As I flipped through the pages, the title of “Accident killing victims of five” stuck me.

It
was about a week since I have witnessed an accident right before my eyes. Before the eye
opening and horrible scene which occurred at Jalan Sultan II, I was rather ignorant of the
importance of staying safe whilst driving on the road, viewing that road accidents were
merely a popular phenomenon. Accidents on road did not much bother me nor the
sympathetic claims of body impacted me in the means of road safety.
It was Friday as I got out from home, crossed a few streets and went to a nearby stationary
shop. As the neighbourhood of Taman Mentaling is not as busy and vibrant as any other
neighbourhood areas, the streets where rather loose with vehicles on road. When I was about
to cross Jalan Sultan II when the pedestrian traffic light flicked green, an alabaster silver
metallic Honda Civic heading northward from the T- junction of the road intercepted with a
metallic grey Toyota Sienta, crashed each other in which the mighty impacted gave a sudden
slight lift to the Toyota. Luckily, the car did not overturn, it landed on ground with loud bang
and skidded. This occurred simultaneously with a scattering raspy as both the passenger side
windows shattered into pieces.
The cauldron of a noises: loud bang, shattering of glass, the horn of a car …… bore a melee
of people. Some were stunned, staring straight at the accident with mouth wide open. Some
were lost, the young ones, not knowing what to do next. Some were emotionless, bravely
drawing out their phones to take pictures as if it was a stunt scene for a movie, confused or
rather blind-hearted. Luckily, in the world of hopeless humanity, there is people who are
kind. Before I could make a move to call the ambulance, a lady in her forties have took out
her phone and dialled for ambulance, then holding on her phone to her right ear, she rushed to
the scene to inspect the situation. I then, not knowing what to do followed her action and
rushed to her side and asked her what to do next. While more people noticed the crash, they
stood aloof to watch as spectators.
The reality that we could not do anything shimmered behind the situation, we are helpless,
the only thing we can do is to wait for help to arrive. From the driver side window, I saw the
driver, with his head on the air bag, motionless while thick, purple-red blood oozed out
slowly from his forehead. His body were pierced with pieces of shattered glass while his head
is caked with gore. The steering wheel was covered with fresh blood as well. It was not
pleasing to sight, in which it instantly petrified me. Shattered glass was all around the
surroundings. The doors of the passenger side were greatly damaged. It was dented and at a
look at it, it is perceived as a badly crumbled paper. At a foot away from the severely
damaged Honda Civic, the Toyota Sienta had only the head of the car damaged: the front
bumper was dented in and hanging half way as one or two bolts were loosed, the hood of the
car was bent as if a paper were bent into a wave-like structure while the scatter-proof
windscreen gained many cracks, making the windscreen blur. A mild smoke arises from the
hood of the car. The driver and the side passenger of the car stood alive with only some
minor injuries: with bruises and scratches. They stood half conscious, seemingly confused
and dizzied by the swift happening of things packed within a few seconds.
Soon, the ambulance came with a loud whirr of siren, paramedics carried the bleeding man
and sent him off to the emergency department of the hospital. They attended the other driver
and the passenger as well. As soon as the victims of the accident were attended and settled, I
gave a sigh of relief, knowing that they shall be fine. The police soon came and assisted the
control of traffic. At that moment, I only realised that I have not notice that vehicles were
clogged for my attention have had been on the two cars all the while. Within some time, the
accident scene was cleared off and the road returned normal.
The petrifying scene of the accident opened my eyes that it is more horrid than a newspaper
article could describe. It reminded me that no matter how safe we drive, there is another
careless driver. Being a true witness of a road accident, I truly felt for those who have
suffered emotionally when it took away the lives of the innocent victims. The witnessing of
the accident helped me understand how important we as a community are, coming in to help
to reduce the risk and impact of road accidents by driving safe, obeying rules and regulations
and not being just a bystander when accidents occur. While we oftentimes blame ferocious
animals such as sharks being responsible for the deaths of humans, we should take a step
back and consider the fact that it is road accidents that kills more than sharks annually.