Monday, October 05, 2015

19 deaths a day and you know who you can blame?

The world's deadliest roads

Why, Najib Razak, of course! I am typing this very slowly because of a swan neck finger injury suffered in a minor bike vs bike crash recently. The pain would wake me up some nights but I am grateful that it hadn't been more serious. Reading Life of Annie's weekend, sudden solo campaign on Road Safety (and watching those terrible clips) makes me realize how lucky I have been. 

Thanks to Annie, I now know that 19 Malaysians die in road crashes every day. That's like 7,000 a year! Half of them bikers. Most of them young and healthy. 

Indeed, Malaysia has one of the world's deadliest roads and yet it's seemingly business as usual. Some of Annie's readers are so angered and frustrated they are holding the Prime Minister responsible!





Of course it is not fair to blame the Prime Minister for the deaths, just like it's nonsensical to blame him for the ringgit woes or for the haze. 

Nonetheless. this is an area I believe the Najib Administration should pay more heed to and can make a big difference. Make it a national priority to bring down the number of accidents and deaths on the road. We don't care who you blame - blame everyone and anyone you like - but the government must spend more (money, resources, time, whatever it takes) to make our roads safer and our young ones live longer and happier. I hear the government's budget on road safety campaigns has been cut drastically over the years. Why is that so? And where are the corporate citizens, shouldn't they be concerned, too?

Annie's commenter has a point: if the authorities are weak in enforcing the law, nobody's going to respect them, both the law and the authorities. When that happens, you can't blame people when they start blaming the authorities ...


Read also:-
Annie's road safety trilogy:
19 died everyday, 2 Oct
19 died everyday (Part 2), 2 Oct
Ramblings on pomelo for gods and more deaths on the road, 3 Oct



11 comments:

  1. sanitarium11:03 am

    maybe you should take that as a sign din. quit defending the indefensible and maybe your finger will get better.

    just a thought

    ReplyDelete
  2. As a biker (only kapcai) I have on few occasion, narrowly missed, logs(used as wedge, usually slid under lorries carriage, hauling heavy machinery. Once, come across spare tire, laying in the middle of the road. Had to stop and move it to the side of the road.

    I suggest JPJ or the Police, not just check for; illegal immigrant, crooks, license and road-tax expiry only. Check also for loose objects or loose spare tires,hanging at the rear-carriage. For lorries: even the canvas tightening-buckle, must no be loose.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe lay Sanitarium.
    Or maybe you want to see the middle finger that's hurting?

    :-) Just kidding.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:41 pm

    Ringgit weak bcoz of gomen's weak economic fundamentals.
    Definitely we cant blame him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:18 pm

    Kemalangan ini adalah bukti wujudnya komplot untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan yang dinaungi Najib.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Saraly11:24 pm

    Nowadays everyone wants donation to get things done. Period. The fish rots at the head first. Period. Haze, earthquake, planes gone and shot at like flies, The Chinese and Malays distrust, salary stagnation except for donation prone lawmakers. And we surprised people get radicalised. A sad period 4 Malaysia indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7:32 am

    Rocky, do a write-up on petronas debacle in British Columbia, Canada, bro

    ReplyDelete
  8. thailand n indonesia tak masuk pun in the nego TPPA...ini baru negara berprinsip... bukan hamba abdi anyone...

    while, msia kwn baik amerika mcm apa entah... protes hari jumaat pandai 2 jam... lps tu smua pro USA...

    hidup njib...

    ReplyDelete
  9. budaya merempit ni kenapa 100% mlayu??
    itulah..

    suruh blajar English, tak mahu...
    merempit n berkepit dengan awek jer tau...

    tak malu ker uols..??

    memang aku slahkan ayahanda Jib... perangai bapak borek anak rintik..
    sama 2 playboy kan.. pi cri balik hikayat s*xs njib n r@sma janda 3...

    Tun mahathir suruh learn English, tak mau... kononnya BM hilang... padahal bangsa lain senang jer omong2 3 language or 4 n more...

    piiraah

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5:16 pm

    Datuk...do a write up on the statement by Conference of Rulers please. Would love to see your take on it

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rocky,
    As usual you try to make as though everything is blamed on the PM, who has done nothing wrong. He's such a willing and good punching bag for everything that has gone wrong for Malaysia. He must be a hero. Good try. Can see through you. Keep up bro, while trying to cover his tracks.

    ReplyDelete