Double decker bus is unsafe for long distance?

The Simpang Pulai - Cameron Highland tragedy claimed 27 lives

With this kind of driver, it is not safe even in short distances

The news recently reported that, The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS) stated that the double decker bus is not safe for long distance travelling and also for travelling on hilly and winding roads. This could be the result of the finding of the tragedy near Simpang Pulai last year where a double decker bus carrying tourists from Thailand crashed and 27 people died. I am not sure what sort of research MIROS have done to come to that conclusion or the news agency is not fully reporting the quote from MIROS. The double decker bus have been used all over the world for decades either for long distance travelling or as intra city and rural buses. I used to take the Lincolnshire double decker bus from Nottingham to Loghborough in the 80s. The route pass through the rural villages and winding roads as well as hilly areas. I used to sit on the top deck and normally right in the front row on top of the driver. It always amazed me how these buses can go through the tight corners and the hilly areas. Of course they traveled at a speed way below the permissible limit and the drivers were fully trained, highly responsible and truly understand the need for care and courteousness in driving that sort of buses. The road surface were also well maintained with adequate signages.

With modern technology the safety features of these buses have improved tremndously over the years.

Double decker buses have to pass various safety tests

KL Hop on hop off bus service

 

Statistics did not show preference for double dcker bus to accidents. From my readings, road safety is not merely about banning double decker buses in long distance travel but more about other things such as the drivers experience, skills, safety features on the bus, road condition, condition of the buses and enforcement from the authorities. Yamin Vong said road accidents are rarely accidents but preventable events or at least mishaps that can be minimised if everybody plays his/her part.

In this country most double decker bus accidents were brought about by reckless drivers, poorly maintained buses, terrible road conditions and attitudes of other drivers on the roads. Add poor and selective enforcement to that concoction you really have a hell of a recipe for disasters. Distance traveled by the double decker buses has very little to do with it. For the Simpang Pulai tragedy, it was reported that the buses was not properly built as a fully fledged double decker bus – hence its safety was compromised. Mind you the road to Genting Highland is treacherous even for normal cars let alone for the highly gravity sensitive double decker buses.

So now the Transport Ministry will come out with a directive to ban double decker buses? What would be the reaction of the already ailing express and stage bus industry? Or shall we go back to the BMW (Bas mini wilayah) days. Remember those pink delights with the famous battle cries “masuk dalam lagi bang!, masuk dalam lagi! ” “Oi, lajulah sikit orang nak makan pun tak boleh ke!”

the notoriously efficient bas mini

stop and pick and drop wherever and whenever u like

 

When the mind is playing tricks on you.

Early yesterday morning I told my son that we are going to Diamond Bay (Teluk Intan folks!) today for my officer’s wedding reception and I planned to stop by in Sabak Bernam to visit my elder brother. It is a long weekend we could do with a bit of a break.

Later, at around quarter to four in the afternoon I received a call from the bride’s father. I confidently told him, I’ll be going tomorrow. I was a wee bit puzzled when he passed to phone to the groom and to my astonishment, he asked why weren’t I there yet, as it was almost four and almost everybody from the office was already there. Of course I was bewildered. I was so confident that the ceremony is today, 25th December, Christmas day. I could not be wrong, I had fixed it in my memory and virtually wrote it down. Of course I was wrong and I had to apologise profusely to the groom for the mistake. I double checked with the invitation card. There it was written in bold green letters, Saturday 24th December 2011. How I wish it was not that late, I could have easily push the old banger to reach Teluk Intan within a couple of hours and still make it to the ceremony.

