SHAH ALAM: A signboard along the Federal Highway came crashing down around 3pm yesterday when a crane on a lorry crashed into the signboard near the Batu Tiga toll plaza and dragged it along the highway for almost 150 metres.
The lorry driver, who only wanted to be known as Mat, 40, said he thought his lorry could pass through successfully under the signboard but panicked after he realised the crane had been too high.
“I really could not determine the situation at the back of the lorry. I have to rely on my colleague at the back of the lorry to signal to another colleague sitting next to me as to whether the lorry and crane can pass through low-hanging signage,” he told reporters at the scene.
Unfortunately, he said he did not receive any prior warning from his colleagues and only after the crane had hit the billboard, he heard a warning horn from the colleague at the back of the lorry.
However, it was already too late to stop as the signboard was already falling.
“I decided to drag the signboard to the side of the road about 150 metres away to prevent a worse traffic jam. Luckily no one was injured,” he said.
The incident caused traffic to crawl on both sides of the toll plaza for three kilometres and the wreckage was finally cleared around 7pm.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Shah Alam traffic police chief deputy superintendent Goh Lee Shen said he had not received any report on the fallen signboard though he confirmed that an incident involving a lorry had occurred near the Batu Tiga toll in the direction from Petaling Jaya towards Shah Alam around 3pm.