Road safety contest

Its balik kampung season again, this time for Chinese new year. The highways and byeways will be jammed with vehicles, big and small, leaving the big cities for little hometowns and villages. In their eagerness, in their haste to be with family, many drivers tend to be careless and forget about traffic rules. 55 deaths by road accidents have been reported since Ops Sikap XII was launched on Sunday. The death toll may go up further if drivers don't change their attitude on the roads. Think of your family and loved ones waiting for you. A few days back, the Road Safety department thought it had a brilliant idea to keep the roads safe and creating awareness among the public. It launched a public contest called 'Snap,Send and Win' to snap photos of traffic violators caught in the act. Cash prizes were being offered. In other words they want you to waste your precious time and go out and look for traffic offenders and record it in pictures then send to them for action. Risk your own life and limb for a few ringgit. Tranport minister Chan Kong Choy was not amused and directed the department to scrap the contest immediately due to possible abuse by certain quarters. The department should start planning some other strategies or get road safety consultants from other countries to help educate our road users and road designers.