Later I sat down and try to digest the situation. How could I get it wrong? I promised him that I would come. I promised his father in law that I would come. Indeed I intended to go, but then I got the date wrong. Events leading to the weekend probably tarred my memory. On Thursday I was busy with the inland revenue and the getting the wifey’s car serviced. I was in Ampang late Friday afternoon when I received a desperate distress call from the wife. The Serena’s alarm is blaring for no apparent reason. It won’t stop even after the engine was switched off and the ignition key pulled out. She was in the middle of MRRII, near Taman melati heading south  on late Friday afternoon and it was drizzling. Imagine trying to get to Taman Melati at 7.00pm on Friday , on the eve of a long weekend, from Ampang via MRRII on Friday evening. In my rush to get there, I missed the Gombak -Karak  turn off junction and had to take the Greenwood, Sg. Pusu, Gombak,to back to MMRII via UIA circle . It took me half an hour.  The Serena’s alarm is still blaring, I just put on the hazard lights and drove the thing back home amidst the annoyed and curious traffic seeing this crazy driver blaring his horn non stop along the way. When I got home, practically the whole community of Jalan Wangsa Siaga 1 came out to see what was going on upon hearing the piercing sound of the car’s horn. It was too dark for me to look for the cable that link the horn to the battery, so I simply had to yank out the battery connection to stop the din the car was making.  In the chaos I forgot to double check the date of the wedding invitation (which I normally do). Since it was already registered in my mind the  ceremony is going to be on Christmas Day, I slept with that wrong date firmly etched. So Ustaz Mad, I am so sorry. Congratulations. May Allah bless both of you and grace you with all the happiness in this world and the hereafter.

Come to think of it, I better check the date for my niece’s wedding, I am sure it is on the 31st.  On the other hand…

Durian kurang manis

The durian season is here again and despite being a son of durian orchard owner, I never got tired of eating those thorny, foul smelling king of fruits. Never mind mat salleh said it  smells like stinking drain. But when diabetic has a  hold on you, durian is definitely bad news.

durian and its glorious smell

A few nights ago we stopped by at one of those roadside stalls selling durians.  And from my experience helping my dad selling durian to the middlemen, I have never seen a durian that cost RM30 per piece, but then that night I have to. It was one of those cloned species.

Late yesterday, I was in Port Dickson for an emergency meeting and the organiser took a lot of trouble arranging for a durian feast. Since I was diagnosed a diabetic a few years back, I have to cut down on my sugar intake. I have learnt to love teh O kosong, kopi O kosong, teh C kosong and all those thing kosong. I have also cut down on my rice intake, but that is really quite difficult when Malaysian diet normally does not include salad and vegetable to supplement my rice reduction. I have no problem when I am eating on my own where I can devise my own selection, but then most of the time I have to eat in the preset environment, especially during meetings, seminars and packages. I have also familiarised my family with brown rice. Now everyone in the house have taken to like brown rice.

Back to the durian feast, one of my colleague brought me a peice of durian and told me it is “durian kurang manis” much like teh tarik kurang manis. Huh… durian kurang manis?…. He was joking of course to entice me into joining the durian eating  orgy.  There no such thing as “durian kurang manis” –  diabetics eat durians at your own peril!

Durian feast - if you are diabetic, you eat at your own peril.

Jalan Doraisamy revisited

Jalan Doraisamy - come after 5pm

The mere mention of Jalan Doraisamy, a little backlane conjoining Jalan Dang Wangi an the Heritage Row in Kuala Lumpur conjures up an image of colourful clubs and of course – soups.
I have not been to this part of the world for quite a while now, especailly at night. Normally, when my brother or my brother in law come to town, inevitably they would suggest that we visit Jalan Doraisamy for our dinner. Actually there is no particular restaurant, just a few tables along the footpath and the soup come from the proprietor in the back lane of Jalan Doraisamy. If you think McD or KFC are fast food, I am sure you would think again after your Jalan Doraisamy’s experience. The service is lightning quick. The waiters would rattle off myriads of soups and as soon as you make your choice, steaming bowls of thick oily and aromatic broth would arrive. I cannot describe the taste. It is out of this world, with loads of calories. Unless you are health concious, this is the place to be.

