Rear-Seat Dilemma
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Parents with four children are confused as to how they are to seat all their children into the back of the car without being caught for overloading.
“We cannot leave a child behind in the house when going out, neither can we afford to buy another vehicle to adjust to the new requirement on rear seat belts,” lamented trader Nordin Ahmad from Bandar Perdana Jasmin.
Nordin, 44, drives an Iswara Aeroback and is worried how he, his wife and four children would fit into their car without running the risk of being stopped by a policeman. Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh has warned that motorists with more than three rear seat passengers could be fined for overloading.
“I am a low-income earner and have no other choice but to use only my Iswara for family travels. It is unfair to hold the driver responsible for ferrying more than three children in the rear seats,” said Nordin whose children ranged from seven to 13 years of age.
Restaurant operator Yeow Boon Fey, 44, from Taman Legenda Indah, said he would now have problems going out with his four children, aged between three and 15, his wife Yong Nyok Ching, 40, and mother Kong Yoke Mooi, 68.
“Tell me, what should I do? Should I buy another car or leave behind my mother or some of my children? I am confused. “The authorities should be less rigid when imposing the regulations. We are not operating taxis but only want to take our family out in our car,” said Yeow, who has a Viva fitted with rear seat belts.
Kindergarten teacher Suzana Abdul Aziz, 38, from Taman Seri Jenaris, who also has four children, aged between five and 12, said although her family had a second car, they relied on their Iswara for balik kampung trips. Mohd Desa Saidin, 42, a clerk at the National Registration Department in Kulim and married with four children aged between six and 13, said wearing rear seat belts was no guarantee that accidents would not endanger passengers’ lives.
“Even with all the safety measures, there are fatal accidents. What about accidents involving buses where many passengers die? Buses do not have safety belts,” he said.
Source – The Star Online
Updated – 5th Dec 2008 23:30
Aha.. great news and relief for everyone with 2 children and more:
The Road Safety Department has clarified that the fourth passenger in the backseat of a car will not be issued a summons for not wearing a rear seatbelt. Suret Singh said although the law allowed for the authorities to take action if a vehicle was overloaded with passengers, it had not been enforced.
“It was not enforced in the past and will not be enforced now or in the future. This policy will remain,” he said, adding that the department was aware of the social implications. – The Star Online
Finally, common sense prevailed. Thank you Datuk Suret.
- Passionate About Blogging
Oh! Begitu rupanya kata Datuk Suret Singh. Sebelum ini, Tie ingat parents yang mempunyai lebih dari 3 orang anak diberi kelonggaran (hanya yang 3 orang itu dimestikan guna seatbealt). Mungkin dia ubah fikiran kot.
Walaupun tujuannya untuk keselamatan penumpang, tapi pihak yang berkenaan kenalah mempertimbangkan masalah orang ramai. Perihatin lah sikit.
Ismail N: Betul la Kak Tie. Kesian org yg anak 4 mcm saya. He he
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Then the authority should provide a better deal vehicle, affordable to the public before imposing this kind of regulation…reduce the price and tax of the MPV will be fair enough
Ismail N: Beli MPV e-tomyam? Ramaiyg kat atas tu pakai Iswara aje. Ada byk beza dr segi harga Iswara & MPV fren. Belum campur maintainance + patrol lagi.
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salam…
dear Encik Ismail, i just wanna drop a note on your wife’s placenta previa thing. hope that she take a lot of rest as i have had 4 times C-Section before. that’s all. no more child for me after this. i have had a BTL done. pray for the best to her. insyaAllah..
as for the rear seat problem… we’ll just wait n see…(**where to put my children).
Ismail N: Salam Jane. Thank you for your insights. I take note of your advise and will discuss further with my wife. Btw, Thanks for dropping by Jane. I appreciate all your kind words and prayer too.
P/S: Aha… ic u have same problem with me, i.e where to put the children. Kena sama lah kita nanti.
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I have 2 kids. And was planning to add-on one more child. For today situation, perhaps i do not have much problem. But in the future, who knows?
I personally not against the important of rear seat belt. yeah I admitted it really useful at utmost needed.
But anyhow if this regulation really to put enforce by all means. hmm it will give a massive affect to social population & polarization.
I think a lot of Malaysian will sit back and rethink deeply. Adjust and maneuver the way of living. They might be considered not to get birth more than 2 children. The family member will be shrunk time to time.
I would translate it as against the 70 millions citizen policy which was introduced back 1980′s, which had been believed to favor nation economy & security.
hmmm
Ismail N: Thank you Maza. For me I support whatever rules or campaign that are for the benefits of the rakyat such road safety campaign. But it should burden the rakyat, especially those who are in the lower-middle income bracket. This rules will definately hit those in these groups since when I look around and see that most yg in berduit sikit & can afford to buy MPV normally don’t have many kids. Maybe because they are too busy dgn career masing2. I don’t know.
But those in the lower-middle income group selalunya ramai anak. These people surely dah habis adjust. Makan pun cukup2.
I think RTD shld concentrate on how to prevent the accident instead of thinking what to do after it happen. Dulu pun kerajaan suruh jimat cermat kan?
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Hehehe..Ismail, saya pun terlebih sorang anak. Walaupun ada dua kereta, nak balik kampung, takkan nak drive dua-dua sekali.. Kalau betul perkara ini akan dikuatkuasakan, mungkin kena intai-intai MPV tapi kesian orang-orang yang kurang mampu. Kerajaan kita nak ikut style di Melbourne agaknya. Di Melbourne, memang macam tu. Masa gi bercuti di Melbourne hujung tahun lepas, terpaksa sewa kereta lain yang ada lebih tempat duduk (mpv or van) bila nak keluar berjalan-jalan makan angin. Suami saya tinggal di sana masa tu. ada normal car aje.
Accident can happen to anyone. Kita kena berhati-hati semasa memandu. Itu sebagai usaha kita untuk mengelak kemalangan dari berlaku tapi kalau nak berlaku jugak, itulah yang dinamakan takdir.
Ismail N: “Walaupun ada dua kereta, nak balik kampung, takkan nak drive dua-dua sekali..” Betul tu. Kita mahu jalan satu family kan?
Tak syok lah pecah-pecah.
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This is another example of the Government’s insensitivity to the welfare of the rakyat and social situation in Malaysia. I agree with Maza : is the Government impliedly putting a stop to the 70 million population policy and telling us to limit the number of children to 3 or less (if we have our parents living with us)?
If they want to enforce this mess on the rakyat, they should at least help us to find the solution, ie, much, much cheaper MPVs or more petrol & road tax rebates (if we have to buy extra vehicle), etc.
Vehicle is now a must, a requirement, not a luxury. This is an important issue that should not have been decided arbitrarily by the government agencies without consulting the rakyat.
Ismail N: Ditto. can’t disagree with u on this. Just wonder how cheap can MPV be? As cheap as Iswara?
Thank you for your comments.
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Is this one of the ways for government to force us apply the family planning? Hehe. Well, I… like many others disagree on this matter. But after all, our voices have been listened. Alhamdulillah
Don’t you think government does listen to us too?
Ismail N: Ha ha.. I think in the end of the day, they had to apply common sense jugak. Rules and regulations are suppose to help us to achieve better life not the other way around.
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