Bicycles - safe riding

"Turun dan tolak"! (Get down and push!)

That was the punishment a police officer gave me, about 30 years ago, for riding a bicycle at night without lights. The government authorities were then very conscious, and concerned, about all the safety aspects, in the transportation system. They knew night-riding on bicycles without lights posed a grave danger, both to the riders, and the drivers of other vehicles.

Sadly, now, riding bicycles at night without lights is not even frowned upon. The authorities fail to realize, that drivers of vehicles were often caught unawares, that there were moving objects in front of them, and had to get themselves alert, all of a sudden. Accidents, unfortunately, happen, and the driver is blamed and often get whacked on the spot!

Those incidents can be avoided. The government should, once again, make it mandatory for the bicycles being driven at night, to have lights, both at the front and at back. There are millions of bicycles on the road today, what with the increasing number of foreign workers, utilizing this convenient mode of transport. Not only enforcing the rules of the lights will help in the reducing of accidents, it will also enhance the Malaysian economy, in encouraging ‘new’ industries to be set up, in the production of the parts necessary for the lights, such as dynamos, bulbs or any new technological breakthrough.