Unlicensed driving: Real action at last

Why has it taken so long for the authorities to come to this decision?

COMMENT

The authorities are finally acting against the unlicensed use of motor vehicles after years and years of virtually ignoring the problem and seeing so many thousands of road users fall victim to irresponsible motorists and motorcyclists.

Last Tuesday, Federal Traffic Police chief Mahamad Akhir Darus warned that people who drive without licences would be taken to court and have their vehicles seized. The previous action was to punish them with fines.

Mahamad said the idea behind the tough action was to educate the public on the dangers of driving without a licence. He denied that the objective was to increase revenue collection.

But why has it taken so long to come to this decision?

I know what it’s like to be the victim of someone who hasn’t gone through the rigours of acquiring a licence to ride a motorcycle. Some years ago, I overtook two kapchais as I drove along a rather quiet stretch of road from Batu Gajah to Ipoh. About 100 yards up the road, they decided to speed up and they overtook me on my left.

Suddenly, both turned right and into my path without indicating they were doing so. I don’t know if the indicator lights on the bikes were working, but the two riders didn’t even bother giving hand signals.

The rider closer to me was thrown onto the bonnet of my car and bounced onto the road. She was not wearing a crash helmet. Fortunately, I had been driving slowly. Otherwise, it would have been a more serious matter. The sight of someone landing on my car still plays in slow motion in my head after all these years.

I helped the rider to her feet. A wheel on her bike was twisted. Luckily, her bottom was well upholstered, and this saved both her and my car from injury. I don’t know who was more scared – me, the biker or my passenger.

While my passenger and I was making sure the woman was all right, we did not realise that the other biker had summoned the residents of the nearby village, which was presumably where they lived. They had probably tried to turn into a lane leading to this village.

The villagers came with parangs and surrounded me and my passenger, who was a visitor whom I was taking for a sightseeing trip around Batu Gajah’s tin mining attractions. It was a petrifying experience. The woman we were trying to help was wailing and the hostile crowd was brandishing parangs.

Exchanging driver’s details was a pointless exercise. The bike was not registered in her name; she had borrowed it from a friend. She did not have insurance cover or a motorcycle licence.

The villagers claimed that it was my fault. The situation was tense; so my passenger and I hopped into the car and drove to a police station to make a report. The police said it was a “kampung matter” and that I had to take it up with the village head. He was not hopeful of a prosecution. From his reaction, it appeared that the problem of people driving without licences was common and was of no interest to the police.

It was a minor accident compared to the many horror stories we’ve all heard, but the experience was nonetheless frightening. What if the woman had died or suffered severe injuries?

A car may be insured, but if the driver does not have a licence, the insurance may be invalid. Massive problems arise in accidents involving unlicensed drivers. The costs are high.

You’d be wrong if you thought that only kampung folk drive without licences. I know of datins who consider themselves far too important to take a driving test. They think their secret is secure, but if I happen to know about it, imagine how many others do.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.