Posted under Life & My Thoughts
I just remember a couple of days ago when I was driving along Jalan Imbi, right in front of Berjaya Times Square. It was not really alien to me as I use that path quite often, for work or leisure. But what puzzles me are not the traffic congestions or the unpredicted condition of the traffic congestions. It just seems whenever I drive along the path I will be able to see pedestrians crossing the busy street to and fro between BTS, Low Yat and Sungai Wang. What is wrong with this picture, you might ask, well it does not really seem wrong giving the crowd that visits these few places everyday. But have you wonder why was the puny little fence built on the divider of the roads? It was meant to keep a clear mark of both side and to keep pedestrians from crossing over so easily. Why you may ask? And the answer is so clear for SAFETY! That’s why.
It’s just frustrating to see pedestrians crossing a some what four to five lanes of fast driving cars. I still do not comprehend the fact that they are hundred and thousands of pedestrians still crossing busy streets even when a pedestrian bridge has been built for them. We have seen and read so much in the papers bout pedestrian killed while crossing busy streets or highway. But why are we forsaking our lives for just saving 5 minutes of using the pedestrian bridge? It just does not make sense, a path that can get you killed anytime over a safe path, are we all the daredevil type looking for death challenges every minute?
I remember a news sometime ago where a family of three or four where killed after being hit by a car. It was indeed a sad news indeed and to me it was even worse for the driver. It’s not that I am cold heart, the family was an adult and all others were child, but I felt what it was to be in the driver’s shoes. First of all it happened on the highway and I believe anyone driving on the highway would not be slow, if you do then you should just stay away from the wheels. Can you imagine the trauma that the driver has to go through and how it will affect him/her for the rest of his/her life.
Can you imagine the guilt, the burden that one has to carry on their shoulder of taking the lives of other? It gets worse when it’s a multiple of lives that we carry on our shoulder. The blood on your hands! The guilt hanging in the heart! And to top it off, it might not even have been the driver’s fault, which is what makes it worse. I believe when we drive especially on the highway or even in the city with more than three lanes, we would not even have thought there would be any other obstacle other than those motorists that drives slower than tortoises. These bloods will cover the hands of the driver and it would not go away but instead giving nightmares of “What have I done?” or “IF only I was driving slow like a tortoise…”
It is always easy to blame the driver for reckless driving and of cause when the only survivor would be the driver. But we often neglect the fact that it was unavoidable. I mean in the first place if there is a pedestrian bridge or traffic light around and especially at night. I am not saying it’s always the fault of the pedestrian or the driver, but hey, we have all got to do our part. If you start using the traffic lights and pedestrian bridges, all this would be avoidable and it will cause less pain for everyone.
Every time I see these people crossing the road I just feel like running them down. And believe me, if there was no rule against hit and kill, I will run down each and every one of you. There is a perfectly built pedestrian bridge which is just another five minutes of your time, but no, you had to save that five minutes and swarm the streets like it was some god given privileges that you have to utilize. Believe me, if you are hit, be it the fault or whichever party, you are at the losing end. You are what we call steel wrapped by skin where as the driver is skin wrapped by steel. So why take the risk?
I guess the education that was drilled into the minds of our society was not successful or it did not include this small little common sense. We may be educated in so many aspects, but I guess we definitely lack in one aspect. The aspect of morality definitely has not made it into our lifestyle. This is just one of the examples. There are so many things we can pick upon in our society that shows how immoral our society is while we are teaching moral studies to our off springs. Such an ironic reality we are living through.
So the next time when you want to cross a busy road, just stop and think for a while, is there a better alternative route. Don’t be the cause of sadness for your close ones and guiltiness for perfectly strangers.
Look before you leap
Think before you do
Always be considerate
And think of others
After you think of yourself
