Seat belt rule and the money trap

The seat belt ruling for everybody in cars is about to be enforced, and that’s a good thing. But the question is: Will it reduce casualties or increase corruption?

I REMEMBER the car vividly. It was a bright red Honda Prelude, the type that has pop-up headlights, a mean machine that could really burn asphalt.

My friend was driving, I was in the front passenger seat while my niece sat in the back. It was pitch dark, well-past midnight, and we were on our way to Penang from Kuala Lumpur, on the old trunk road.

And then it happened.

As my friend sped up to overtake a lorry, another car came speeding from up ahead. Every­thing went blank.

When I came to, the car was a wreck, and there was broken glass everywhere. But I was OK and so was my friend. The other driver had a fractured leg. But my niece was missing.

She had been flung out of the car as it spun after the head-on crash. We searched desperately and then heard her whimpering – in a ditch some distance away.

She was hurt but, luckily, it was not too terrible. Still, there were countless trips to the hospital and we were pulling tiny shards of glass from her scalp weeks after the crash.

She had not been wearing a seat belt when it happened. A seat belt could have saved her from the agony.

That’s why I believe the full seat belt ruling, which is about to be enforced, is a good thing. It’s about time.

After all, the law has been around since Jan 1, 2009, and it’s all about safety.

According to reports, wearing a rear seat belt can reduce the risk of fatality by 25% to 45% in an accident. In fact, drivers are twice as likely to be killed in crashes if the passenger behind them is not wearing a seat belt.

The front seats, apparently, do not serve as protection, either.

Instead, rear seat passengers may be thrown forward, pushing the front seat and increasing risk to the front passenger and driver.

Or worse, they could be flung out through the windscreen, as happened to my niece.

I must admit I did not quite learn my lesson from back then. No one has buckled up in the back seat of my car, either. Until now.

But even as they do, there are questions.

How are the authorities going to enforce the rule? We have had the helmet law for motorcyclists for almost 40 years now.

Buckle up: It’s time for all rear-seated passengers to strap in but can the police really enforce the ruling?

Yet look at the number of riders who don’t wear helmets.

In the part of Petaling Jaya where I live, it is so bad that you would almost think that wearing a helmet is an offence.

Roadblocks will not help.

People will just buckle up when they see one. And those blocks will only make traffic jams worse.

Then there is this very Malaysian quirk: there are often more people than seat belts in a vehicle. A five-seater car often carries six people; and an MPV designed for seven could carry as many as 11 or 12.

You have seen the ads, an endless stream of people clambering out of an MPV built for seven. In real life, we have all seen overloaded vehicles on the highway.

I am guilty of that, too. Ever so often, when there are eight people around, I would pack everyone into my MPV instead of using two cars.

Of course, it’s usually for short trips to a nearby restaurant for dinner or something like that, but it still means one person will not be buckled up.

What happens if a policeman stops us? Do we pay a fine? Or will we be excused? Or maybe just convince the cop to let us off?

That brings us to yet another issue. This new rule could turn out to be a godsend for the corrupt.

Imagine this, if every seat belt offender is liable to a fine of RM300 and three back seat passengers are caught, that would be a RM900 fine. If a police officer offers to look the other way for, say, RM300, I am sure many would happily pay up.

“Settling” the matter is quite common in Malaysia. And one can’t really blame the cops for helping themselves to a few extra bucks. Everyone else seems to be raiding the public kitty too.

A few days ago, a husband-and-wife pair from the Immigration Department were caught for bri­bery.

They had opened a jewellery shop with RM1.4mil of gold in stock. And it had cost them RM600,000 to set up shop.

That is a capital outlay of RM2mil. One wonders just how much they must have raked in from the bribes.

Two days later, a mother and her child were arrested.

They had RM130,000 in cash and jewellery. Corruption, it seems, just runs in the family.

Some other fellas had RM1mil stashed in Tabung Haji and Amanah Saham Bumiputra.

And who can forget the guy who set fire to almost RM1mil in cash when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission came calling? The officers still seized about RM7.5mil in cash, luxury watches and, of course, jewellery.

Let’s not even get started on politicians who have millions stashed in their cabinets and under their beds.

But we digress. Back to the seat belts – what do we do to stop corruption in traffic offences?

Well, the old adage says that the love of money is the root of all evil so, how about taking money out of the equation?

Why not make seat belt offenders do community service instead? After all, most are not criminals. They are just careless – or callous.

Make them work with traffic policemen, help clean up accident scenes, and aid the injured in accidents.

Those horrific scenes – and hours under the blazing sun – may make them realise that it is better to be safe than sorry. But if they repeat the offence, by all means fine them, or even jail them.

The harsher punishments should be for the politicians who steal millions.

Maybe we could send them into exile. How about reopening that holding facility on Pulau Bidong?