KUALA LUMPUR: Drivers must be considerate and think of others whenever they are on the road so that road accidents can be avoided, said Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi. (pix)
According to the OKU Sentral president, road accidents are unpredictable, so it is best if drivers are responsible whenever they are behind the wheels.
“When you love to race, you love to drive fast. You have to be considerate and think about others. You can’t just be selfish and push your way around traffic. It doesn’t work that way.
“You might know how to handle the car, but there is also a possibility that the car is not in good shape on a particular day,“ she said in a pre-recorded interview on Webinar: Stories of Speed during her session ‘A Consequence of Speeding: My Story by Honourable Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi’, today.
The webinar which is part of the Asean Road Safety Week 2021 (ARSW 2021) seven-day programme, aims to empower the communities in Southeast Asia to build a safe, healthy, green and liveable area with a speed limit of 30 km/h (20 mph) as the norm for areas where pedestrians mix with road traffic.
Ras Adiba, who is also chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), also advised those who love to speed on the road to do it on a racing track rather than harming other people or even pedestrians on the sidewalk with their actions.
“It’s just not worth it. If you want to show off your car or skills, go to the track. Don’t do it on the road because it’s just not the place for it, not everybody on the road is able to control the car as well as you.
“Just don’t speed because that’s what happened to me in 1995. I was involved in a car accident. The driver in front of me hit the brakes. I learned defensive driving, so I also stepped on the brakes which caused my car to swerve to the right. The person behind my car was not paying attention on the road (crashed into my car) or maybe the driver was not skilled enough, I don’t know,“ she said.
In November 1995, Ras Adiba was involved in a road crash in Petaling Jaya, Selangor which resulted in a spinal injury. However, six years later, she was assaulted by a group of men outside her house, which worsened her injuries and a year after, she was permanently wheelchair-bound.
Meanwhile, when asked about her opinion on persons with disabilities (PwDs) and their mobility, Ras Adiba said currently, there are not enough buses to accommodate them.
She said those involved on the matter, must improve and work on transportation for the disabled.
“If I go to rural areas, and I’m taking a bus, I have to crawl up the bus because there is no ramp or hydraulic for us to get in and out of the bus. We don’t even have taxis which are accessible for wheelchair users,“ she said. -Bernama
