I had better write this piece before a smart alec says later that it was an accident waiting to happen.
I hope to provide illumination on a bedimmed matter: there are at least 250 faulty streetlamps in a busy 40km stretch between Semenyih, Selangor, and Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.
It's really bad when you have to drive at night or worse still, when rain batters your windscreen.
As a regular traveller between those two points, I know the toll and non-toll roads inside out.
But I certainly don't know the ins and outs of how government departments are responsible for making sure our streets are illuminated.
Are we short of money? Or the matter is too dark for the relevant people to see for themselves?
Whenever there's a complaint, there'd be pristine answers in the media about why it hadn't been dealt with earlier.
I know the number of faulty lights because I counted them.
My frustrations start just before Saujana Impian in Kajang, where dim corners are occasionally illuminated by stalls selling fruit or lemang.
The area of focus is just before a Lotus's supermarket.
It's well illuminated in this stretch because you've to fork out some dough in the Cheras-Kajang Expressway.
Then, you'd come to the Royal Malaysian Police College.
This is where your journey gets more interesting because you've a choice: get into the new 16.6km Sungai Besi Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (Suke) to be in Wang-sa Maju in a jiffy, or use the old Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2).
It costs RM2.30 to use Suke.
Near the Bukit Teratai toll, you get to feast your eyes on the changing colours of an illuminated slope through the use of fancy lighting.
If MRR2 is your choice, your darkened journey continues after passing Eko Cheras Mall.
The loop that takes you on to the MRR2 is also badly lit and a danger spot.
You might have to open your eyes wider as you enter the MRR2 and be on the alert for oncoming traffic on the right from Sri Petaling.
After passing Pandan Jaya, you'd come across an interesting sight: an area with lots of cars, abandoned and not so abandoned, parked beneath a flyover that connects to the Loke Yew Sungai Besi Highway.
It's an excellent place to learn about car thefts because it's so dark here.
It makes me wonder whether it's the toll concessionaire's responsibility to also keep things bright underneath the flyover or is it responsible only for things on top?
Does the highway authority have jurisdiction to rule on this or is it the local authority's call?
As you open your eyes wider, you'd pass another Lotus's supermarket.
Here, you might want to thank billboard companies and their advertisers for helping to make things brighter.
After a mosque and a Shell station-cum-McDonald's drive-through, there comes another dark and dangerous spot: it's the road leading to Jalan Ampang on the left (either to Risda or Ampang Point) and the overbridge that leads to Ulu Klang and beyond.
This is where I'd say a major accident is waiting to happen.
So, who's responsible for these shortcomings?
I don't suppose those who are supposed to fix these things drive only during the day and not at night?
Do you need a minister or someone higher up to take a drive in the route just before maghrib to know how bad the lighting is?
Shall I be optimistic and cling on to what South African religious leader Desmond Tutu said: "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness"?
The writer is a former Bernama chief executive officer and editor-in-chief
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
