Passenger Seat Belts

It just doesn’t make sense to me why all the express buses are not equipped with seat belts for all passengers.

I, for one, would feel safer if the passanger seats are equipped with seat belts. I would put it on if it was available. I am sure many other passengers feel the same. As I am typing this blog on my Galaxy SII, I am sitting at the back most seat of the express bus. It really does feel like a real roller coaster. At least the roller coaster has the similar-to-seat-belt safety device.

I used to take the Plusliner buses between UTP and KL on Fridays and Sundays. But since the ETS train services began more than a year ago, I have stopped taking the bus because of the convenience of the electric training service. In addition to having more time to read and do useful things while in the train, I also get to meet people. For example I met several UTP colleagues in the train who I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Anyway, since I started my attachment at a company in Penang, I have started taking the bus again. When I started in Penang, I started with taking the Airasia flights, but since I always decide last minute to buy the ticket, I end up spending about RM300 every weekend. With the express bus, I can buy the ticket on the spot. There are several buses running between Penang and KL every hour. It costs only about RM100 including cab fare or car park fee.

The problem with buses is that they drive very fast. Regardless which bus company I take, the situation is the same. In some instances, I felt like the bus was traveling well above 120 kph, hurtling through the busy highway. Going downhill after the tunnel just before Jelapang was extremely heart pounding. I’m not saying that I don’t drive fast, but a car is easier to maneuver and stop when the situation requires.

It’s difficult to tell bus companies to make their drivers drive slower following their highway-limit of 90kph. The police who enforce the traffic rules also don’t seem to bother. All buses in the country drive well above 100kph on the highway. I know because I drive on the highway between UTP and KL or Penang.

So at least if I have a seat belt to hold me to the seat in case of a minor accident, at the very least I will not be thrown out of the windows like what you have seen so many times happening on Malaysian roads. Many passengers lose their lives when the bus loses control. It would have been much less fatal if the passenger seat belts were made available and enforced, just like the passenger seat belts on cars. I hope most of you would agree.

That’s my 6 cents (sixth sense, get it!).
P/s: My first blog posted on mobile phone and while in a bus.

No liability

Have you ever read the writings on the back of the bus ticket stubs? I recently travelled on an express bus. The journey started at 9:30 pm and I arrived at the destination at about 4:00 am the following day. The journey was uneventful except for the speed at which the bus tumbled down the east-cost highway through Jeli-Gerik towns. Amazingly fast…

Anyway, this blog is not about the bus driver or the driving speed. Instead, I’m going to comment a bit on the “Syarat-Syarat“, or in English I think it means Terms & Conditions (T&C).

To avoid mistranslating the syarat-syarat, which is written in Bahasa Melayu, I will quote it as is, then translate the necessary parts for further discussion.

1. Penumpang dikehendaki berada di terminal sekurang-kurangnya 20 minit sebelum masa berlepas.
2. Tiket ini sah untuk perjalanan seperti yang tercatat sahaja. Sebarang pindaan akan dikehendaki caj penalti.
3. Tiket yang dibeli tidak boleh dipulangkan kembali.
4. Tiket ini hanya sah selepas dicetak oleh komputer atau ditandatangani oleh pegawai bertugas.
5. Syarikat tidak akan bertanggungjawab ke atas keselamatan barang-barang yang dibawa penumpang. Berat barang-barang yang dibawa hendaklah tidak melebihi 15 kg.
6. Syarikat berhak meminda jadual perjalanan dengan tidak terlebih dahulu memberitahu penumpang. Syarikat tidak memberi jaminan atas kelewatan perjalanan.
7. Pengeluaran tiket ini tertakluk kepada syarat-syarat lain-lain yang ditetapkan oleh syarikat dari semasa ke semasa, samada tertulis atau tidak.

Terms 1-4 are normal. Nothing peculiar and therefore deserves no further attention. If you cannot understand Bahasa Melayu, I can provide the English translation upon request.

Items 5-7, on the other hand, deserves my “tak masuk akal” scrutiny.

Item 5 translates into “The company is not responsible for the safety of passenger’s luggage. A luggage cannot exceed 15 kg”

Well, this is quite normal everywhere else too. At public parking lots, the same clause is used as a disclaimer. It protects the operator from any liability. The bus company or the parking lot operator is free from any liability should the luggage go missing or break or should the vehicle go missing or broken into….or the radios get stolen.

This is a loophole that can be abused by the operators. What if, at the destination at 4:00 pm, I find out that my luggage which is stowed under the belly of the bus is not where it is supposed to be? Gone! Do I have the right to blame the bus operator? According to the Syarat-Syarat, the bus operator is not responsible. Does that piece of document hold in court? I wonder.

Term 6 is even more depressing as a passenger. It translates into “The company reserves the right to change the timetable without giving prior notification to the passengers. The company does not provide any guarantee of on-time departure/arrival“.

This is perfect for the bus operator. They have no obligation to follow the timetable. However, if the bus companies plan to operate for a long time it would be in their best interest to follow the timetable. However, 15-30 minute delay is rather common in the express bus departure time. All operator throughout the nation. Well, they can “change the time-table without notifying the passengers first” right? It’s in the T&C. So who are we to complain. We can just exercise our rights to choose other bus operators.

Adding more insult to injury, the last item (Term 7) is the mother of it all. In English, it means “The ticket issuance is subject to other terms and conditions that may be specified by the company from time to time, in writing or otherwise.”

In layman’s terms, the bus company can “do whatever they please”. As they deem fit. They are the judge and the executioner. The question is again, does that small piece of document written on the back of the ticket stub hold in court?

