Another One Bites The Dust

Friday 26th June 2009

The world was stunned by the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. But for me, the shock didn't end there. A late 20's motorcyclist slipped and fell off his bike, on a highway whilst doing 110 km/h, an inch away next to my car.

I was on my way to Taiping from Subang Jaya to go back to my 'kampung' (Grandparents' house) via North-South Expressway, the journey starts off with a fairly bright afternoon, but ends with a very gloomy evening. En route to Bukit Gantang R&R, the weather starts to rain heavily. Knowing how Malaysian drivers are, even through the thick weather they still manage to overtake cars like Formula one drivers, and (surprisingly) without using car signals. Thus, simple arithmetic created, (expressway add bad weather) multiply by typical Malaysian drivers equal to staying very vigilant.

Rarely as this may come to you, I came across one or two motorcyclist who were speeding faster than they would normally rode on dry condition. To confuse me even more, some of them even took the initiative to take over vehicles on the inside lane rather than staying on the motorcycle lane (emergency lane). The only words I can think of is "What is wrong with these people, don't they want to live?"

After a short while, I was drafting this commercial van for a period of time, due to the heavy, and when I saw the chance to overtake it, all of the sudden this one motorcyclist came out of blue and overtook me from the inside lane. When he got in front of me, his back tyre threw him off a bit, he skidded, but still manage to stand on his two wheel after that. Obviously I was surprise. Funny thing is that he hardly look like a typical 'mat rempit'. So where does that 'courageous stunt' coming from? Then when I was sure the line is clear, I overtake the van.

Ever since that, I was having a very agitated feeling of that motorcyclist. At first I simply ignored it, but as I watched further, the motorcyclist keep on skidding twice or more on his bike. Definitely there's something not right. Five minutes afterward, I came across a lorry. Waiting for a moment to overtake it. When the moment arise, I turn on the signal light to overtake it. Twisted the steering wheel to get on the fast lane. Soon after I was side by side with this lorry, then all of the sudden the motorcyclist whom I was referring to earlier somehow turned and look at my direction as if it was an opportunity. I didn't took my eyes off him for a second because I know something wrong is about to happen. He then cuts in between us, a lorry and a 7 seater vehicle. I was saying to myself, "What is he doing?" Then, all of the sudden, he skidded again, and this time the two wheels didn't stay on the ground, he instantly fell on his left side (which happen to be where the lorry is). The next thing I saw was his bike flipping upside down and the impact sound his bike hitting the road. When I turned to look at the back, all I can see is the sparks created by the bike, and several small dots of headlights behind me. The trailer stopped immediately. I couldn't say much about what happen to the motorcyclist because all I saw was him falling on his left side, the bike flipped along the middle lane without hitting neither of us, and the lorry braked instantly. There is nothing in the news regards of the event on the next day, nor the day after, so all we can wish is for the best, but god knows.

Throughout the journey, all I can think of is why did he do it? Can't he just use the motorcycle lane to overtake us? And also, if someone in their right mind, if they happen to skid more than once, they would either ride very slowly or even stopped to check what is wrong. His action doesn't justify any normal behaviour. To pointed out that he is a typical 'mat rempit', his age appearance does begs to differ. So what is to be the cause of this, and several others incidents to happen? Is it demographic or lack of common sense? Sure levels of education give an impact towards one's intellect, but in this case it's common sense, is it not? Charles Darwin Nature's Law in his theory "Survival Of The Fittest", even animals has a common sense of surviving, how can a human being not capable of this?

To me there is only two solution to eradicate this problem:

• Educate
• Persuade

Again, I stress on the important role of Driving schools. Nowadays there are too many driving school available in the market, and sadly, most of them are irresponsible. Some of them just barely teach how to drive and then leave you be. Not to long ago, some of them even wave licence without even have to go through the JPJ procedures. This is absurd! These driving schools should be responsible of their students' education and be accountable of their graduates' actions. Should a graduate of a particular driving school involved in an accident and are proven it was his/her fault, then some sort of punishment should be impale towards that driving school. Also, education such as road ethics and respect towards the law and jurisdiction should be implemented. Ong Tee Keat, please do something!

The other alternative is to enforce the law, even on the expressway. We can see many developed countries installed CCTV cameras and speed traps alongside their highway/motorway. This is done to counteract individuals who mistreat the law. Having said that, our expressway should also install CCTV cameras and speed traps, at least at accident prone areas, as this will act as a reminder for individuals who doesn't respect the law. If such event to occur, then the authority should take action, either by fine or jail time. Furthermore, patrol cars can also enforce the law on expressway. A schedule patrol by the authority will definitely cut the numbers of accidents down.