The cycling tragedy is far from over
When cyclists become a menace, the authorities and not just the parents alone, must find ways to contain, control and regulate these individuals.
By TK Chua
When reading these three articles: “Call to ban underage youth from late night loitering in city”; “You can’t fault the state for cycling tragedy”; and “Stop blaming us, say parents of cycling tragedy victims”, I can’t help but feel a sense of indignation and disappointment.
Typical of knee jerk reactions, I am sure there will be lots of accusations, suggestions and discussions in the next few days on how to tackle the problem of teenagers cycling and loitering along our highways and city roads in the wee hours of the morning.
But I sincerely hope the discussions will not end in the same way as those about the fatal bus accidents on our highways. These series of discussions typically last for a week or two before everything reverts to “normal”.
When a major social problem presents itself, the relevant authorities must first study it thoroughly before coming up with holistic and comprehensive solutions. Off the cuff solutions don’t help much, neither does pushing the responsibility to other parties.
The Deputy Home Minister wants underage teenagers to be banned from loitering along our highways and other public places by a certain time every day. He also said the police were short-handed and not the best suited to handle underage teenagers.
Meanwhile, both the federal and state governments are disclaiming jurisdiction over and responsibility for this social problem. This is the funny part – the federal government thinks this problem should be handled by the state and local authorities while they in turn think this is the responsibility of the parents. I guess the parents are at the bottom of the food chain.
We have a multi-tiered government system with a bloated civil service, but each time a problem crops up, we cite lack of jurisdiction and insufficient personnel to tackle the task at hand.
It is time for the authorities to realise that there are no simple solutions to complex problems. When cyclists become a menace, it is no longer just the problem of the parents. The authorities must find a way to contain, control and regulate these individuals.
When there are overlapping and ambiguous jurisdictions or responsibilities, the governing authorities must sort this out. The police force, the most important enforcing agency in the country, is not under the state or local authorities. The police must assist and extend cooperation when requested. The police cannot cite the age of the teenagers or lack of manpower as reasons to push the problem to the state or local authorities.
Similarly, the state and local authorities cannot push everything to the parents. They too must consult with the parents and explore other avenues to solve this menace.
Please don’t look to me for solutions as some of you are in the habit of doing. I am not the president of the local authority, a state exco or the state police chief.
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
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