My conscience has been pricking me since my sister-in-law related to me her experience when she boarded a Transnational bus at Jalan Duta terminal in KL at about 1am on Monday, a week before Hari Raya Aidil Fitri holidays.

The young driver from Kelantan appeared tired and lost, and kept on repeating that he has driven four trips already. He even asked my sister-in-law whether she knew the way into Ipoh as he has not driven there before. Sensing that he must be tired, she reminded him to stop if necessary and he took offence. Soon he drove the bus angrily to Taman Datuk Keramat and another bus driver joined him and actually took over as driver on their way out of KL to Ipoh. Within minutes, he was fast asleep.

I was at Medan Kidd station, Ipoh, to fetch my sister-in-law and she arrived at 4am. Considering that the bus left at 1am to go to Datuk Keramat, then out of KL to Ipoh, even allowing for the no-jam situation at that time, it must have been a fast journey.

The question that came to my mind was: why the lack of drivers on duty? Allowing for the fact that it was puasa month, if there were indeed not enough drivers to go round, why allow drivers who are too tired to drive (even for short distances)? If they had been driving while fasting, their tiredness could have been compounded.

Months ago, while driving between Gopeng and KL, there had been frequent police speed traps. The police actually stopped vehicles which had been speeding based on some hidden cameras somewhere along the highway. I have frequently overtaken tankers (cement as well as oil tankers), express buses and trailers with speed limits clearly stated at the back "70/80 kmsj" or "80/90 kmsj", at the limit allowed for private vehicles of 110 km.

Surely they must have been travelling at around 100km per hour. Yet, how often have we seen them being summoned by the police? Can we be blamed for suspecting that the police have some kind of understanding with the big transport operators? Similarly, if the "excessive emission of smoke" has been properly enforced, at least half of the heavy vehicles would have to be taken off the road.

While we are trying to find out the causes of serious road accidents, we should compile data on drivers involved, road worthiness of vehicles, overcrowdedness and other necessary details. Very often we hear of cases where the drivers might have held driving licence for a few years but lack driving experience. The driver could have hired or borrowed a friend or relative's car for the festive journey. The vehicle, being owned by another, could have been poorly maintained, for example, worn brake pads and/or balding tyres.

This brings me to the perennial problem of corruption at the inspection stage of commercial vehicles. The standard fee seems to be RM200 or RM250 for a bit of touch-up included, handled by some middlemen. Though privatised, the problem persisted as most owners would rather treat the amount as a necessary half-yearly expense rather than waste at least half a day's work, lose revenue and yet likely to be rejected for some flimsy excuse.

An honest tow-truck operator who owns and operates his own truck with care and has been on a missionary zeal to inform those involved in accidents not to sign any papers without first consulting someone whom he knows or trusts, related to me how frustrated he was when his tip top vehicle was rejected while he saw one commercial vehicle came without even washing it and left having passed the inspection! Besides, there is also a scam involving the hiring of tyres for inspection purposes! One can imagine the danger lurking on our roads.

The lack of enforcement on motorcyclists, especially in rural areas has been taken for granted. It has been assumed that the police "close one eye and shut the other" just so as not to inconvenience the locals. In this case, we have to take the view that we have to be "firm to be kind".

Boys and girls, even at the age of 10, have been seen riding motorcycles without helmets in the villages. Parents can be seen carrying babies and toddlers on motorcycles - in different combinations: parent with a baby, parent with a baby in front and a toddler at the back, both parents with a baby and toddler in front of each, and so on.

Then we have those who use their motorbikes for carrying anything you can think of - gas tanks, chair, grass-cutting machines, exhaust pipes, ladders, etc. The worst case I have seen so far, a motorcyclist carrying a small table on top of the handlebar which actually blocked his view completely and he had to look from the side of the furniture every few seconds! If not for the likely tragic consequences, I could have found it hilarious.

The point to note here is poor enforcement. It is either the lack of police to ensure the motorcyclists comply with the rules, or they have been too leniently let off for a small bribe each time.