When they will ever learn?
The Star on Monday reported that “If only he had worn a helmet, Maniam Murugan might not have been killed when the motorcycle he was riding hit a stalled bus on Friday. It was not that the 33-year-old labourer from Temenggung flats in Kulai did not have a helmet; police found one in the carrier of his motorcycle.”
Sounds like typical Malaysian story. Irrespective of what background you come from, you can find such “heroes” in each one of it.
This reminds of my experience I had couple of years ago where me and my friends were driving through a small town when a motorcyclist came out from no where and was knocked down by my friend’s car. The motorcyclist was an old man carrying his small grandson on the basket. Of course, soon after there was a big crowd gathered and we found ourselves surrounded by the locals “lawyers” who pointed our wrong-doing. There were several mistakes by the motorcyclist:-
1. He was not wearing any helmet (just had a songkok) nor did he care to have helmet on his grandson
2. Was riding on the wrong side of the road
3. Had no license and road tax
4. His riding was not predictable (he rode as if it was his father’s road)
Luckily the police who was passing by at that moment had the same opinion as ours and my friend managed to get some money from the old man for the slight damage on his car. Luck was certainly on the old man’s side as he and his grandson got away with their lives.
If only my friend had speed up (as he normally have), it is likely to cause a serious injuries. Nonetheless, I don’t think that old man learned his lessons from the way he reacted. Until then, we will still find such headlines in the local newspapers