A concerned Malaysian writes about Malaysian affairs. "You are the Change you Seek" Barack Obama

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Weakest Link - Really No Soft Options

We have reached a level of incompetence and "tiadapathy" that everytime a tragedy like the latest bus accident occurs, everyone in authority runs about like some headless chicken that has just been chopped and create a lot of noise.

The present government has been in power for umpteen years but it seems like the old story that some people gain experience and grow with the job while others stagnate and just accumulate more years making the same mistakes.

It seems that the authorities appear to be more the latter than the former. In fact we appear to be regressing as more rules are made and less enforcement is being carried out.

We have become so soft that the authorities are now planning to offer VSS to even to the worst employees who should have been sacked years ago. It seems that managers in the civil service do not know how to handle uncivil workers.

For this accident, the blame has been put on the "demerits" system that allowed this dangerous driver to escape the various loopholes.
To me the person who devised and implemented the system should be fired and I mean someone at the level of the Director-General or Asst DG.
That should surely send the message that the government means business with respect to road safety.

To ensure that only "clean" drivers are allowed to operate public vehicles I would use the MyKad as a security check and link it with the JPJ or other enforcement body. The bus company must input the driver's Mykad details and get a clearance for each road trip for express buses.

Any express bus trip that uses a "wanted" driver will result in both the bus driver and company official serving a mandatory jail term; perhaps one week for a first offence. Of course some skeptics will claim that all this only provides more "jalan" for corrupt officials but we must assume that the RMP is cleaning up their own house. In fact CVLB or the appropriate enforcement officials should regularly be stationed at express bus terminals to check the bus and driver logs.

The other disturbing news on road tragedies during the past week was the van in which five youths were killed and today's news where a 17-year old driver perished.
Parents, if you love your children, make sure you supervise their driving for a few weeks after they pass the test and do not allow them to drive solo untill you are comfortable with their driving skills.

Did you know that the following is not tested for learners?

1.Emergency braking procedure. Only theory tested no practical.
2.Overtaking as in country roads without the road divider.

I think that ignorance in these two procedures can cause many accidents.
I have had 1 daughter and 1 son take the Malaysian driving test and both were under supervision for at least a month before being allowed to drive solo.
Even so my daughter crashed into the back of another vehicle in a KL pileup as the brakes on the Kancil were less effective than the other vehicles as she was driving too close to the front car.

If you want them to drive make sure they do not cause more accidents and bring you much grief.

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