For four years, a lorry driver plied the roads and highways of Malaysia, presumably without ever getting into an accident or being stopped by police for any reason.
Then, on the morning of Sunday, February 21, outside the Taman Berjaya market in Nibong Tebal, he found his way blocked by 22 parked cars and two motorcycles. He drove through and damaged the vehicles. Did he think he could drive nimbly between them? Some witnesses said he was acting like a crazy man. Was he furious over the haphazard parking?
Several hours after the outrage, he gave himself up at the Seberang Perai Selatan police headquarters. The police were shocked to find that he had been driving without a licence since 2012.
Some questions remain unanswered.
Is he a self-employed man who owned the lorry and used it for his business? Or is he employed by someone else to drive the lorry? Whatever the case, he needs a licence to drive the lorry. If he works for someone else, it’s that person’s responsibility to ensure that he has a licence to drive a lorry.
How did he manage to escape this simple check? And does the lorry carry an insurance? Is it roadworthy?
Anyone who drives in Malaysia knows that there is no escaping road blocks on some days. There are checks for umpteen reasons – to see if drivers are licensed and their vehicles insured; to check if documents are in order, especially with heavy vehicles; to check if a lorry or van is overladen; and so on. How on earth did this driver escape the many police and Road Transport Department checks?
Malaysian drivers are notorious for their selfish and aggressive behaviour. We lack courtesy and we get into a rage when something does not go our way or when someone displays road manners than are worse than ours. We break the highway code when we can. When caught, we try to avoid being fined by using these magic words: “Boleh settle tak?”
Anyone who has visited a local market, especially on a Saturday or Sunday morning, would know the mayhem caused by double or triple-parked cars, cars parked in the middle of the road, cars that block entrances to homes or businesses, and selfish shop owners who lay claim to parking spots in front of their premises by placing stools or chairs there.
Where are the traffic police when you need them most? If the owners of double-parked cars and cars which block other vehicles were always fined, the problem of selfish and arrogant drivers would probably vanish overnight. Furthermore, the coffers of the Road Transport Department would show a healthy balance.
To deter people from breaking the highway code, there should be severe punishment in the form of heavy fines, penalty points, the revocation of licences or even incarceration. Repeat offenders should be punished more severely.
We need zero tolerance of bad driving habits so that we can inculcate the habit of good driving. We need enforcement officers to do their jobs instead of lining their pockets.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT reader.