Law and enforcement

We are a law-abiding people, only when there is a law-enforcement person in visible sight.

Sometimes, I wonder if there is a act legistated somewhere that states something like "An action breaking the written laws are illegal, if, and only if, spotted by government personnel authorised to police such actions and willing to take action to punish the illegal act." Perhaps it is this law that promotes our actions in blatantly ignoring the law.

Take a drive out of wherever you are now, and you see how lawlessness we are.
1. Oh, be very careful at the traffic lights. Especially if it is green because there are many that thinks that red lights means they must look before speeding off.
I have this friend of a friend that gave me a ride home one night. He would slow down when reaching a traffic light junction when the lights are red, and looking (without stopping), continue across the junction (despite the redlights). After 2 of these incidences, I asked why he did that. To which he replied, "Don't worry, my brother do it all the time. No cars at this hour." Then at the 3rd traffic light junction, it was green, and he stopped the car. I was really puzzled, what is it with him? Driving through red lights and stopping at green? Sensing my troubled state, he explained, "Better look out, in case my brother coming from the other side." Did someone change the standards of red means stop and green means go while I was sleeping?

2. Visit any commercial area with shoplots, and you'll see a variety of parking methods. Double parking, grass-area parking, roadside parking, on-curb parking (popular with the 4x4s and SUVs). We'll have to invent names for the other kinds of parking, and probably include them into the driving lessons. "Haih, I passed the parallel, and double parking but failed the curb parking".

3. The amount of litter in crowded places such as bus stations, open-air markets, hawker centres, etc will make a visitor belief that we have no dustbins. If you drive every day, you'll even see the common flick of cigeratte butts out from cars, trucks, motorbikes and those cases where the driver opens his door and heaves a patch of his personal fluids out to the floor. Oh, I have yet to meet anyone who has been fined for littering. Maybe there is no anti-littering law?

4. Safety concerns for vehicles. Do I even have to tell you about these? Helmets, seat belts, kids in the front passenger seat, kid in the driver seat with driver, use of mobile phone and smoking a cigarrette, at the same time? This last one is special. Not because he is difficult to spot, just special because of his inability to think, or his illusion of his driving skills. This driver is the one with one hand holding the mobile phone, and the other hand hanging out of the window with a glowing cigarrette. hmm... If using a phone is dangerous, would lighting a cigarrette, smoking (which implies holding) and later throwing the cigarrette butt out be considered a safe and acceptable act? The other special is where the driver has a 3-5 year old on his lap. And any combination of these are real specials.

5. Weaving and driving on emergency lanes. These are the real dangers to the other roads users. I agree that speed kills. I mean, very few people have been injured or lost their lives while parked (in the past, the opposite have happened, where some lives were created while parked). But to say that driving at 130km/hr is riskier than driving at 110km/hr? Anyway, what is risky is that idiot that is weaving at 70km/hr in a busy 80km/hr zone while all (and there are many) the other cars are going at 40-60km/hr.

6. Speeding or rather the lack of it. We have a very nice north-south highway. And occasionally there are major accidents involving multiple cars. Of course, speed is involved.It is after all a highway and not a parking lot. Did the accident occur because of weaving, suddenly changing lanes, driver falling asleep or mechanical failure? Speed is merely a part of the reason, seldom the actual reason. Does anyone seriously think that a driver going at 140km/hr will crash into someone going at 110km/hr? He would slow down before hitting the car in front. If he didnt or could not, then it wasnt the speed, it was either mechanical failure, falling asleep, sudden change of lanes or weaving? Speed is the only scrapgoat here. And if we really analyse the causes of accident, I would guess that falling asleep (lost control of vehicle?) is probably a big percentage of the causes. Try driving alone for a 4 hour journey (KL to JB, or Pen to KL).

7. Heavily tinted windows, glaring HID lights modifications, loud-exhausts are so common now that a visitor would be surprised that these are illegal. At least for loud-exhausts, the national car has supported this by producing cars that make enough decibels to match the after-market conversions of the others. Glaring HID lights are a danger to other drivers and glaringly, very little action has been taken against these drivers. As for tinted windows, perhaps someone should justify why it cannot be allowed. Apparently, all you need is to get a doctor to certify that you are sensitive to sunlight in order for you to legally have extreme tinting. If I had the money to tint my car, I would try getting this certificate from a doctor.

8. One would think that given that we have so much laws and so little conformance, we should find ways to get the public to conform. Instead, we add on another law. Yes, the law is good and yes, it is done with good intentions. No, it will not be followed, and no, it will not be enforced. Erm,

9. Corruption - well, as far as drivers are concerned, there is absolutely no corruption unless you are caught breaking a law. But laws are not broken unless someone got caught breaking it. So anti-corruption cannot happen unless laws are broken. So if only 1 in 1,000 breaches of the law is caught, and only 1 in 1,000 cases where laws are broken are anti-corruption officers present, then there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that the anti-corruption officer can catch the act of corruption. So based on the above numbers, and if you break the traffic laws 10 times a day (3650 times a year), you would probably get fined (or pay a bribe if this is possible) about 3.65 times a year and if you bribe, you will get caught by a ACA officer once in 274 years.

One thing about my children at home is that when we make a rule, we also declare the consequences of breaking the rule. But when we break the rules and the supposed consequences do not happen, then in their eyes, the rule does not exist. Rules without enforcement = no rules. So smart, these children nowadays.

And we believe that adults are different.
I should have thought of that.