About time someone acted on this menace!
After experiencing the near-misses with some idiots on the road last week, I was wondering why Government have not acted on those riders. However, even that now Government has mentioned about it, I doubt that it will be successfully implemented especially in kampung and housing areas.
When I was at my uncle’s house, one of my cousins took the bike to buy lunch for us. He was not wearing helmet. So, I asked him to wear one because I feared for his safety. Guess what he replied me? He said “Don’t worry bother, there is no police here”. When I insisted, he took the helmet but put on the basket instead of his head. He remarked “I see a police, I will wear it”.
My cousin did not think about safety then. He knows that he has to wear one. But the lack of enforcement causes him to be more relaxed on wearing a helmet.
So, when the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said the Government had no choice but to take a tougher stand on the issue, I just wonder what kind of “tougher stand” that will be? How the enforcement will be done?
I have seen with my own eyes on several occasions that even the police are also not enforcing the law when they see riders without helmet during their patrol in housing areas. I agree that they may have something better to do rather than to chase a 15 year old who is not wearing helmet through the housing area.
What about the lame excuse such as the one that an imam in Lawan Kuda gave where he said that it is ok for not wearing helmet in the rural areas because there is less traffic? Being a motorcyclist for almost 13 years, I have seen that with less traffic around, some motorcyclist tend to speed up in these areas. So, a fall from the bike with or without heavy traffic makes no difference to the injuries that one get when his head hits on the tarmac.
Blitz on bikers without helmets? Guess that we just have to wait and see. The other menaces that the Government need to address too…illegal racing, riding with more than 2 people, etc.
Until then, let’s hope these riders will be off the road without endangering others…
(Picture source: http://www.wright-photo.com/)