'Act before tragedy strikes'

KUALA LUMPUR: Recent fatal accidents caused by poor road maintenance has sparked a call for authorities to be more proactive.

Alliance for Safe Community chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, said many have highlighted the need for mobile teams to identify potholes instead of waiting for members of the public to complain.

Instead, he said, the cry for foresight and funds has fallen on deaf ears.

"When the rakyat pays their taxes, they are not interested in whose responsibility it is to repair the roads. They simply want the roads to be made safe by the authorities.

“After all, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

“To be proactive is to act before a tragedy strikes. To be reactive is to act after a tragedy has occurred.

“No amount of apology or compensation will be able to assuage the families of the victims concerned,” Lee said in a statement today.

In stressing the urgency, Lee highlighted the tragedy of a 31-year-old man who was killed when his motorcycle hit a bad patch in the road yesterday, and a 75-year-old man who died a few days earlier when he was thrown off his motorcycle after hitting a pothole.

He said these accidents occurred soon after Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin, fell of his bike last month.

Lee said that while that “incident elicited a quick apology from the authorities, would a similar apology be forthcoming for the families of recent victims?”

-- BERNAMA