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the public works department (JKR) was examining the site to determine why the riders lost control at the section, and promised swift remedial action. It was indicated that the stretch on the motorcycle lane where the incident occurred will be resurfaced and fitted with a 40 km/h speed sign as an immediate mitigation measure.

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