The recent bus crash in Gerik, Perak, sent shock across Malaysia. The tragic accident which took the lives of 15 people mostly students from the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) has ignited concern over the state of road safety.
While the investigations are ongoing, reports point towards a mix of driver getting fatigue and possibilities of mechanical issues. But unfortunately, this is not a special case. Overnight travelling for students have often ended in disaster, yet reforms about it remain slow. Despite having past tragedies, the structure around student transportations still continues to be outdated.
Many parents are expressing their frustrations and outrage in this issue. The expectations of their children reaching home safe has been broken. There’s to implement a much stricter travel guidelines, especially in overnight travels. Public discussions has shifted towards a few practical solutions which are to ban overnight bus travels for minors, conduct frequent vehicle inspections, and introducing mandatory GPS tracking systems to detect speeds and travelling routes in real-time.
People believe that this issue goes way beyond one tragic accident. It reflects on the weakness of Malaysia’s transportation regulations. Unsafe environment is contributed by cost-cutting private bus operators, poor oversight, and outdated regulations. These are the systemic failures that can no longer be ignored and avoided.
Many are asking why are schools continuing to work with low-cost bus operators. There should be a call for more transparency on how travel companies are chosen, as well as the parents having the rights to intervene when travel conditions appear to be unsafe.
As the country mourns for the lives that are lost, there’s a realisation that this must mark as a turning point. Student travels should never come with the risk of a tragedy happening. If the safety of our children are getting compromised, then the system has to be reformed.
The lives of our Malaysian’s youth should never be the price of neglect.
Stephanie Pereira (stephaniexpereira@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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