My Longkang

08 Dec 2006

15-year-old Irween Fairuz Zainuddin’s had always wanted to have straight teeth since she was nine years old. Her mother said, “Her teeth was slightly crooked after an accident when she was a child and she was always begging for braces. This year I decided after she had completed her Penilaian Menengah Rendah exam that I would send her and fixed the dental appointment.”

However as fate dictated it, the appointment was never kept. She was to have braces fixed on her teeth but she was killed together with her father when the motorcycle they were on rammed into a stalled factory bus on the New Pantai Expressway.

Both were killed in the accident which occurred in a downpour at 2.30pm.

Police recorded a statement from the factory bus driver who claimed the engine stalled, forcing him to stop in the middle of the expressway.

Just another statistic to the country. Two deaths. But…the deaths were unnecessary. The bus was not supposed to break down. The bus was not supposed to stall and stop in the middle of the highway. Was everything possible done to alert road-users of the stalled bus? I was not there but this is not an isolated incident. Transport companies must ensure their buses are in roadworthy condition before they set off on a journey. The safety of the public is at stake here!