Well, my fb friend Ina Monde (pic) wrote this piece I am posting (in italic) below in verbatim which I think is worthy of mention... an everyday hazard kids face. It is also every parent's silent prayer for their kids safe return from school ! And boy , it sure needs some urgent addressing by the various authorities and the public at large !Have we become soooooo bloody stupid when we get behind the wheel or even when on a motorbike ? I for one have never seen a motor-cyclist completely coming to a halt at a red-light.....they somehow stop carelessly throttling to see if there are any cops around and before you know it.....vrooom they're off, with no regard to wait for the light to turn green !
How effective are cameras at selected street junctions ? Maybe they should have an in-built camera that go snap-snap on the red and amber lights itself ! Then again.....do the authorities really care....when their own kids are chauffeured to and from whereveeeeeer ??
Thank you Ina....and Godbless !
This is her story......
I was driving back from sending Chay Chay to school and came to a pedestrian crossing traffic light. The light turned red and naturally I stopped. A boy of about 12 was on the left side of the road waiting for the lights to turn green so he can cross the road.
Suddenly on my left, a van filled full factory workers screeched beside me and stopped just in time. On my right, a car slowed down but didn’t totally come to a halt and when I turned to look at the driver, he was peering around trying to see if there is anybody trying to cross the road. I bet you penny to a pound that he would have just sped off if not for the fact that he can see the boy timidly taking his hesitant steps, looking at us anxiously while crossing the road.
I followed the boy with my eyes as he paced and he too locked his eyes on us, probably not confident that the red light is enough to stop the traffic. A few motorbikes disrespectfully whizzed pass behind the boy making my blood curdle. As soon as the boy crossed the first 3 lanes, the van and the car on my right and left went off without waiting for the green light. I looked at them and cursed under my breath, like as if this is the first time I'd seen that. The boy crossed successfully through the next 3 lane road and I thank the heavens above for that.
This is what I see every day and at every road I take. I am sure all parents who has schooling children shares my concern on this matter. Even if you are not, the thought of your loved ones exposed to this kind of avoidable danger is horrifying. What goes on the minds of these drivers, I cannot imagine but I wonder what would their minds be thinking if its their kids who were trying to cross the road and something like the above happened? Would they just slow down but not halt relying on the judgment of a kid to understand that he can still cross the road but he better make it fast. The best part is some of the more abiding motorist would have been given the honk for stopping at pedestrian crossings.
So, where is the root cause of the problems? How did we become so uncaring? So many traffic campaigns have been launched but it seems it falls on deaf ears. As children, we were taught some of the traffic aspects like how to cross the road, what are zebra crossings etc. However, once we got our wheels, all the things we learned seemed to be ignored. The sentiment that almost everybody have is, as long as it is not somebody I know, it didn’t matter that much, I need to rush to that destination, pronto!
I think it comes down to love. We don’t love enough. We don’t feel enough. We don’t care enough. We feel so heart broken for the victims of calamities and tragedy cases around the world but we don’t pay two hoot on the calamities that we can avoid on our roads.
Frankly, I am not one to complain without giving possible solutions but all the solutions I can think of have already been carried out. Fines, media awareness, deterrent traffic offense police, gadgets, jail sentences…you name it, we have tried it! I have run out of avenues. Is there anything else that can be done to coax our motorists not to be so selfish? Should there be re branding in our campaigns and make it more children oriented? Can Yasmin Ahmad concoct one of those tearful advertisements that feature young people as victims? Maybe our scientists can come up with a 'love' pill, prescribed to those with the selfish driver symptoms.
Would turning to the divine power be too cliche? Everyday, on top of sending my kids to school myself, I pray for my kids and all the kids in the school so that they are protected from heartless Malaysian motorists. I wonder sometimes, these kids, what kind of motorist would they be one day, having presented with our examples?
Could something like this work?
Suddenly on my left, a van filled full factory workers screeched beside me and stopped just in time. On my right, a car slowed down but didn’t totally come to a halt and when I turned to look at the driver, he was peering around trying to see if there is anybody trying to cross the road. I bet you penny to a pound that he would have just sped off if not for the fact that he can see the boy timidly taking his hesitant steps, looking at us anxiously while crossing the road.
I followed the boy with my eyes as he paced and he too locked his eyes on us, probably not confident that the red light is enough to stop the traffic. A few motorbikes disrespectfully whizzed pass behind the boy making my blood curdle. As soon as the boy crossed the first 3 lanes, the van and the car on my right and left went off without waiting for the green light. I looked at them and cursed under my breath, like as if this is the first time I'd seen that. The boy crossed successfully through the next 3 lane road and I thank the heavens above for that.
This is what I see every day and at every road I take. I am sure all parents who has schooling children shares my concern on this matter. Even if you are not, the thought of your loved ones exposed to this kind of avoidable danger is horrifying. What goes on the minds of these drivers, I cannot imagine but I wonder what would their minds be thinking if its their kids who were trying to cross the road and something like the above happened? Would they just slow down but not halt relying on the judgment of a kid to understand that he can still cross the road but he better make it fast. The best part is some of the more abiding motorist would have been given the honk for stopping at pedestrian crossings.
So, where is the root cause of the problems? How did we become so uncaring? So many traffic campaigns have been launched but it seems it falls on deaf ears. As children, we were taught some of the traffic aspects like how to cross the road, what are zebra crossings etc. However, once we got our wheels, all the things we learned seemed to be ignored. The sentiment that almost everybody have is, as long as it is not somebody I know, it didn’t matter that much, I need to rush to that destination, pronto!
I think it comes down to love. We don’t love enough. We don’t feel enough. We don’t care enough. We feel so heart broken for the victims of calamities and tragedy cases around the world but we don’t pay two hoot on the calamities that we can avoid on our roads.
Frankly, I am not one to complain without giving possible solutions but all the solutions I can think of have already been carried out. Fines, media awareness, deterrent traffic offense police, gadgets, jail sentences…you name it, we have tried it! I have run out of avenues. Is there anything else that can be done to coax our motorists not to be so selfish? Should there be re branding in our campaigns and make it more children oriented? Can Yasmin Ahmad concoct one of those tearful advertisements that feature young people as victims? Maybe our scientists can come up with a 'love' pill, prescribed to those with the selfish driver symptoms.
Would turning to the divine power be too cliche? Everyday, on top of sending my kids to school myself, I pray for my kids and all the kids in the school so that they are protected from heartless Malaysian motorists. I wonder sometimes, these kids, what kind of motorist would they be one day, having presented with our examples?
Could something like this work?
3 comments:
Dear Stephen,
It starts with the driving school and obtaining a licence. Until today can "kau tim" if you know what I mean. Every day we are putting killers on the road. In terms of law enforcement, until today, can also "kau tim". Killers can remain on the road. This culture must stop and the responsibility lies with the goverment of the day.
Our education system trains the young to achieve one thing - score as many As as possible and damn the rest. The young are not taught manners, are not taught how to preserve the environment, are not taught that littering is wrong. Our young are taught to become doctors, lawyers, bankers. Our young are taught that achieving your ambition is an end to itself. The means dont matter. Now that's called Malaysia Boleh. Cheers from Tanjong Rambutan Pub.
pls go to ' the might of the pen' to watch video how a mate 'handles' a kid !
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