Section
39 (5) of the RTA states: “Any person who drives, or causes or permits
any person to drive, a motor vehicle in contravention of this section
shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a
fine not exceeding RM2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
six months or to both”.
A total of 2,357 summonses were issued by
police under Section 39 (5) against vehicle owners and parents from 2009
until 2020 or an average of 196 summonses per year or just 16 per
month.
From 2018 up to August last year, 4,935 offenders were
charged in court under the same section by Road Transport Department
(JPJ).
Writers
Shahrim Tamrin and Liu Honglin who authored a special report under Kini
Academy’s investigative journalism programme interviewed parents,
experts and the authorities. (The report has since been published by Sinar Harian.)
At
the launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Plan for the
Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 for the Malaysia chapter in
October last year, the head of mission and WHO representative for
Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, Dr Jacqueline Lo Ying-Ru said road
traffic injury accounts for 14 percent of deaths among children aged
five to 14 years in Malaysia, “making it the leading cause of child
mortality in Malaysia”.
The writers concluded that the situation has arisen because of the “couldn’t care less” (tidak apa)
attitude of the parents and society which has accepted and allowed
children and teenagers to ride motorbikes without any formal training or
qualifications.
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The
report quoted Roziah Aziz, a former Penang Road Safety Department
official as saying that the attitude of some parents must change
insisting that safety culture is yet to be embedded into their minds.
“Some
parents argue it is better to allow their underage or unlicensed
children to ride motorcycles to their school than them not going to
school at all,” she said, relating her experience organising advocacy
programmes in schools, especially during the Parents and Teachers
Association events.
Adults should be held responsible
Child
protection advocates and the road safety fraternity are calling for the
government to strictly enforce the law against parents and vehicle
owners in view of the rising number of road crashes among underage
bikers.
They want the adults to be held responsible for allowing
their unqualified children to ride motorcycles of their parents. Roziah
was also quoted referring to “unpleasant reactions” from parents when
the authorities collaborated with schools to nab unlicensed and underage
bikers.
“The parents were upset and furious with the police and
Road Transport Department officers after their kids were detained and
their kapcai impounded. The parents questioned the action taken
by the enforcement officers since the motorcycles are their children's
mode of transport to school,” she said.
Many parents prohibited
their children from going to school as a sign of protest, especially
against the school principal or disciplinary teacher for reporting to
the enforcement agencies about the norm of students riding motorcycles
without a licence and with no safety helmet to school.
Following Sam’s basikal lajak court case, there have been calls to hold parents responsible for the conduct of their children.
Section
31 (1) (a) Child Act 2001 states that any person who has in his or her
care a child that is being neglected, abandoned or exposed the child in a
manner likely to cause him/her physical or emotional injury can be
fined not exceeding RM50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20
years or to both.
But such calls have been pooh-poohed by the
authorities because most want to be politically correct, especially the
politicians because elections are around the corner.
Sometimes, you must be cruel to be kind.
Over
12,000 children have died over 12 years - about 1,000 per year or about
three per day. These deaths could have been prevented.
To reduce
deaths among children, the authorities must enforce the law without fear
or favour. Let us not wait for another series of tragedies and wake up
to the bitter truth that young people are turning motorcycles into
killer machines and also endangering other road users.
