Riding Safe

Motorcyclists can do themselves - and their families - a favour if they rid themselves of the attitude that because they are more exposed and vulnerable on the roads, the greater onus is on others to keep a lookout for them. That wind-in-the-face feeling, the ability to make it across town faster than by car or bus, straddling lanes and exploiting gaps between vehicles stuck in traffic, is what got 96 motorcycles and three of their pillion riders killed on the roads last year.

That is a startling statistic of one death almost every four days. What compounds it as a tragedy is that the numbers were almost similar a year earlier. Annual figures released last week by the Traffic Police were unambiguous in concluding that motorcyclists and their pillion riders continue to be the most vulnerable on the road to fatal or injury-causing accidents. This is despite more stringent training programmes for learners and efforts by the authorities more recently to get motorcyclists to voluntarily enrol for free courses that prepare them for the demands of riding on expressways.

Credits: The Straits Times