THE AMBULANCE ROAD HOG AND TWO DRIVING TIPS WE CAN LEARN FROM MALAYSIANS

Two Essential Driving Tips We Can Learn From The Malaysians

Remember getting ready for your first drive into Malaysia? I’m sure many of you before embarking on your maiden journey across the border, have heard ‘horror stories’ about driving there. These include ’crazy and reckless Malaysian drivers,’ the amount of serious and fatal accidents especially on highways, ‘strong winds that can blow you off course (Angin Lintas),’ the mind sapping and ultra slow congestion during peak hours and even ‘unlicensed drivers.’

I am sure many of you balked at the thought of making the trip, or were very guarded, careful and concerned about your maiden journey. More so if it involved travelling along the North-South Highway. I know I was. In fact looking back now and the uncountable number of times, I’ve made the journey up North, the same conditions still exist! You see drivers and motorists zigzagging through traffic, it looks messy, even careless or reckless, people still speed excessively on the highways (including Singapore drivers who are finally free of TP’s numerous speed cameras), accidents are usually horrific (even famed DAP politician and lawyer Karpal Singh succumbed to it, the 1st paralysed him and the 2nd this year killed him), traffic jams are ‘uber massive’ (you even see people driving tractors on busy roads as a mode of transport!), ‘Mat Rempits’ (motorcycle gangs) are a menace and unlicensed drivers still ply the roads!

Very unlike Singapore, with its plethora of rules and uniformity. Driving in Malaysia looks like a ‘driver’s worst nightmare.’ But alas, looks can be deceiving and it’s very much evident once you get a grip on how to negotiate this ‘so called nightmare.’ In fact I’ll go so far as to say, I’ve really enjoyed my trips up North and driving there was really quite fun even bordering on ‘pleasure.’ Yes, Malaysia has the same set of rules as Singapore and yes, many are ignored routinely. (Of course don’t try beating a red light or speeding at death defying speeds). But somehow Malaysians have come up with 2 very simple and basic ‘unwritten’ rules, that in essence encapsulates what driving in Malaysia is really all about. Follow them and you should have no problems. Of course you cannot mitigate for their massive jams (you may even realise that the COE system is not altogether bad, if it was managed more reasonably, of course), but these 2 unwritten rules or 1 of them at least, kicks out the angst we feel when stuck in a ‘turtle slow jam.’

And here it is:

1) Always let a faster vehicle overtake

No such thing as what many ‘road supervisors’ here advocate – ‘I’m travelling within the speed limit (eg: 90kmh), there’s no need for me to allow a car travelling behind me at a faster speed through. He either overtakes from the left or just simply plays follow the leader.’

In Malaysia, especially on highways, you always allow a faster vehicle to overtake you. You can drive on the fastest lane on the right, no problem, you can be going at 150kmh too, but if there’s a car behind you going at 160kmh, you let him pass. In Singapore we don’t really feel the effect of speed. There’s very little difference between travelling at 80-90 kmh and say 110-120kmh. You may arrive at your destination a few minutes earlier that’s all. But in Malaysia, if you’re travelling great distances, you fully understand what 80kmh and 110kmh means. It means you travel 30kmh further each hour at the latter speed. And some people have to travel great distances to and from work.

But even if the other driver’s desire to go faster is not work related, that’s immaterial. It’s plain common courtesy to let him pass. He may want to drive ‘like a man possessed and at dangerous speeds,’ that’s his choice entirely, no concern of yours. You are travelling at a slower speed, you filter left, let him through and you can go back on the right most lane thereafter. And if you’re the faster car, the vehicle ahead of you will almost always let you pass as well. No home bias on Malaysian roads. No need to flash your high beam, tail-gate within a hair’s breath etc, once the driver spots you in his rear view mirror, he’ll do the needful.

And the same applies on normal roads as well. You are new to the area and trying to find a particular establishment, you don’t keep right, go at ‘snail’s pace’ whilst looking out for the venue. You keep left and drive as slowly as you wish, until you find the place.

When inconsiderate drivers block the way of emergency vehicles, others pay the price, sometimes with their lives.

One such driver likely worsened an already critical situation by ignoring the siren of an emergency ambulance that was rushing a 45-year-old woman to hospital.

The five-minute delay may have resulted in the woman having to be warded in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The woman’s son asked that details such as his mother’s full name and the hospital where she was warded be left out to avoid trouble with the motorist. A video of the incident was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, the same day of the incident.

http://transport.asiaone.com/news/general/story/driver-blocks-ambulance-5-minutes#sthash.DAZmMKrP.uxfs