On The Roads - Festive Holiday Deaths

The first few days of Syawal were spent mostly with family. Either the younger ones come and visit us or we go out and seek our elders. The main purpose is of course to seek forgiveness while at the same time to exchange news, views or just to keep in-touch. Shaffik, Mini and their children were with us, so also Tessa. We drove down south in two cars and stayed in Ram’s sister’s house in Johor Bahru. Sita, Fahrul and Najla had gone up north to Fahrul’s parent’s house for the Eidl’Fitri celebrations. On the second day of Syawal they came down to be with us in the south. It has been the tradition, as I mentioned in my previous post that my siblings and their families gather together on the third Syawal every year. Hence, if the children had to be away from us on the first day of Syawal, usually to be with the other parents, then all will make it a point to join in the gathering on the third day. This day has always been the day the young ones look forward to every year. Some would prepare for it and practice their acts well in advance to be ready for presentation to all on this day. (Read my previous post on the Annual Family Gathering).

In the three days we were in the south, we managed to spend time with mum, visited quite a few of our close elders, visited our ancestral graves to offer prayers there, and had a wonderful time at the family gathering. After that it was time to go home. Sita had to go back to Terengganu as Fahrul had to go back to work on Monday. Siti and Shidah followed us back to PJ as they wanted to visit their brother-in-law who had been in ICU of the hospital since the first day of Syawal. We left Shidah’s house just after the after dusk prayers and reached home at about midnight. It was quite an easy drive as the traffic was moderate. We had expected the traffic to be heavy as it was a Sunday. Perhaps it is already late in the evening and most travelers have already reached their destinations.

It is common to have the roads and highways clogged with traffic on festive holidays or any holiday that follows a weekend. With it will be the usual reports of accidents and crashes, some of which causing loss of lives. This happens every festive holidays, involving motocycles, cars and public transport as well. The highway authorities, the police, the emergency services are always vigilant during festive periods or when there are extended weekend holidays. These are the times when the accident rate and road death statistic increases. Campaigns upon campaigns on road safety, road courtesy, manners and so on have been held but the statistics remain the same and in some instance increased. Why? If one were to ask anyone on this subject, all will agree that the individuals should drive carefully, observe the rules and regulations, think safety, think of the loved ones and so on and so on. None will say it is ok to drive recklessly, to disregard the traffic rules, to throw cautions to the wind, and yet when on the road, I see many driving recklessly, zig-zagging in traffic, tail-gating, driving on the emergency lane, overtaking dangerously.

Just this holiday season alone more than 160 deaths on the roads were reported. There are four major festive holidays in a year and the total deaths on the road would be quite a few hundreds. Isn’t this senseless? When would people wake up and heed the rules and regulations? The attitude of individuals always wanting to beat others to their destination, always wanting to be in front, always wanting to be the first, some call it ‘kiasu’ or not wanting to be beaten or lose out, is I think, the major reasons of these senseless death. Then there was the discovery that many drivers and motorcyclists were found without proper driving license, their proper driving skills in doubt, and some others found high on drugs. Why does this happen? The high number of accidents and deaths only goes to prove these facts are true. So, who is to blame? Is it the authorities, the parents and elders, the individuals or who? I just wonder. I wonder whether these senseless deaths will continue in the future as it had over the past many years, despite all the campaigns, reviews of the rules and regulations and their penalties, improvements on the conditions of the roads, of vehicles, stricter enforcements and so on. I wonder ……………..