Malaysia has one of the highest rate of road accidents in the world especially during the school holiday or festive seasons, example Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and so on where people will go back to their hometown. Much effort has been taken yet the mortality rate due to mishaps on the road continues to escalate.
Speeding has been identified as the main cause of accidents. Motorists, as well as motorcyclists tend to treat the highways as race tracks. They even race illegally in most urban areas. Many cannot control their machines and vehicles and end up killing themselves and innocent people like the other road user and passer-by. What can be seen is speedtraps and police road blocks have not been a good deterrent for many since they are still doing the same thing.
Undeniable, overloading by lorry drivers also causes them to lose control especially when they are coming downhill and this lead to the accident. The brakes overheat and lose their grip on the wheelbase. This has resulted in many accidents especially in tool booths and at exits to town and cities.
Many motorists do not adhere to the road traffic ordinance. They do not slow down in housing areas , beat traffic lights and throw caution to the wind. Their negligence in driving has taken its toll.
Besides, one of the most obvious causes is drivers are known for tailgating, queue jumping, road hogging and turning without adequate signals. Many motorists park their vehicles at restricted areas such as kerbs, corners, and where other motorists are unable to have a clear view. This has contributed to the increase in accidents.
Furthermore, unfavourable road conditions such as potholes, bottlenecks, steep gradients, high speedbreakers and others such as flood, prone highways and roads have caused more mishaps.
Inadequate streetlighting, bad road planning where there are blind corners and confusing road signs have worsened this problem. Some roads are narrow and when motorists park by the sides, the area becomes an accident prone area.
Much effort has taken by the authorities yet the road accidents are still continues to escalate. Road safety campaigns, educating road users and stringent law enforcement which beleived will nip this problem in the bod have been carried out, but the accidents are still in increase. Therefore, in my opinion, it is pointless that the authorities had done and plan so many things since there are no co-operation from the citizen. It is their own attitude which determines whether will they obey the rules and regulations. The irresponsible drivers feel that speeding is just a small matter and no need to be too overact but they do not know that while they are throwing their caution to the wind, at the same times they are threaten other innocent road users. They are not only end up killing themselve but also the innocent ones.
The national road council must rectify accident prone areas and promote safety as well as defensive driving techniques among our motorists and motorcyclists. The authorities had constructed separate lanes for motorcyclists to avert mishaps with cars, lorries and buses but it is not all road are completely separated. Besides, some of the motorcyclist are also not obey the rules by not busing the facalities that have been constructed for them.
In addition, heavy vehicles also should be prohibited from using the roads during peak hours and festive seasons. They should allow a time frame to prevent unnecessary accidents. Pedestrians must be taught on road safety and the most important thing is everyone must make an effort to reduce the fatality on the roads.
"INGATLAH ORANG YANG TERSAYANG !"
That's all from me this time, thank you.
Sincerely from,
Shoo May
