Put the brakes on our road terrors
There is just so little enforcement. The cops have their hands full. They can’t be everywhere.
Dorairaj Nadason, The Star
IT was wanton taking of a human life. A woman was crossing the road – at a pedestrian crossing, no less – when a motorcyclist just rode into her, flinging her screaming onto the road.
As his helmet fell to the ground, he rode off. An innocent woman going to buy groceries died because someone did not care for road traffic rules.
A man has been arrested and charged, but until he is found guilty and punished, it is not for us to judge him. We know though, that the man who knocked down 58-year-old Foo Swee Wah was not stopped anywhere for riding without a helmet. It was in busy Pulau Tikus, with a major police station nearby.
The fact is: he is not alone. Around the country, in villages, residential areas and even in major towns, motorists and motorcyclists continue to use our roads without the slightest care for traffic rules.
Many of them are young ones. The Mat Rempits continue to terrorise our streets.
Every Friday and Saturday night, they can be seen in many places – on highways all over the Klang Valley, in various parts of Penang island, even in little-known Kamunting in Taiping.
There is just so little enforcement. The cops have their hands full. They can’t be everywhere. In many cases, they do not want the hassle of arresting these kids and then spending hours at the courts.
Parents are also doing little to keep their children in check. In Old Klang Road and Petaling Jaya Selatan, both parts of the “major cities” of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, even parents can be seen breaking the law.
They ride their motorcycles with all their children on board – sometimes as many as four children ride with their parents. Patrol cars come alongside, ignore them and drive on.
The cops don’t want to know.
So, is it any surprise that the children have no respect for the law, either?
Look at the Mat Lajak of Johor. These are bicycle racers who do not care for the laws of the road, or for their own lives.
They ride their bicycles while standing up on the seat of moving bicycles, with one foot on the back fender. They speed downhill onto highways, their bodies lying prone on the lowered handles of their bicycles. They have almost no control over the vehicles and their lives are at risk.
Anything could happen. And it did.
Eight of them died in a single crash. And eight others were badly injured. A woman is now being charged over the deaths. There are many people who feel that the cyclists should be charged for traumatising the young driver.
And what of the Mat Lajak? They are back in numbers, as defiant as ever.
How many of the parents have been called up? How many have been made to pay for the mistakes of their children? Going by what has been reported, I would say none.
If the parents had to pay a hefty price, they may decide that enough is enough and keep their children in check.
These “mosquito bicycles” have no place on our roads. They are machines of suicide.
Tomorrow, the Kejara demerit scheme comes into place. We can only hope that it will help put an end to the nuisances on the road. Speeding drivers and those who run the red lights face demerit points.
But it has many teething weaknesses. It works with AES cameras and only in certain spots around the country. It will be years before it becomes a comprehensive system, encompassing all accidents and offences.
It is only to be hoped that the authorities will get tougher on motorcyclists and cyclists. Provide them with dedicated lanes, if necessary.
Preventing deaths on the roads must be the prime concern.
After all, there were 7,152 fatal accidents across the country last year and of that, 62% involved motorcycles. Those are just statistics on motorcycles but what of the cyclists?
It’s bad enough that even trained, skilful cyclists in proven racing bicycles, complete with illuminated and luminous apparel and helmets, have died in road accidents. We do not need “mosquito” nuisances on our roads.
There’s a WhatsApp message going around where a trucker says it’s easier for smaller vehicles to avoid him than it is for him to avoid them.
“So please don’t try to get in my way on the highway,” he says. The same goes for buses, cars and motorcycles and, further down the pecking order, the bicycles.
The Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar has asked that the death of eight teen cyclists be a lesson to parents.
“The dead will not come back, let them go, this is also a lesson to parents not to allow their children to go out at night.”
But are they heeding the lesson?
It’s one of those rare festive days today, with the Tamil Puthandu, Malayalee Vishu, Sikh Vaisaki, Christian Good Friday and Indochina’s water festivals all being celebrated. The writer, who can be reached at [email protected] wishes a happy celebration to all – and a safe drive home.
