LETTER | What lessons will be learnt from the Suke highway construction tragedy?

LETTER | For the third time, tragedy struck the MRR2 highway construction being headed by highway concessionaire Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas).

What lessons will we ever learn from the tragedy as this time around, two lives were already lost at the time of writing my thoughts?

It seems that, quote and unquote, the trailer that rammed into the scaffolding structures was an "overloaded trailer".

And as procedural as we have it, the driver will have his urine tested to see if he was under the influence of drugs or booze behind the wheels.

And then will all else settle after that as we get on with life again only to wait for another tragedy to strike?

Have the authorities really studied how the road surfaces are maintained wherever there is a roadside or highway construction in progress?

Let us get honest. The detours and squeezed lanes are of the bare minimum in terms of safety, if not none at all.

And also, have we not seen on numerous occasions where heavy vehicles are visibly overloaded and plying the many routes crisscrossing the country?

Even after so many crackdowns by law enforcement agencies, we still have to live with such lawbreakers?

And if it is true that the trailer that struck this time was indeed overloaded, who should bear the brunt of justice - the driver or the owner of the vehicle and the contracting partner?

And what is a punishment of a few hundred thousand ringgit in the face of perhaps a multi-million ringgit project profits? As locals will say it, "kacang putih lah".

When we are engaged in first world-like infrastructures - like constructing this Suke highway bridge, should we also not put in place safety measures that are not fourth world standard?

Or is it always an issue of cost and profits?

Accidents are not to be dismissed as fated or punishment from God.

Accidents scientifically happen because of the collusion of two factors, namely an unsafe condition and an unsafe action.

Both are caused by humans, not God Almighty, please lah.

Those of us who have travelled to the developed world will vouch for the stark differences between them and us when it comes to our infrastructure and building projects.

Somewhere along the scaffoldings of progress and development these past decades till now, we have allowed ethics, principles and professionalism to be overtaken by profit motives and justifications of costs.

And along that route, we also continue to this day to see brazen lawbreaking as is in this case of an "overloaded trailer".

Over to the authorities on what lessons we can learn from a third-time incident involving the same builder.

Also, who will do an honest audit of all such and similar roadside developments that are obviously shortchanged on safety aspects.

Or is losing lives and limbs a normal, predictable cost to be paid in exchange for modern facilities and conveniences?

The views expressed here are those of the authors/contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.