If you’ve had the first-hand experience facing this legal issue, please share.

In summary, the Malaysian constitution does not seem to protect the individual citizens and customers, but instead it protects the big corporations that are making money from us.

“Hazard” in the rain

What about those drivers with the hazard lights flashing during the rain? What’s up with that?

Hazard lights are meant to be used only in emergency situations such as these.

1. If your car breaks down and you are forced to park on the shoulder.
2. If you are in an accident and your car is interrupting the flow of traffic.
3. Basically when you find that your car is in a position to be a potential danger to another car and you need to draw attention to it.

The way I see it, these people are either of these two types.

The first type are those who think that the flashing light would make their vehicle more visible in the rain. They do not realize that the hazard light causes confusions to other road users. These people apparently think that they are smarter than everybody else.

The second type of road users turn on their hazard lights during the rain because others also do it. They are basically copycats. By definition, they are the “one who imitates or adopts the behavior or practices of another”, without knowing the logic behind it.

Serial killer copycats have reasons for doing what they do, albeit all of them are mentally sick. These copycat road users just follow blindly.

These are very bad type of people. They are the ones who contribute to the statistics of copycats. The more we have these copycats on the road, the more likely others who don’t know any better to think that they are supposed to turn on the flashing hazard lights during the rain.

What do you think we should do to teach these people? Any ideas?

Next R&R 86 km

When you are about to skip Tapah R&R (short form for rest and revive or simply a rest area) along the North South Expressway (PLUS Highway), wouldn’t you like to know how far is the next R&R so you can decide whether you need to take a break at Tapah or you can still drive to the next R&R?

No! Not according to the people who decide where to put up the sign that says “if you skip this R&R, you will have to drive 86 km to get to the next one”. They decided that the best place to put up such signboards is about half a kilometer after the R&R, not before.

Next time you drive along the highway, notice the signboard after each R&R rest areas. All of them (Tapah, Ayer Keroh, Sungai Perak, Rawang, Gunung Semanggol, etc.) have the next R&R distance signage put up at about 500 meter after the R&R exit.

They prefer to mock the highway users with “Haw haw!  (read like Jimbo Muntz in the Simpsons) serves you right! You should have stopped, bro! Now you’re gonna have to drive another 86 km to get your lunch and/or petrol”.

For a frequent commuter between KL and Tronoh like me, I know that after Tapah on a southbound journey, the next Ulu Bernam R&R is about 64 km. For any other Mat and Din or Chin and Yap, they could potentially be left stranded along the highway for not stopping to refuel at Tapah.

What a bummer would that be! Could that have been avoided? You betcha!

You would think that such a big highway operator like Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan Berhad (PLUS) whose annual profit exceeds RM 1 billion, would have smart enough advisers to advise them on simple things like this. Apparently not.

Their advisers just advise on when to revise the toll rate (read: when to hike the toll rate). And how much to revise. If the government decides not to revise, they advise on how much the government needs to pay them as compensation.

Any other “strange” signboards you have seen lately?

90…70…80. Oh no…60 kph!

Have you driven in Kelantan recently? If you have, you will be constantly nodding in agreement with what I write below.

My hometown is in Besut and my in-laws are in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Since I’ve started working as a lecturer in 2001, I’ve been spending more than 90% of my year either in Perak where I work or in Kuala Lumpur where my own family lives. Fyi, I stay in Perak five days a week and the remaining two days I spend mostly in KL. I am a weekend husband and father. The remaining 10% of my year would either be in Kota Bharu or in Besut.

Since I’ve owned a car in 2001, I have received in total three traffic summonses. The first one was while I was traveling from Besut to Kota Bharu in 2001 or 2002, I can’t clearly remember. The second one while I was traveling along the national road from Slim River to Kuala Selangor. I just thought I could save some toll fees by not taking the PLUS highway. I ended up paying RM150 for it. This was in 2003.

The third and last traffic summon issued under my name was in June 2009 along the Tanah Merah – Jeli road when I was returning to Perak from Kota Bharu. All tickets were for speeding offences. The first summon was for driving at about 90 kph (kilometer per hour) at 70 kph zone. The second was exactly 81 kph also at 60 kph zone. I have the letter from police for this one. I don’t have the information for the third summon, but I am pretty sure the situation was the same. Well, that sucks! In all cases, I wasn’t aware that the speed limit was below 90 kph. Thanks to the confusing roadsigns.

I understand the need to designate certain areas under a speed limit…for safety of course. What I don’t get is the way the speed limit signs are put up and the locations where they are put up. If you travel from Jeli to Kota Bharu in Kelantan, regardless of which way you follow (i.e. either through Rantau Panjang, Tanah Merah or Machang), you will always have to keep a constant watch for the speed limit signs. Many times they are not that obvious…even outright missing. While I had been thinking the speed limit was 90 kph, I suddenly saw the white round sign with a black slash that indicates that the speed limit zone just ended. That meant I was driving at 95 kph in the less-than-90-kph zone while thinking it was a 90-kph zone.

Sometimes the speed limit changes from 60 to 90 and back to 70 before you can even blink twice. I might as well just drive at 60 kph all the way in order to avoid committing speeding violations. The problem with that strategy is that other vehicles would be tailgating so close that I almost cannot breathe. I always wonder how the JPJ (road transport department of Malaysia) approves such traffic signs. There are so many places where these happen. Do they even conduct surveys to ensure that there is no confusion in the road signs? What do you think?

To make things worse, the traffic police always put speed traps at these places. I really hate the idea punishing people who unknowingly committing traffic offenses.