Do you want to be another statistic?

Don't text and drive. Don't text and ride either. I've seen motorcyclists frowning intently as they look at their text messages instead of the road. While riding (i.e. in motion).

Just another gentle reminder to fellow Malaysians. And since it is Halloween this week, let's scare ourselves a little with some figures from MIROS shall we ?

For those who favour two wheels propelled by four stroke engines:

• Motorcyclists are twice as likely as motorists to be involved in an accident.
• Motorcyclists are twice as likely as motorists to be badly injured and/or die in a traffic accident.
• Motorcyclist fatalities are increasing on an average of 2% each year for the past decade.
• 25% of motorcyclists who die in traffic accidents are below age 20 (so don't let your children ride motorcycles without licence OR supervision).

For those who favour four wheels (or more) propelled by engines that corresponds to the size of your manhood/ego:

• The number of traffic accidents are on the increase annually.
• The number of traffic accidents with fatalities (i.e. someone or a lot of someone dies) are also increasing every year.
• Malaysians hold the unenviable number of 23 deaths from traffic accidents / 100,000 population.
• Cars and taxis are leading in terms of number of accidents, followed by motorcycles and bicycles, lorries, vans and others.

Many research has been done to pinpoint the cause of traffic accidents and what they all sum up: people are idiots and cause traffic accidents. It may not be you but another jerkwad, but that doesn't mean you are any less injured or dead.

Well, what has been known cannot be unknown, yes? So let's all work together to be less of an asshole on the road; don't matter whether you are on two wheels or more. Cos we all want to get home safely.