PLUS Malaysia will be using drones for the monitoring of traffic on select locations in its highways across the coming Chinese New Year festive season, Bernama reported. The use of drones is aimed at providing information on the movement and flow of traffic on the highways as well as optimising the use of social media, said PLUS chairman Datuk Mohamad Nasir Ab Latif.

“Based on research and analysis, PLUS expects the number of vehicles on the highway to be higher between January 22 and 28 and between January 31 and February 1,” the chairman said at the launch of Ops Selamat 16/2020, adding that PLUS expects about two million vehicles to use the highways during the Chinese New Year holidays, representing an 18% increase from 1.7 million on normal weekdays.

Traffic flow along the North-South Highway during the festive season will be managed by 5,000 PLUS staff on duty, said Mohamad Nasir.

“If needed, PLUS with the approval of the Royal Malaysia Police will open tidal flow lanes in certain locations. In addition, maintenance works that require lane closures will be temporarily halted to allow road users to enjoy uninterrupted travel,” he said. The highway operator also advised users to refer to the PLUS travel time advisory (TTA) for the planning of their journeys.

-paultan