I DO not know Lee Nian Ning personally despite coming from the same hometown as her. From the looks of it she had so much ahead of her (“Robbed of bright future” – The Star, Jan 28).

Looking at her pictures posted on the Facebook group (on the Internet) in her memory, I am most struck by how the pictures of her smiling in the groups of girls could easily have been pictures of my friends and me.

The bus company should be held liable over what happened. How many more accidents like this must we let happen before something is done?

I myself am a regular on the North-South Expressway. I am from Penang and study at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. With the holidays looming, I can’t wait to go back to be with my family but I now dread having to make the trip back home.

Indeed, you can say accidents happen, tragedy happens. But let’s not just let it happen when it definitely could have been avoided. How could a bus driver with 13 summonses to his name still be allowed on the road?

What happened to the crackdown after all those people died in that other bus accident just last year?

Where’s the implementation of all those new policies and rules?

Am I supposed to say a prayer and hope for the best each time I board a bus? It is inevitable that I will make one of these Penang-KL trips again. I do not feel so safe now knowing that I may be putting my life in the hands of a bus driver with a string of offences.

Please do something to make it safer for every one on the road.

RACHEL CHOONG MEI LING,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Source: The Star – January 31, 2008