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GREAT idea would strike me at the most peculiar times. Sometimes it occurs after a strenuous activity, like the time when I was reduced to talking to stuff in the store room and asking them “Do you spark joy?”
This Marie Kondo must have a heart of stone because I find joy in almost all my things and the store room clearance was not going well.
I can’t throw away my old copies of Rolling Stone magazines, I’ve not read them all yet. Same with the golf books from 1990. Ditto my “New Wave” CD collection with Depeche Mode, Rick Astley and Gary Numan et al and, of course, the CD player which only needed repairing, since it broke in 2015, for when I need to play them again.
After a couple of hours, I managed to throw out a box of insurance pamphlets and dead batteries, and not much else.
I told “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, who had commanded the store clearance, that I needed a lie-down.
She was not amused and sent me off to buy dinner instead. And it was during the execution of this royal command that an epiphany came to me.
It came in the form of a green boy astride one of those pesky motorcycles with the box at the back. He nearly ran me over, which was annoying since I was on a pedestrian walkway.
“Your mama is green!!!” Was all I could say when he was 50m away.
We need a traffic light school, my subconscious said to me.
Now, I would be the first to acknowledge that these blessed food delivery riders — who the Transport Ministry (MoT) is calling P-hailing drivers — are a gift to Malaysians, providing a service for lazy or inconvenienced Malaysians, delivering their daily bread.
They’d bring hot food, at an exorbitant cost of course, right to you come rain, traffic or the pandemic. Heck, they’d be the first to help you in a break down or accident. They are after all our front-line heroes.
But it cannot be denied that their free-form style of driving and zero regard for traffic rules need some improvement, more so when it’s literally killing them.
According to the MoT, 112 of these P-hailing drivers have died from road accidents while making deliveries from 2018 to May this year. I kid you not, check the Hansard if you don’t believe me. About 82 have suffered serious injuries, while more than 1,000 have suffered less serious injuries from 1,214 accidents.
The MoT claimed that it has conducted many campaigns to urge these drivers, who are overwhelmingly motorcycle riders, to take their safety seriously and carry out their deliveries without getting themselves killed.
The ministry also said it had monitored P-hailing drivers through CCTV cameras through the ministry’s ITIS system installed on 11 major roads in Kuala Lumpur. In total, the ministry observed the behaviour of more than 16,000 P-hailing drivers and the results would not surprise you or me.
The ministry said 62% of these riders park on pedestrian walkways (which of course meant that they rode on these same walkways) and 14% were using phones while riding. P-hailing drivers were also seen making illegal U-turns, driving the wrong way and, of course, not stopping at traffic lights.
My new school would be simple. And has only one subject: How to behave at traffic lights.
No U-turns, no crowding in front of cars just to play with your phones and, of course, not running the red light. It’s motto would be “Don’t get killed”.
My Traffic Light School would work closely with the Malaysian P-Hailing Deliverers Association — which is of course shortens to Penghantar — who incidentally acknowledge the problem with their own statistics showing that on average their members are involved in four accidents per week.
Of course, Penghantar is already working closely with all the relevant authorities with names like MSHOSH (Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health) and alike, but they still have to go through all the necessary meetings and all. No doubt they‘ll come out with something before 2030.
But if we can get these Penghantar fellers to stop at the lights, with the help of my Traffic Light School, that would spark joy in everyone.
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