The double standards are in place till today (refer to Ng Wei Aik Tantrum post).
While Chinese and Malay hawkers are given free hand to operate their stalls from road shoulders,the Mamaks still cannot open a single table on any road,even if it is a dead end with a bicycle path.
Now,that this tragic accident has happened,hear me out,as I am familiar with the driving habits of the people on this particular stretch of road.
Cars jostle for space like it were a race to the finish,starting from the large funeral parlour,all the way to Hong Seng estate traffic lights,avoiding residents making sudden,unannounced turns to their respectives homes on the right hand side of the road.
After which they are overcome with craze trying to not let anyone on the inner lane overtake them as everybody makes a mad dash towards the small intersection.
Along the way,depending on the time of day,some daredevil motorbikes and irrate motorists from the oncoming lane,who think they are Ironman's offspring, like to take risks and speed head on,into your path.
Once the light turns green and everyone is going up the gentle hillslope itself,residents staying at the housing estate next to the wetmarket,have a sinister fondness to road hog both lanes uphill.until the turn off into their homes.
This insanely selfish behaviour is peculiar ONLY,to the mentally unstable culprit/residents staying on this left hand side housing estate (known as Taman Evergreen) after the market and the chinese temple.
A sizeable number of them that live there simply will not give way.
Doesn't matter if they are retirees or wet behind the ears,most delight in forcing you to toddle along at a torturous pace until you find a wider berth as you approach the wetmarket.
By then,it would have irritated enough testestorones and fallopian tubes,causing a long cemetery lining clog,that it again becomes a madhouse as all and sundry,step on the accelerator,to be the first in line,at the next traffic lights down the road.
That was then.
Today,the presence of Tesco,massive construction and new dwellers,multiple the inherent danger.
Mixing a plethoria of tanjong rambutan delivery truckers,asylum construction lorries,together with siao schoolbus operators,gila parents and bas kilang maniacs,white knuckle fearless ah lians,ah bengs,abangs,aweks,minachis and machas,not forgetting rempit aunties and uncles.....(yes i don't know anyone,not even senior citizens below 65 who are not speed fiends)
delivers a deadly cocktail that would delight the denizens of Mount Erskine and guarantee more friends into their fold quicker than before.
Heck if you are on Jln Tg Tokong between 11am to 4pm,it is not out of the blue to encounter Speedy Gonzales blond expatriates(those on holiday,driving W plates are amongst the worst offenders),having 'gone with the flow',and are prone to showing locals a hairy white fist,as they seeth,grit their teeth and break a litany of traffic rules,to tear away from the pack.
But that's a different kettle of fish altogether.
Now,veering back to Mount Erksine again,as I mentioned before,in that path,between the first entrance to Taman Evergreen and the Red means stop lights down below, lies this hawker centre.
Complete with nonchalant patrons,who especially like to suddenly turn their vehicles,without warning,just so they can park or exit the road shoulder next to this makan place,oblivious to those gone beserk and hurtling downhill.
So sure are they,that madmen will avoid striking them down like pins in a bowling alley.
This is an attitude inherited.
Young parents,with small kids seated near the motorcycle basket,demonstrate,the real meaning of guts and glorious joyride.Motorcyclists only know how to travel in a straight line.
No driving school could ever convince them to avoid vehicles.
It was once said that these are the very people who would horn at a tree and a brick wall while stubbornly maintaining their speed with no signs of conceeding defeat.
Earlier this year,one of their species,blamed a cow for 'attacking'him on the road.
Me thinks he horned it,thinking it would 'moo've to the mountains,because surely the stupid cow must have,understood his staunch stand on swerving.
Next we have pedestrians who think they are made of steel,who expect everyone to stop for them.
So cocky are they that they will not even bat an eyelid in your direction as the entire family crosses the road at such a leisurely pace,unafraid for their lives,as if egging you on,to "do it if you dare"plough into them.
They seem to forget what would befall them,when we cannot avoid them in the nick of time,or if they so happened to be in a blind spot.
Sadly,it was an accident just waiting to happen.
As for the roads leading past Pepper estate into Lembah Permai,Tanjong Bungah,an overturned bus complete with dazzed schoolkids and a flying motorcyclist that died upon impact at a florist's corner home compound,all made it to this year's eerie edition.
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Lorry Rams Salesman And Two Cars
(The Star,Metro North)
GEORGE TOWN: A lorry crashed into two parked cars and overturned near some food stalls, killing a salesman and injuring his younger sister.
Siblings Koay Kheng Tiong, 31, and Hooi Chin, 28, were on their way to the stalls at Jalan Mount Erskine here to have breakfast when the incident occurred at about 11.15am yesterday.
It is believed the lorry driver had lost control of the vehicle.
Kheng Tiong was rushed to the Penang Hospital but was pronounced dead on arri- val. His sister, who suffered light injuries, received outpatient treatment at the same hospital.
Food seller Hor Sin Fong, 46, said he rushed to help Hooi Chin after the accident.
“She went to help her brother who was unconscious with blood oozing out from his ears, about 15m away,” said Hor.
