Malaysian Roulette
Crossing the road on the way to the office this morning I saw a familiar sight - a man on a bike with his three children. It's the same man along Jalan Ampang at about 7.50 a.m. every day. He's got a helmet on but not his children.
The common reason I hear for the now familiar sight is that they are poor people and they cannot afford to buy cars so it's alright for them to do so.
Right, so write this down - poor, people, are, allowed, to, put, their, children, at, risk.
OK, we got that now, if you are poor and cannot afford a car, you can ride a bike without using helmets.Oh sorry, not you, just your children. You have to wear one because you need to drive and survive any accident. Your children? They are expandable. That's the only word I could find to describe the situation. Makes absolute sense. Nobel Prize material. Rich people are not allowed to do such thing. For once, you lordies lost.
I am no lawyer but a sprinkle of common sense would tell me that I need a helmet to ride a bike in Malaysia. All who are on board and not just the mum and dad. Another common understanding is that you don't need helmets when you are on a bike in the rural areas. The only rationale I could gather here is that rural area roads do not kill people. The roads are softer I suppose. You could fall and it is guaranteed that you will not be hurt. The rural roads are forbidden to kill people. And at night, no lights are necessary on the bikes. It's OK, you don't need to see the bikes. Just run them over. Better still if you are a bus or a trailer. No one feels anything at all. It's OK ma, I'm only dead.
So, the solution? Definitely not what we see on the roads daily.
The common reason I hear for the now familiar sight is that they are poor people and they cannot afford to buy cars so it's alright for them to do so.
Right, so write this down - poor, people, are, allowed, to, put, their, children, at, risk.
OK, we got that now, if you are poor and cannot afford a car, you can ride a bike without using helmets.Oh sorry, not you, just your children. You have to wear one because you need to drive and survive any accident. Your children? They are expandable. That's the only word I could find to describe the situation. Makes absolute sense. Nobel Prize material. Rich people are not allowed to do such thing. For once, you lordies lost.
I am no lawyer but a sprinkle of common sense would tell me that I need a helmet to ride a bike in Malaysia. All who are on board and not just the mum and dad. Another common understanding is that you don't need helmets when you are on a bike in the rural areas. The only rationale I could gather here is that rural area roads do not kill people. The roads are softer I suppose. You could fall and it is guaranteed that you will not be hurt. The rural roads are forbidden to kill people. And at night, no lights are necessary on the bikes. It's OK, you don't need to see the bikes. Just run them over. Better still if you are a bus or a trailer. No one feels anything at all. It's OK ma, I'm only dead.
So, the solution? Definitely not what we see on the roads daily.
posted by dudae_simboyo at 17:15
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