Speeding Can Kill

It was 7.20 this morning when my wife was queuing up in her black Honda CRV waiting for her turn at the Rimba Highway traffic light junction to enter into the Royal Brunei Airforce HQ. She was just transferred there last week to be the Airforce Commander's PA. Suddenly she saw in her rear view mirror this grey car suddenly looming into view and even though she can hear the screeching sound of the car braking, she knew her car will be hit. The driver in the white KIA Cerrato in front of her also heard the sound. He knew someone was going to get hit. The crash came. The grey Hyundai Accent hatchback slammed into my wife's Honda CRV and bounced back. She in turn felt the Honda being pushed into the white KIA Cerrato also queueing up in front of her. The Cerrato was only a month old. Her Honda was three years old.

When I went there, I saw the long thread marks of the Hyundai's tyres on the road. There was no two ways about it. He was travelling really really fast and by the time he saw the queue of cars, there was no way he could have stop no matter how much brake power he had. He claimed he was travelling at just 80 km/hour. As if... The only consolation was no one got hurt. Our only consolation, his car looked a total write off. The Hyundai hit the towing hook of the Honda and that caved his engine in.

The hassle is that - the police report has to be done, the insurance claim has to be done, the workshop has to be done and not to mention the loss of the service of the car while it is still in the workshop. In between, I did not realise the number of documents that needed to be photocopied, the photographs etc. We were very lucky. The police was fast, kind, courteous and professional, so thank you to Corporal Kamsul of the Berakas Police Station. We did not encounter any problem at the Claims Department of the Takaful Am. Thank you too to Hayatul Izzati. These two brought comfort to an otherwise traumatic experience.

To my colleague, Dato Alaihuddin at MOC, Yes! Bring the demerit points system. Bring it on real fast. Speed fiends must be eliminated if we want to have safe roads in Brunei.

To all the drivers out there - DON'T DRIVE FAST. Speed can kill. It nearly did on this one. Alhamdulillah, the Al-Mighty is still protecting us.