Friday, August 21, 2009

Cats are not a traffic hazard

The Electric New Paper :
Cats are not a traffic hazard
SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (‘Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul).
27 July 2008
SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (’Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul).

I thought the coverage of the benefits of sterilisation programmes in which cats are neutered and then returned to their community was good (however, it was negated by the ‘catch-a-cat’ programme mentioned by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority).

At any rate, no one should be going so quickly down any street that they cannot keep a proper lookout and react to whatever comes into their path.

It could be a cat or a child or an old person or someone who has tripped over something in the pathway or a bicyclist.

Cats are not a traffic hazard.

Inattentive drivers are.

And while no one can predict what they can do in any given situation, we must adopt a defensive attitude.

Don’t think ‘if’ – think ‘when’.

Joanna Hughes