Newspaper Review #4

Date: 8th December 2008
Title: Man dies as reversing car hits couple
From: The Straits Times, Home Page B1

Summary:
On the 6th December 2008, a driver lost control of her car while reversing and rammed into a couple in a multi-purpose court at midnight. Miss Nurliah Sulaiman was flung to the side, while her financee was pinned under the Toyota Corolla. Mr Muhammad Anis was dead minutes after the paramedics arrived. It is still unknown why and how the car lost control.

Reflections:
After reading this, I feel that the driver is pretty reckless and exhausted as it is pretty abnormal to reverse a car all the way over the curb, grass patch and then into the court. There would be a jerk and the driver can feel a difference in the terrain, so it would be very obvious that the driver did something wrong, thus this make it rather bizarre. I feel sorry for the couple as they were sitting at this remote corner that has the least possibility of events like this happening, and yet it happened and took away Mr Muhammad’s live. Moreover, they were about to marry in a year’s time after knowing each other for 2 years. Life could have been as per normal, if this didn’t happen.

Well, I guess that improvements of the car park can be made to prevent people from over-reversing. The curb could be built higher so that cars will not go over it and so that the sensor of the car can sense the curb to alert the driver, but it needs to be short enough so that most of the cars doesn’t hit the curb with it’s bumper. A grass slope with a 15 degree gradient could be behind the curb so that it is harder to reverse on it. By doing so, it prevents events like this to happen again. Also, I feel that drivers should have a re-test every 5 years to reduce the number those who drive recklessly and to also update the drivers on the new rules and road signs.

Posted by Kelly!(: