Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Is Reduced Speed Limit During Festive Seasons Works?

Government has done so much in the past trying to bring down the fatal accidents happened, especially during festive seasons. But will reduced speed limit works in bringing down the number of fatalities? I guess the answer is no, whereas it will increase rather than decrease.

As all of you know, vehicles nowadays can easily done up to 120km/h without notice, and by no mean at that speed the risk of accident is higher. It all depends on the drivers' condition. If the driver is tired, impatient or rude, then the risk of causing accident is higher even the speed is half of the limit!

Look around the world, and you will notice that there are a lot of countries, which their motorway (highway) speed limit is 120km/h or 70mph, then their accident rate is much lower than ours at 110km/h. What does that indicates? I'd stayed in UK for several years and according to policeman (when I'd got nothing better to do than asking policeman all these nonsense) if you are travelling above 70mph, but below 80mph, you are safe from any summon. If you travel above 80mph, but below 90mph, it all depends on the road condition then, and beyond 90mph, there will surely be summons, and may be some point deduction. If you travel above 100mph, then you will be automatically Maximum fines and 5 or 6 points deducted on your licence. Some may even get 2 months suspension of their driving licence. All depends on the road condition then.

So to cut down these fatalities, it will be wiser that authority think of a way to counter what the root cause is rather than having all these unnecessary Op-Sikaps.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In theory your hypothesis makes sense. The problem is more a practical one. There are a significant number of differences between motoring in the UK and Malaysia. The cost of motoring is crucial and the average Briton has access to (safer) vehicles many Malaysians could never afford. In addition, all vehicles over three years old must past a road test before being allowed on the streets (the MOT).

Then we come to the attitude of drivers. There is no easy way of educating drivers to be more responsible and considerate. There has been talk in the UK of increasing the minimum driving age to 18, and of introducing a re-test every few years to ensure drivers are competent.

The most difficult thing I had to come to terms with in Malaysia was driving. I could never understand why drivers were so aggressive and impatient. I also found it hard to believe how many would pay could pay up to RM500K for a luxury car and yet have their child standing vulnerable on the front seat. Indifference to the dangers on the road is far more dangerous.