Nee Sern is...

really really sleepy

Monday, July 09, 2007

Malaysian Drivers Most Annoying Habits

I'm putting this down because people I talk to generally don't find this to be such a big deal. So I will illustrate with examples from my personal experience.

1) Malaysian drivers don't know how to use roundabout
OK. Roundabouts may be quite obsolete in heavy traffic areas. But it does not discount the reality that roundabouts still exist, and we should all learn how to use it. Vehicles moving in the roundabout have the right of way over vehicles trying to enter the roundabout. When exiting roundabouts, please indicate with the signal lights. When the roundabout is at a standstill, please don't force your way in and cause a gridlock! Simple rules that somehow are not followed, leading to being stuck for 1 hour in a roundabout (example: Rothmans roundabout).

2) Malaysian drivers don't know how to indicate
This is especially true when I am trying to go into the main road, and I see an oncoming car, so I wait for the car to pass. At the very last minute, the car turns into the road that I'm in, which means that if he had signaled earlier, I wouldn't have needed to wait for him to pass! Or they are trying to cut into my lane but I'm not sure if they are really going to do it or are just blur by moving between the lanes, since he is not signaling his intention. So what I normally do is I just close the gap, until he decides to indicate.

3) Malaysian drivers love to cut queues
This habit is a very annoying one, simply because the act of cutting queues contribute to the formation of the queues in the first place. When the highway traffic is slow moving, for example, these stupid drivers will start to go on the emergency lane, and when they encounter whatever is blocking the movement of traffic, they will forcibly cut back into the normal lanes. This actually slows down traffic in the normal lanes, which in turn encourages these stupid drivers to cut queues. Another example is at toll plazas where there is a petrol station at the side. These stupid drivers will actually cut into the petrol station, and cut back out just to skip the queue of some 2 or 3 cars. Stupid, isn't it?

4) Malaysian drivers love to litter all over the place
Ahah, don't be confused. They love to litter all over the place except their own car. How many times have I witnessed already drivers of supposedly posh cars (expensive SUV's, BMW's, imported Japanese makes) throwing things out of their cars: plastic bags, food containers, cigarette packs, drink bottles, rubbish, cigarette butts. So much so that if you were to drive on the Federal Highway and just look at the road, you will be able to see all this rubbish already forming to become part of the road surface! Also related to this habit, Malaysian drivers just love to open their car door when they are stationary, stick out their head and spit out a thick gooey piece of phlegm, without consideration to the vehicles behind them which will be treading on their biological waste. Disgusting!

5) Malaysian drivers love to flash and tailgate
This is very true on the expressways. Normally, I am legitimately overtaking slower vehicles by using the right lane. I don't speed above the legal limit, but I am not breaking any regulations, since the rule clearly states that I can use the right lane for overtaking. More often than not, there will be some fancy car (typically Mercedes or BMW, occasionally Toyotas or even Proton Wajas) which will start flashing the highlights from very far behind, as if to brag about their large and fast cars, shouting "move aside!!". Of course, I'm in the middle of my overtaking maneuver, so I can't possibly move back into the left lane. Soon, the big car is right behind me, flashing his highlights non-stop and sticking too close for comfort to the back of my car. What I fantasise to do sometimes is to just step on the brakes and watch him lose control of his car, crashing it to the road divider and sustaining some form of injury. Of course I'm rational, so I don't do that. The worst thing happens when I do give way, and he just speeds ahead only to be slowed down by another slower car. I'm thinking... congratulations, you just managed to go ahead by one car. You saved..... 2 seconds off your traveling time! Hooray! Sheesh...

These are just some of the stupid things that Malaysian drivers do on the road. I wonder if they behave similarly when they are out of their big and expensive cars.

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