Soup kambing, sup daging, soup international, soup ayam, soup torpedo,.... you name it

Last night, in the drizzle we went to Jalan Doraisamy for dinner. It is our family bonding time. With yours truly extremely busy in the weekdays and nights, weekend nights are the time I can gather the family to catch up with things. Not that there is much to catch, but it is the only time I can get to connect with them physically.

 The place was rather quiet and the corner restaurant has become another branch of Syed Bistro and the otak-otak seller wasn’t there, neither was the busker and the blind beggers. But the mountain of nasi lemak packets were still around and the soup were still tasty and the service is still fast.

If you think eating out at the stalls in Jalan Doraisamy is cheap, think again. For eight packets of Nasi lemak, six bowls of soup, two packets of roti benggali, two teh tariks, one barley panas, one nescafe tarik, one teh o halia and one teh c kosong, set me back sixty ringgit! I think Jalan Doraisamy is fast becoming a playground for the rich who prefer street ambience, just like NZ Centre in Wangsa Maju. Never let the laid back and simple ambience fool you. The cost maybe as steep as McD and KFC.

Renewable energy: where are we?

TNB is under extreme pressure with subsidised gas shortage

A few days ago Business FM, a private radio station ran a series on renewable energy which renewed my flagging interest on this topic. I wrote a small dissertation on solar energyway back in the early 80′s. Even up to this day I am still baffled on the reason why Malaysia has not taken much effort to utilise the energy from the sun. Being a tropical country, the sun is abundant throughout the year and it is free. In fact our Southern neighbour had taken  a firm action to be a leading nation on solar energy research.  I know the incentive may not be that great since our fossil energy is heavily subsidised by the Government. But then, our gas supply can only last for another 30 years or so and oil  can only last for another 19 years. We should be ready for the eventuality of us being a net importer of oil.

The lady from SEDAR (sustainable energy development authority) told us the Government have started planning for feed in tariffs since seven years ago. Feed in tariff as I understood it is a mechanism where energy can be fed back into the national grid by generators of electricity and the supplier can be compensated according the wattage fed into the grid. Plans are afoot to allow private generators of power supply to feed excess power into the national grid. Home owners can install photo voltaic cells on their roofs and any excess electricity form the PV can be transmitted to the national grid.

Efficiency of power from PV cells are still low and it is still cheaper to use fossil fuel for electricity

 The same can be said for organisations which use biomass or garbage to generate electricity for their own consumption can now contribute any excess power to the TNB via the national grid. The days of TNB monopoly on electricity is nearing the end. I remember in the early days of our nation, they were a few companies involved along the electricity supply chain. Perak hydro and Kinta Electricity Distibution (KED) were such companies. But these days everything is under the jurisdiction of TNB (except a few indpendent power producers, IPPs, which also used fossil fuels to generate elctricity and TNB must buy power from them).

TNB relies heavily on the fossil fuel for its generators and when Petronas recently cut down on supply of subsidised gas due to maintenance work and the price coal skyrocketed, TNB suffered heavily. It was reported that TNB is asking for a compensation to the tune of RM3 billion from Petronas as a result of shortage of gas. I wonder how long TNB should rely on fossil fuel to power their generators. Hopefully with the feed in tariffs come into force, 30% of the elctricity would come from feed in supply.

More importantly, SEDAR said, consumers must learn to be prudent in using power. The power game should not only concentrate on the suppliers but consumers also play a crucial part. SEDAR estimated that consumers can save as much as 30% of the national energy costs. Maybe Malaysia should spend a lot more on research on solar energy to make it more efficient. In terms of supply, we can never be short of sunshine. In Korea, I saw many car parks use PVs on the roofs to light up the areas.  I believe our Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) can do a lot more than their Singapore’s counterpart. Then again, as long as fuel being subsidised by the Government, both the suppliers and consumers had little incentives to conserve and innovate on energy. Economically, it is still  a lot cheaper to use fossil fuel than its alternatives. But then for how long can we sustain this?