Cameron Highlands Argumentative

On 16th April 2015, I and my classmates went to Cameron Highlands for a trip as a requirement for two subjects which are Business Marketing and Issues in Marketing. During the trip, there were some issues that I found on the way to Cameron Highlands. The issues are some cars in the wrong lane of road at the PLUS toll, some lorries that stop beside the road without any traffic cone or signboard to warn drivers, the landslide and the conditions of road at Cameron Highlands have slow down our journey.

Firstly, the issue of cars that went to the wrong lane of road at the PLUS toll has forced other drivers to use more time than should. This is because when a car is at the wrong lane of road during the queuing to pay the toll such as a car that does not has Touch n’ Go but still go for the lane of Touch n’ Go has forced other drivers behind the car to reverse because it is the only way to solve the problem. Most drivers said that the signboard that shows the type of toll counter in PLUS highway is not visible from a distance especially when the queuing is long and also because the lane for some counters at toll such as Touch n’ Go keep changing as the numbers of counters at toll also changed according to the number of lane at a certain road in a certain place which are most road of highway have 2 lanes and some have 3 lanes.

These signboards that differentiate the type of counter at the PLUS toll will become more invisible during the heavy rain and cause problem to the drivers that are not familiar with the toll. PLUS toll should provide a signboard that can be read and visible from a distance to solve this problem as this problem occurred from a long ago until now and drivers are sick to deal with the car in the wrong lane as the car in the wrong lane has made the others to wait and use more time.

Secondly, some lorries that stops beside the road because of breakdown did not put any traffic cone or signboard to warn drivers. This attitude of drivers have put other drivers life in danger especially those whom are riding bike because lorries that stop beside the road are parked beside the road that always being used by the bike riders. Many cases of bike riders that died because of hitting the rear of the lorries have been reported recently. Most bike riders said that these lorries that stop beside the road are not visible from a distance especially during the night and high traffic. Some also said that the bike riders that died because of falling to avoid these lorries as the lorries are parked beside the road at the road that have a slightly turn and the lorries are not visible. These lorry drivers should be prepared with the traffic cone or warning signboard to warn drivers and riders when they have to stop beside the road with no other choice. By using those traffic cone and warning signboard, other drivers and riders can see those lorries from a distance and give them the time to slow down to avoid those lorries and at the same time save their life from hitting the deadly rear of lorries.

Thirdly, the landslide at Cameron Highland also has slow down our journey. At Ringlet, there was still some construction to recover from the landslide that made us to wait for about 5 minutes because the 2 ways road has became a 1 way road, we have to let all the cars that heading out from Cameron Highlands to come pass us until finish so that we can use the 1 way road to go to Cameron Highlands. These landslides are said the effect of the deforestation that being done by the development company that aggressively cutting down trees to make a place to develop buildings. The issues of landslide at Cameron Highlands also an issue that been reported recently and have killed 1 pregnant woman with her child.

The government should take action to slow down the development at Cameron Highlands or even stop the unnecessary development at Cameron Highlands as there were too many natural disasters occurred at Cameron Highlands such as the mud flood that occurred at Ringlet Lake in Bertam Valley at Cameron Highlands have killed 4 people and damaging more than 100 houses that occurred last year. Fourth and lastly, the condition of road at Cameron Highlands also have slow down our journey a bit. This is because the size of the road at Cameron Highlands is narrow and the road cannot accept a high capacity of traffic. As Cameron Highlands is a famous tourism place, there will be many vehicles that come to Cameron Highlands and I can see many tourists comes to Cameron Highlands using busses and busses need a wider road to move.

For example, during the journey my bus was facing a traffic jam and at the same time another bus was coming from the front and the bus that coming to us has slow down his bus and carefully drove his bus. The distance of my bus with the other bus was really near and will be hit if the driver is not professional or careful. Government should take initiatives to improve the size of road at Cameron Highlands to provide more comfort to the tourists and at the same time provide more safety the road users. The benefits of improving these roads also will improve the quality of life for the Cameron Highlands residents.