HOME | PETALING JAYA: Parents’ duty to teach children importance of road safety, says Lam Thye
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PETALING JAYA: Only parents can educate their children on the importance of following traffic rules, as road safety starts at home when it comes to operating motorised vehicles.
Alliance for Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said parents need to supervise their children and not allow those who are unlicensed to ride motorcycles on public roads.
Memento Maxima Digital MarketingCommenting on theSun’s front page report yesterday, Lee said the issue of the big number of motorcyclists being killed on the roads needs to be addressed and the tidak apa (cannot be bothered) attitude of some parents will encourage their children to believe they can do whatever they want on the road.
“Parents need to emphasise the importance of road safety and not allow their children, especially those below the legal age of obtaining a motorcycle licence, to take the family’s vehicles for joyrides.
“Once those children reach their teenage years and if they have not been educated by their parents about the importance of following traffic rules, they will do whatever they want. Breaking the rules will become normal for them.”
Lee said the lack of enforcement by the authorities will also embolden youths to break traffic laws on the misguided belief that there is nobody to stop or punish them.
Lee said the Mat Rempit culture starts at a young age as teenagers search for an adrenaline rush while showing off dangerous stunts.
“Pre-teen children see Mat Rempit as their idols and want to emulate them. Parents must inform their children about the dangers of Mat Rempit culture and stop them from carrying out similar stunts. Unfortunately, that does not happen.
“One way to get parents more involved in road safety is to show them pictures of road crashes and ask them if they want their children to be part of the statistics of dead or injured people.”
Lee said it is common to see delivery riders frequently flouting traffic laws and their employers doing nothing about it, even claiming the government has to stop the riders from breaking the law.
He said such employers want their riders to send hot food to customers quickly, thus forcing them to break traffic laws to ensure the food reaches the customers on time.
A former member of the Road Safety Council, Chris Syer, said in Malaysia, motorcyclists are the largest group of road users who ignore the law.
“From the time they apply for licence, the importance of adhering to traffic laws should be drummed into them as it could save their lives, instead of them becoming another statistic.”
He said it is obvious that motorcyclists pay little attention to traffic laws as they can be seen weaving in and out of traffic on highways, and refusing to use the dedicated motorcycle lanes (where available).
“Motorcyclists in the country are gung-ho and seem to be in a hurry all the time. It is an educational issue. People break traffic laws as they are not forced to study and follow them due to poor enforcement.
“They not only put their lives at risk but also those of other road users each time they ignore traffic laws.”
Syer said placing importance on road safety begins at home, and if parents fail to impart this important lesson, children will think they can do whatever they want. “It is better to be late than to be dead.”
He added that it is important for the authorities to crack down on those breaking traffic laws by vigorously enforcing them as that will ensure that everyone obeys the law when on public roads.
On the authorities placing advertisements on the importance of road safety, he said: “Such advertisements will help children and youths to understand the consequences of not following traffic rules.”
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