BANG! And your heart goes POP!

Driving on the Penang Bridge is life-threatening. The number of accidents on the bridge is very high. They have even put up a huge board which keeps track of the running total number of accidents in the year. I think it now stands at around 50 since the beginning of the year. I think last year, it was something like 280 or so accidents. That's like one accident every other day, with some to spare.

This morning on the approach to exit the bridge on the Island side, the queue was usual. I was on the left lane preparing to exit. There was maybe about 20 or 30 metres of clear space between me and the car in front. But on the right lane, the queue was quite packed. And then about maybe 10 or 15 metres ahead, I saw a Kancil bang smack into a Proton. I could feel the impact and my heart felt like I had just run a 100 metres at top speed. My first instinct was to touch my brakes to slow down. I looked into the rear mirror to make sure no one was bearing down on me. As I expected, a few drivers behind the Kancil started to change lanes - into my lane! Impatient idiots!

As I passed the Kancil I saw that the lady was "unhurt" but I am sure her heart must have stop for 5 seconds. Didn't get to see the guy in the Proton.

According to the "Road Safety Plan of Malaysia 2006- 2010" (Ministry of Transport, 2006), road accidents increased by 74% between 1996 and 2005 (328,000 cases). Road deaths increased by a "mere" 1.8% (6,188 deaths in 2005). Per 10,000 registered vehicles, the index went down from 8.2 deaths in 1996 to 4.2 deaths in 2005. Three cheers????

The report calculated that the total social cost (hhhm?) of road crashes (including more than 6,000 deaths) in 2004 was a stunning RM9 BILLION. And then it starts comparing with advanced nations like Great Britains and says that this is not satisfactory. Huh? Is there a satisfactory or acceptable level of accidents and social cost from road accidents? Like acceptable poison levels in food and plastics? What the heck, if you want to know, in 2004 the number of deaths per 10,000 vehicles are : Malaysia 4.5 deaths; Germany 1.23; Great Britain 1.18.

Want some more? The GOAL of the Ministry is to reduce roads deaths by 52.4% (from 4.2 in 2005 to 2.0 in 2010). Put it another way, the GOAL is to reduce from 23 deaths per 100,000 population to only 10 deaths per 100,000.

Hey, here's a thought. Why can't we have ZERO accidents? Why is it that we allow engineers to design and build roads which are accident-prone? Why do we allow car designers and manufacturers to make cars which are lethal weapons of destruction?

Not possible you say? Well think again. Penang State is trying to make the whole state WIFI-enabled right? Well, think 10 maybe 15 years into the future. Futuristics are talking about the day when there will be no accidents on the road. How, you ask. Technology of course. Specifically, WIMAX (WIFI on steriods) and GPS. For the uninitiated, that's Global Positioning System, the one you see on TV about the CIA being able to track criminals because handphones now have GPS. Also becoming very popular in Malaysia with some mobile phones and maps to guide you to your destination as your drive.

But how? Well, the first key is, you won't be allowed to drive. Ya, you are all hopeless when it comes to driving. Sensors in the car will use GPS and the local area network (WIMAX) to keep everybody (cars lah) at a safe distance from each other.

So, I guess if you want see that you and your loved ones don't end up as a crash dummy, SUPPORT PENANG STATE WIFI - the road to ZERO road accidents.