We all have our on-the-road horror stories. Some of us have had the misfortune of having been in one too many.
I talked to my cousins and brothers over the weekend about their need for speed. They're all young and fast cars fascinate them. Their excuse is always 'darah muda' or 'takkanlah nak bawa laju2 bila dah tua?'.
This was one topic they shouldn't have tested me on.
Speed on a public road is stupid. It doesn't matter if you think you can handle the car, or if you don't agree with the Malaysian speed limit. You obtained a legal licence, and if you don't like it, move to Europe. Don't get behind the wheel and screw up other people's lives.
It just doesn't make sense that people have to endanger their own lives, and most importantly, the lives of others, by weaving in and out past traffic that's flowing at the speed limit.
It doesn't make sense that people push cars to their limits, Kancils and Kelisas going at 150kph is something of a mean physical feat considering their light chassis.
A good friend was once involved in a freak bad accident while on a highway. The family was cruising when out of nowhere, a car from the other side of the highway pummelled into their vehicle. Lucky no one was killed.
I saw a mangled Jaguar on Thursday night - the front of the car almost unrecognisable, the back barely there. The car must have slammed onto the divider, spun, and slammed again from the other end. Lucky for the driver that the passenger area was left intact.
My family has been in numerous accidents in the past year or so. My father and brother was in a bad one. As they were trying to overtake a military truck, the truck sped faster, ramming into their vehicle, and overturning it. The truck was carrying live ammunitions. Lucky for everyone that this one was only carrying bullets. The ones behind them were apparently carrying explosives. Lucky my father walked away with bruises, my brother with scrapes on his shoulder.
I have been involved in 3 since mid-last year. It's one thing if the accident was your fault. It's another if you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
In the last accident I was in, the main casualty was the guy who hit us, he broke 2 legs, one arm and punctured a kidney. All because he couldn't wait and decided to overtake on a double line. In doing that, my brother broke his leg and jaw, and Sharizal got stitches in his knee and arm.
Another guy did the same thing to my cousin. My cousin passed away on the spot. His wife's jaw was broken in two places.
I heard of a movie called 'Crash' about this couple who developed a fetish for accident scenes after they themselves were involved in one. Me? I can't sleep in cars anymore. I cling to my seat whenever I hear something whoozing by (much to the horror of my friends!). Lucky for me, I've had friends who have been considerate of my little problem, who drives carefully when I'm in the car, and one who gave me a good talking to calm me down when the panic reflexes get out of hand (yes, that's you Noreen!).
To all you speeders out there: The road isn't the place to show off your prowess. There's no need to rush. The destination will always be there. What's the point of chasing after time, when the act of chasing may rob time away from you and others forever?
Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年10月27日 13:46 | TrackBackSpeed is very much a responsibility not a right. I feel that people forget about this. It is not the matter of age, although we hope that age does promote rationale thinking.
I know the feeling of having absolute control over a precision machine. It feels good, however there are others out there that would like to match what you do with equiptment that was never meant for it to be used that way. It will not always be you, but the others. Will you sleep well if they crash trying to keep up with you? I know I cant.
If you have the need to speed, go learn how to do it safely, and if that is not enough for you, do it right. Speeding on the highway is not smart, especially if you have passengers, if you want to, go blaze down Sepang.
Just remember, the oohs-ahhs you get when you tell how fast you went may not always be admiration. If you want to be reckless, you have the right to do so for yourself, but you dont for others.
Posted by: TiFische at 2003年10月27日 14:19like it or not, it's usually the young ones who love to speed. just look at all the accidents that happened due to speeding, those involved are/were young ones, usually under 30.
i don't drive (but i use the motorcycle) but of course i've been in cars driven by people. all my life being passenger of my sister, brother and sister-in-law, i find their driving smooth and no speeding. then one day my i became a passenger of my 17 years old nephew, and oh boy, how he speed and cut queues.
it's usually the young ones who find speed thrilling and i suppose they haven't really realise the danger of speeding.
Posted by: lucia at 2003年10月27日 16:41The feeling of invincibility.
No, it won't happen to me, I'm too good a driver. I can brake just at the right moment. That room in between those 2 cars is just enough for my car.
That's before you ram into someone's car or worse, someone. Then you realise that it can happen to you. Just hope that it won't be too late then.
Just remember that if you happen to crash into someone and that someone dies, the cops will be after you. You may even have to serve some mandatory time and there goes that promising career that you had.
that's interesting...
what was your keyword search that brought u to this site Khatijah?
Posted by: amirba at 2003年12月19日 21:57