Many things have been said about Malaysians and their behaviour on the road. Apparently, Malaysians are the “coolest” people on earth as long as they are not driving. It is not my point to prove or counter this argument but to point out how Malaysian drivers tend to behave when they witness or drive past an accident.
About 530,000 accidents involving some 970,000 vehicles take place on Malaysian roads nationwide a year, which amount to RM9.3 billion in losses. Road accidents are becoming such a common sight today for various reasons. The reasons may be plenty but the focus of this article is on the inconvenience and loss of income and time caused by road accidents.
Any road accident is bound to attract the attention of passers-by. However, in Malaysia, the tendency to slow down one’s vehicle and take in as much as the eye can see has become a compulsion, causing much dismay to other road users.
On average, if each driver who slows down uses up 10 seconds, then 50 drivers passing the scene will use up 500 seconds, equivalent to eight minutes, while a hundred drivers will use up approximately sixteen minutes.
Since an average of 530,000 accidents takes place in a year – and based on 10 seconds per driver per accident – 5,300,000 seconds will be used up, equivalent to 122 hours or five days a month.
Hence, on average, five whole days are lost every month due to this habit of motorists slowing down when passing by an accident in which they are not at all involved.
Taking photographs of the accident with one’s mobile phone has now become the norm among many Malaysians. Such pictures, some too gory to be imagined, are transmitted at top speed via various social media channels. These photos can be shocking to look at, so we can imagine the grief and anguish the family members of the victims would feel when the pictures are circulated.
The people who post the photographs are simply selfish and thoughtless and proud of their so-called photography skills. They seem to know nothing about respecting the privacy of the victims and sympathising with those who may be in mourning.
Another annoying problem is the unnecessary delay caused by these onlookers. My good friend Thomas, who inspired me to write this article, experienced a 35-minute delay while driving home from the airport one day due to motorists slowing down their vehicles to gawk at an accident.
None of them pulled over to offer their help but were simply engrossed in viewing the entire incident while driving at the speed of a turtle, ignoring other drivers who may have more important matters to attend to.
When caught in a jam, especially on roads that seldom experience such traffic crawls, drivers tend to question the reason for the congestion. Eventually, when the congestion clears up and you realise that it is caused by nosy passers-by who had slowed down to look at an accident or perhaps even boldly paused for a moment to get a better view, the feeling of frustration sets in.
Such frustration will escalate when you learn that the accident had occurred on the other side of the road or highway!
The Malaysian Highway Authority, an agency under the Ministry of Transport, should look into this matter seriously and conduct a study to come up with a series of educational programmes.
They should refer to other countries as to how similar issues can be resolved. It is amusing that our country has several agencies that handle road safety, such as the Road Transport Department, Road Safety Council, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research and several non-governmental agencies, yet we still have nothing to overcome traffic woes caused by the attitudes and habits of Malaysian drivers.
” On average, if each driver who slows down uses up 10 seconds, then 50 drivers passing the scene will use up 500 seconds, equivalent to eight minutes, while a hundred drivers will use up approximately sixteen minutes. “
Malaysians are well informed but possibly not well educated on this matter, although on the surface it looks like a rather petty issue. The total number of man-hours lost and undue stress suffered by the motorists are totally unwanted and unwarranted.
The reasons for the delays on the road can be far-fetched at times and if a proper study is carried out, the findings will show that such delays have an impact on the overall productivity of our nation.
A morning accident will cause much delay for school-going children and individuals heading to work. An afternoon accident will cause much chaos and worsen the already busy lunch-hour traffic and delay school buses ferrying children home after school.
” A morning accident will cause much delay for school-going children and individuals heading to work. An afternoon accident will cause much chaos and worsen the already busy lunch-hour traffic and delay school buses ferrying children home after school. ”
An evening accident delays all weary employees who just want to get home to their family after a long day at work; working parents who may need to pick up their little ones from the babysitter; and school-going children who are hungry and waiting to go home to have dinner. What if pregnant women or very ill patients get caught in an unnecessary traffic snarl while being rushed to the hospital?
The media especially those eyeing the traffic conditions and providing updates throughout the day must continuously advise road users to move on and not stop or slow down at accident sites unless to offer aid, as a fraction of a second can cause a serious delay to all. Remind the drivers that accidents are bad but slowing down to see one is worse.
The police and road transport enforcement teams must ensure that serious measures are implemented to address this issue as Malaysians are taking this lightly since there are no laws to correct this issue.
Hefty fines must be imposed on the culprits concerned, with no offer of seasonal or holiday discounts so that no one treats it lightly. The enforcement team at the accident site must not only manage the traffic flow but also penalise the onlookers.
There must be constant engagement with the tow truck drivers, ambulance operators, insurance companies, police and NGOs to ensure that we have pragmatic measures to overcome this problem.
Malaysians must be informed that man-hours lost as a result of road accidents can be reduced if everyone plays an affirmative role in adhering to road regulations. Agencies like the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research must play a greater role in bringing about positive changes.
Moving forward, we must take stern measures to ensure that Malaysians do not waste their valuable time on the road due to the bad habits of some drivers.
To prevent valuable man-hours from being wasted on the road – just because someone wants to see the number plate of the unfortunate car or motorcycle involved in an accident so that he or she can buy a 4D number – the culprits concerned must be punished. – Bernama
• Ravindran Raman Kutty is an award-winning communications practitioner and a fellow of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New Sarawak Tribune.
