The fact that we have perennial problems of corruption in Puspakom's monopolistic inspection of commercial vehicles, refusal to use meters by taxi drivers, taxi touts at KLIA, and the recent road carnage involving buses travelling long distance shows that besides the lack of effective enforcement, our people are basically lacking in having a strong conscience and a high integrity.

In the UK, ordinary garages are authorised to provide the annual Ministry of Transport inspection and issue of certificate to cars over three years old before renewal of road tax. Just imagine the number of garages with integrity there which provide basic inspection and repair of brakes, lights and other items deemed necessary for roadworthiness.

In Malaysia, just ask any commercial vehicle owner casually whether he has 'to pay' to get his vehicle pass the half-yearly inspection. Some RM250 is already factored into his calculation of expenses as no one is willing to forego business-hours to go through the hassle of fighting the 'system'.

We have heard of cases of vehicles which went through inspection with good tyres and so on but these were changed immediately after. Don't the owners have any conscience? We should shame those who accept bribes in the inspection of vehicles and for the enforcement of the highway laws as well as those who provide unsafe vehicles and unsuitable drivers on the road, as they have blood on their hands when such vehicles claim lives.

As usual, immediately after some serious accidents, the authorities jump into an 'overkill mode' with extremely strict checks which frighten off some drivers and operators who decided not to risk facing summonses. The result is likely to be insufficient buses to ferry the extra load this coming Hari Raya.

Such problems only highlight the neglect of upgrading alternative transport modes, particular rail. The double-tracking project was shelved for a number of years due to the lack of funds. Yet, priorities were given to send a sailor to sail around the world, to host the Monsoon Cup, to train astronauts and even to provide facilities in the UK for sportsmen.

The railway system in Europe, for instance, is so well-developed in terms of user-friendliness with its almost clockwork precision in timing that owning a car seems an unnecessary hassle in terms of costs and maintenance. Our low priority in upgrading our rail system stands out like a sore thumb.

For this coming Hari Raya, I hope the Transport Ministry will look into providing more rail coaches to alleviate the expected shortage in bus transport from Kuala Lumpur.