Jottings

By Jessica Iyo-Chan

It is reported in The Sun today (3^rd Feb) that we (civilians) can take snapshots of heavy vehicles committing road offences and forward them to JPJ. Although you may not be rewarded, it is believed that such efforts may reduce the number of road accidents and the Road Safety Department ‘will’ take necessary action on those drivers. 

For full article, please visit http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=43058 

Although it is also reported that officials have said that there are various issues that need to be ironed out before it can be widely practiced, one cannot help but to wonder if such a move is even worth suggesting or studying. After all, isn’t it ironic if a driver picks up his/her mobile phone just to snap a picture of another vehicle committing a particular road offence when the driver himself has committed a road offence? Of course, the same can’t be said if it’s the passenger who takes the snapshot but who’s the witness to determine if it’s the passenger or the driver who takes the picture? 

I can’t say that I have done my research but as a person who constantly reads the papers in the morning, I can presume that most deathly accidents occur late at night or early in the morning hours when the sky is dark. Would it be safe for single drivers to take snapshots of these lorries and busses at that time of the day? Of course, the danger of snapping these shots occurs only when drivers are the ones who take the matter to their own hands, deciding to take a picture of what they deemed to be ‘dangerous driving’.  

That being said, it’s quite common to still see people SMS-ing or talking on the phone whilst driving. The excuses? My mobile phone doesn’t come with a free hands-free set; no money to buy hands-free set (but got money to change mobile phone every 1-2 years);   too troublesome to use the hands-free set; this is a very important SMS; yadda yadda yadda.  

Most of us know that it’s wrong, that it’s somehow dangerous, yet some of us still use mobile phones whilst driving. Why? The challenge? Fearless? Tidak apa attitude? To prove that we can multi-task? Driving by itself is a boring activity? I admit that I’m guilty of it too. Especially when I’m late for an appointment and I’d be panicking when the phone rings. I’d have to pick it up or read the SMS just to assure the person on the other side that I’m on my way. Heck, as a woman, I draw my eyebrows while driving whenever I’m late for work! I’ve also seen people eating as they drive and I’m starting to wonder if it’s even safe to drink water whilst driving. Others use the phone in times of heavy traffic – logging into FB or twitter. With HTC, iPhones and Nokia Xpress touch screen phones, it’s basically even harder for people to SMS (personal opinion!) whilst driving but it doesn’t stop people from doing so – it just means you have to be more careful as you ‘type’ so as not to ‘click’ on the wrong alphabets or numbers without noticing. 

 I have several close calls SMS-ing and driving at the same time; I almost hit the car in front but as it didn’t happen, I wasn’t deterred to stop my bad habit. I believe that most of us, humans, are guilty of this – we never learn unless it happened to us. So until the day the police summons each and every guilty-as-charged multi-taskers, or until accidents happen, this bad habit will still continue amongst the people in Malaysia. So, will I take picture of a heavy vehicle committing crime? Maybe. Depending on my mood and how serious that crime again. Then again, I’d think twice if the police will summon me for using my mobile phone to snap pictures whilst driving unless I can lie that I’m actually the passenger!