Royal Parade

This is the road that I cross twice a day, three times a week, mininum. It's called Royal Parade. On one side of the road, there's the piazza, where the huge giant, screen TV is at. The farther side of the road takes you to the Hoe, where the sea is. There's nothing special about this road, apart from the fact that it is one of the busiest roads connecting most major roads in small town Plymouth. As I said, it can be very busy, especially during peak hours as cars, buses, bikes, taxis, lorries, and practically everything on wheels pass by through it. But that doesn't normally bother people, bcoz there are places where crossings are allowed and governed by the traffic lights so that pedestrian can cross safely.

The reason I am writing this is bcoz last Friday, an accident happened, that took away the life of this elderly lady, who was in her eighties at 9.16 in the morning. Nope, it wasn't drunk driving, nor was it a hit-and-run. You see, this pedestrian crossing is for two lanes, maknanya, kalo hijau, sila lah berjalan dgn pantasnya menyeberangi kiri dan kanan jalan tersebut. Kalo dah terlambat, sila jgn cross sbb mmg x sempat punya (jalan besar - four lanes altogether).

This lady must have crossed jg, half-way kot. Or maybe belah kanan jalan lengang, so she crossed, then baru sedar belah kiri jalan sesak, so kena berenti kat tgh2 jalan tuh. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, and many people do it (altho sebenarnya salah la kan, and berisiko kena langgar!). Just duduk diam2 kat tgh2 tu, then bila dah hijau or jalan dah lengang, sambung la cross.

But this time, disaster struck. X dpt la dipastikan sama ada the lady was clipped by a passing lorry, or had been swayed by the suction of air that followed a large moving vehicle ke, but tau2 saja beliau sudah rebah, and kepala beliau tergilis tayar belakang lori tersebut. Astaghfirullah al azim! It was proclaimed that she died instantaneously.

Aku yg mendgr berita ni mmg terkejut. Mmg la x kenal makcik tu, tp jalan tu mmg aku lalu hari2 la. Lebih kurg waktu yg sama lak tu, bezanya I usually cross there at 8.50 a.m. mcm tu. It's pretty convenient to blame the deceased, but it could have happened to anyone. And I must (shamefully) admit I have been guilty of crossing separuh jalan then berenti, I mean, who hasn't, right? We had all thought that it was pretty low risk lah. Surely kereta2 tu akan nampak ko duduk tgh2 tu, x kan la nak gi langgar plak kan? Especially in the UK, mmg pedestrian ni raja jalan lah, kalo kereta langgar, mmg kereta akan kena saman. But then again, a risk is a risk, and sadly, this accident took place.

Syukur lah, pagi tu aku ada seminar, so aku hanya jalan takat bangunan Roland Levinsky ajo, x la sampai ke Royal Parade. And I didn't even know about this accident until Saturday. If I had gone in the morning, little would I know that in a matter of minutes a big accident was to happen. Then of course I would have had to cross it later during the day, and that would have meant witnessing the bloody scene (I was told there was loads of blood on the road, and it took the police until 3 p.m. later that day to re-open Royal Parade to traffic again). Konfem trauma kalo x! Mmg huru hara sekejap bandar kecil Plymouth ni, sbb Royal Parade ni ala2 Jalan Sultan Ismail la kat KL, skali tutup, mmg jam abis la.

Today I had to go through that crossing again. Mula2 mmg seriau jg, tang crossing mmg aku dah lebih berhati2 skang nih. Also tang lalu 'the scene', I had to mentally remind myself, they have professionals yg dah clean after the scene dah kan, tolong jgn psycho. Alhamdulillah, x de apa2. Yg pergi tetap akan pergi, makanya ambil lah iktibar buat peringatan diri. Inna lillahi wainna ilaihi raji'un.

Kepada readers yg dikasihi semua, berhati2 la di jalan raya. It is not worth risking your lives for some measly seconds that you think you might save. Peringatan ni adalah utk diri aku sendiri jg. Ingatlah org tersayang.

Keratan drpd suratkhabar The Plymouth Herald adalah seperti di bawah. Cerita penuh klik sini







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A PENSIONER has died after being run over by a lorry in what witnesses described as an horrific collision in Plymouth city centre. Shaken onlookers described hearing a "God almighty thud" followed by a commotion when the seven-tonne truck collided with the lady. The woman, who was 88, was crossing Royal Parade when she was caught under the wheels of the lorry at 9.14am yesterday. The vehicle driver, a 42-year-old city man, was arrested at around 9.35am on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, after police located the vehicle in the city centre's West End. He has been released on police bail until April 30. Emergency services sealed off a massive area as scenes of crime officers and forensic specialists worked at the scene until around 2pm. The closure of Royal Parade caused havoc for drivers around the city centre, with many major routes left at a standstill. Eyewitnesses said the lady was heading in the direction of The Hoe near the Civic Centre and the Big Screen when the tragedy happened. She is understood to have crossed one lane of traffic, then waited in the middle of the road for westbound vehicles to pass. She then appeared to collide with a white truck and was pulled under two sets of wheels, said tearful onlookers. The first doctor on the scene told The Herald the woman died "almost instantly".