Golf superstar Tiger Woods was knocked out for 6 minutes. He suffered face injuries in a 2 am crash after a quarrel with his wife.
The 33 year old was pulled from the vehicle by Swedish model spouse Elin Nordegren, after hitting a fire hydrant and a tree close to their Florida home.
A motorcyclist needs to wear a helmet when riding a bike. Likewise, it is compulsory for a driver to wear a seat belt. Failure to do so, here in Malaysia, violates Section 119 (2) of the Road Transport Act 1978. It carries a RM100 fine.
Tiger was not wearing a seat belt when he crashed. Shortly after pulling out of the driveway of his home.
In the concept of defensive driving, which the Malaysian authorities is said to have followed the Australians, a driver is recommended to remain calm prior to his or her beginning one’s journey.
Sources say Tiger and his wife were arguing before the accident happened. That could most probably explain why the accident took place. A driver who is worked up after a row with either his wife or girlfriend would:
a) Drive off feeling angry and experts says would tend to accelerate hard upon the gas pedal.
b) Would not probably have the notion of putting on or wearing his seat belt before driving off.
In the above accident, Tiger Woods was said to have smashed his face into the windscreen. Not surprisingly the air bags on his car, a Cadillac Escalade SUV did not deploy, indicating he was travelling at a low speed.
Although police authorities said alcohol were not involved, charges were pending.
Tiger, it was said, would face a “reckless driving” charge and for not wearing a seat belt.
For those golf fans of his around the world over, the golf’s number one, was released after 12 hours of treatment at the Health Central Hospital in Ocoee.
Down here our country Malaysia, Singapore and also cities around the world, wearing a seat belt has become “mandatory”.
Although in Malaysia the fine for not wearing a seat belt amounts to only RM100, nevertheless, it is the principle of wearing a seat belt that counts.
The fact that our Malaysian government has passed a law in Parliament quite recently, on the compulsory wearing of the seat belt for the passengers at the back or the 3rd sear belt, only goes towards showing the authorities concern.
For the readers’ consumption, Malaysia’s 3rd seat belt regulation, has not been fully implemented as yet. However, it would come into effect around March 2010.
Besides the seat belts, a car should ideally be filled with air bags. Whereas in other European countries, air bags are a compulsory item in vehicles.
Here in Malaysia, air bags does not seem to be highly regarded by the authorities concerned.
For your information, cars exported to England by Proton, Malaysia’s sole producer of Proton vehicles, are reportedly said to be fixed with air bags for the British market.
The surprise of all surprises is, the Proton cars, though costing the same price as the models in England, do not have the mandatory air bags installed for the local market.
Why is there such a disparity? No one can answer except perhaps the authorities.
Now lets come back to the question of seat belts. Like the helmet, a seat belt has to be worn correctly. Failing which, it would not function properly.
Unless it is fixed appropriately, the mechanical version, in times of emergencies would not deploy properly. If it is worn too loose around the driver or passenger, the seat belt, as mentioned earlier, will fail to deploy well.
Do remember also, seat belts are reported to function at certain speed only.
In Malaysia, not all vehicles are mandatorily supposed to possess seat belts. Older vehicles, models earlier than 1970, are exempted from having seat belts. Trailer, buses and larger vehicles are too exempted from the above law.
Pregnant ladies who are more than 6 months into labour, are also not required to wear the seat belt contraption. It is said to cause much inconvenience to the ladies in advanced labour.
So traffic police men normally do not fancy booking ladies who are pregnant.
But the bottom line is, seat belts are essential items of a vehicle. You should wear them wherever and whenever possible.
To end this short article, Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed were said to have not worn their seat belts while speeding away from photographers in Paris some years ago.
The whole world knows the consequences of not wearing a seat belt. No further explanation is therefore needed.
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