Cool heads must prevail in cycling deaths incident

I FULLY support Tunku Temenggong of Johor Tunku Idris Iskandar Ibni Sultan Ibrahim’s advice against those who tried to turn the death of eight teenage cyclists in a road accident a week ago into a racial issue, “Tunku Idris: Solve the issue without blaming others” ( Sunday Star, Feb 26).

Tunku Idris had also hit out at those who planned to gather and protest against the 22-year-old woman driver who rammed into the group of cyclists in the early hours of last Saturday, killing eight of them.

His words of advice are very cogent and relevant as we do not want irresponsible parties to take advantage of the situation by creating hatred and enmity among the people.

What we need right now is for everyone to remain rational while helping the authorities to find solutions to the problem affecting our children.

Malaysians in general and Johoreans in particular must never support such gatherings as it would create uneasiness and tension among people of diverse backgrounds. If we allow such gatherings, the chain of events would actually lead to a more complex situation.

While we should respect the families that have lost their loved ones, we must also remember that the driver who was involved in the accident had never wanted it to happen.

We must stop the blame game and face the issue in the true Malaysian spirit of wanting to see inter-racial harmony in our multiracial nation even when confronted with a tragedy.

We must also address the fundamental issues of problematic children and the parents themselves.

I believe that the children need sufficient room and space to grow up and participate in various recreational activities.

A thorough study must be done to find the main reasons why such groups exist as there were reports that the young cyclists were from low-income families who live in cramped homes.

It was also reported that their parents had done their level best to stop their children from becoming involved in dangerous activities. We should therefore have a holistic solution to tackle this issue, apart from enforcing the existing law at all levels and considering new legislation to deal with the anti-social behaviours among children.

Among others, the federal and state governments should build special venues for bicycle enthusiasts and organise more cycling competitions to give them opportunities to show off their skills.

The authorities should also improve the safety aspect for cyclists by making it compulsory for them to wear safety helmet and install beacon lights on their bicycles.

Young cyclists must also be given proper guidelines and assistance to continue with their activities.

Proper signage must be installed on streets that have designated bicycle lanes while safety barriers must be used to mark bicycle zones.

More awareness campaigns should be held to educate cyclists and drivers alike to be considerate towards all road users.

As for enforcement, I hope the police and local authorities could monitor the areas frequented by the young cyclists no matter where they are and advise them to leave or they would be arrested.

Instead of taking the law into their own hands or turn the incident into a racial issue, I hope the public could help the authorities solve the problem by providing solutions and help implement them with the full support of the community.

It does take a village to raise a child. Everyone must play a role to ensure the protection and survival of children.