Law and enforcement

Now that the belting up in the rear seats are mandatory, we are reminded that it is illegal to seat 4 people at the back of a car.

This new reminder is brought about when many realised that there can only be 3 seat belts at the back. What do we do with the 4th passenger? Well, the answer is that the driver will probably be fine as far as the seat belt ruling goes. But "there is no guarantee that he won't be fined under other laws."

Again, our conscientious officials have reminded us that we should not put members of our family or friends at risk because when a car is overloaded the steering control and the braking ability of it is affected.

I should have thought of that!

So I began thinking....

This overloading thing begs clarification on how overloading is defined:

1. Is there a limit on the number of people (normal sedans are typically designed for 3 adults in the rear seats)

2. How do we count children (1 child = 1 adult or 3 children = 2 adults?)

3. If 3 children = 2 adults is applicable, then at what age is a child not a child? And if we do not use age, do we use weight (more appropriate?), or height?

4. If child-seats or booster seats are mandatory too, at what age (or is it height or weight?) can a child go without the child-seats?

5. Or is there also a limit on the total weight of the load? So if we have very well-rounded people, we can only seat 4 instead of 5?

6. Does it also depend on the type of car (such as wira, myvi, kancil, satria), and/or make of car, such as perodua(smaller), toyota (typical), mercedes (larger)?

7. How will the authorities check the weight if overloading is defined by weight (as it should be, if steering and braking ability are the measures)?

8. Will the relevant personnel checking be carrying portable weighing machines? or will the suspect (and passengers) be sent to a weighing centre? Are we going to build more weighing centres?

9. Are we going to send some officials for trips to other countries to study how they effect such rules?

10. Errm... does a similar law apply to other vehicles, such as lorries, buses, trains? how to weigh a train?

Come to think of it, I can already see some business potential in selling weighing equipment if this overloading thing is to be enforced:
a. Mobile weighing machines, kind of like a trailer with a weighing machine that the suspect (and passengers drive up on?
b. Below the surface weighing machines installed on major roads that shows the weight of the vehicle driving past?
c. Home use machines for families wary of breaking the laws?

We can probably also address the issue of the overloaded lorries plaguing our roads for so many years. See how we can kill many worms with one bird?

And then the automotive industry may well start to promote loading limits on their cars together with fuel efficiency, headroom, engine stats, etc.

Imagine the advertisement "45kg more than the nearest competitor means you get to keep the car as the family grows (weight-wise)"

Or "Why be punished because you are more than a model's figure, our new sedan exceeds the average load limits by 75kg".

And also "Planning for another child, our 2009 model is designed for 5 adults + 1 child, leading the industry in weight-limits for our class."

I could go on, but I am running out of paper...