Police are using a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage from the stalls in their investigation into the case
While Chinese and Malay hawkers are given free hand to operate their stalls from road shoulders,the Mamaks still cannot open a single table on any road,even if it is a dead end with a bicycle path.
Now,that this tragic accident has happened,hear me out,as I am familiar with the driving habits of the people on this particular stretch of road.
Cars jostle for space like it were a race to the finish,starting from the large funeral parlour,all the way to Hong Seng estate traffic lights,avoiding residents making sudden,unannounced turns to their respectives homes on the right hand side of the road.
After which they are overcome with craze trying to not let anyone on the inner lane overtake them as everybody makes a mad dash towards the small intersection.
Along the way,depending on the time of day,some daredevil motorbikes and irrate motorists from the oncoming lane,who think they are Ironman's offspring, like to take risks and speed head on,into your path.
Once the light turns green and everyone is going up the gentle hillslope itself,residents staying at the housing estate next to the wetmarket,have a sinister fondness to road hog both lanes uphill.until the turn off into their homes.
This insanely selfish behaviour is peculiar ONLY,to the mentally unstable culprit/residents staying on this left hand side housing estate (known as Taman Evergreen) after the market and the chinese temple.
A sizeable number of them that live there simply will not give way.
Doesn't matter if they are retirees or wet behind the ears,most delight in forcing you to toddle along at a torturous pace until you find a wider berth as you approach the wetmarket.
By then,it would have irritated enough testestorones and fallopian tubes,causing a long cemetery lining clog,that it again becomes a madhouse as all and sundry,step on the accelerator,to be the first in line,at the next traffic lights down the road.
That was then.
Today,the presence of Tesco,massive construction and new dwellers,multiple the inherent danger.
Mixing a plethoria of tanjong rambutan delivery truckers,asylum construction lorries,together with siao schoolbus operators,gila parents and bas kilang maniacs,white knuckle fearless ah lians,ah bengs,abangs,aweks,minachis and machas,not forgetting rempit aunties and uncles.....(yes i don't know anyone,not even senior citizens below 65 who are not speed fiends)
delivers a deadly cocktail that would delight the denizens of Mount Erskine and guarantee more friends into their fold quicker than before.
Heck if you are on Jln Tg Tokong between 11am to 4pm,it is not out of the blue to encounter Speedy Gonzales blond expatriates(those on holiday,driving W plates are amongst the worst offenders),having 'gone with the flow',and are prone to showing locals a hairy white fist,as they seeth,grit their teeth and break a litany of traffic rules,to tear away from the pack.
But that's a different kettle of fish altogether.
Now,veering back to Mount Erksine again,as I mentioned before,in that path,between the first entrance to Taman Evergreen and the Red means stop lights down below, lies this hawker centre.
Complete with nonchalant patrons,who especially like to suddenly turn their vehicles,without warning,just so they can park or exit the road shoulder next to this makan place,oblivious to those gone beserk and hurtling downhill.
So sure are they,that madmen will avoid striking them down like pins in a bowling alley.
This is an attitude inherited.
Young parents,with small kids seated near the motorcycle basket,demonstrate,the real meaning of guts and glorious joyride.Motorcyclists only know how to travel in a straight line.
No driving school could ever convince them to avoid vehicles.
It was once said that these are the very people who would horn at a tree and a brick wall while stubbornly maintaining their speed with no signs of conceeding defeat.
Earlier this year,one of their species,blamed a cow for 'attacking'him on the road.
Me thinks he horned it,thinking it would 'moo've to the mountains,because surely the stupid cow must have,understood his staunch stand on swerving.
Next we have pedestrians who think they are made of steel,who expect everyone to stop for them.
So cocky are they that they will not even bat an eyelid in your direction as the entire family crosses the road at such a leisurely pace,unafraid for their lives,as if egging you on,to "do it if you dare"plough into them.
They seem to forget what would befall them,when we cannot avoid them in the nick of time,or if they so happened to be in a blind spot.
Sadly,it was an accident just waiting to happen.
As for the roads leading past Pepper estate into Lembah Permai,Tanjong Bungah,an overturned bus complete with dazzed schoolkids and a flying motorcyclist that died upon impact at a florist's corner home compound,all made it to this year's eerie edition.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lorry Rams Salesman And Two Cars
(The Star,Metro North)
GEORGE TOWN: A lorry crashed into two parked cars and overturned near some food stalls, killing a salesman and injuring his younger sister.
Siblings Koay Kheng Tiong, 31, and Hooi Chin, 28, were on their way to the stalls at Jalan Mount Erskine here to have breakfast when the incident occurred at about 11.15am yesterday.
It is believed the lorry driver had lost control of the vehicle.
Kheng Tiong was rushed to the Penang Hospital but was pronounced dead on arri- val. His sister, who suffered light injuries, received outpatient treatment at the same hospital.
Food seller Hor Sin Fong, 46, said he rushed to help Hooi Chin after the accident.
“She went to help her brother who was unconscious with blood oozing out from his ears, about 15m away,” said Hor.
Police are using a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage from the stalls in their investigation into the case
