THE KILLER, BIG TREES AND LAMP POLES?

THE recent road accidents in Kota Kinabalu, many cars were seriously damaged by the big trees and lamp poles planted on the centre divider or island. This had caused serious fatalities and injuries to the passengers and drivers. The cars are usually being torn into pieces.

The accidents which were involving in the road accidents usually hit the big trees and lamp poles head on or slammed into these side way. The end result is always very fatal and serious, as we can see from the increasing numbers of road accidents and fatalities in Kota Kinabalu. Most of the cases are involving younger people during midnight hours.

The Sabah DAP Vice Chairman, Edward Ewol Mujie and the Deputy Publicity chief John Lee Kim Seng had received public suggestion and proposal that it is best to remove the big tree and lamp poles from the road centre islands and dividers. The reason is that this is seen as the main cause of the serious damages sustained by the vehicles during road accidents. The cost of lives and lamp poles can be very expenses too.

It is suggested to replace with rows of low hedges and flower bed plus small trees instead of the big trees. These can act as a cushion, brake or catching device to hold back the trust of the lost control vehicles, and also because it is soft in nature, the cars with not sustain a heavy blow and get damaged seriously.

The lives of the passengers are protected. The centre island or divider can also be created to have a 3 feet high earth bund to stop the car from running over to the other side and hitting the cars from the other direction. These hedges, flower beds, and earth bund can also have the function to block the car head light blinding the opposite cars too.

The street lights on the centre islands can be moved to the road side without difficulty, and if these are not being knocked off by cars frequently, the authorities can save a great deal of money.

This is an effective and economical method of saving life and to prevent heavy financial losses to the government and the car owners. Edward and John Lee strongly recommend the authorities to adopt the same and make our city safer.

On the other hand, they urge the young drivers not to drive after drinking alcohols and do not drive home late until very late in midnight. It is always dangerous to drive under the influence of alcohol and sleepiness. You have not only hurt yourself, damaged your cars but you also caused the life of your friends, relatives, and life of others. The authorities should make good all danger spots like potholes, puddles of water, bad corners, blind spot and sharp bends on the road to avoid happening of road accidents.

- Sabahkini