Highway Ethics

The writer of this letter echoes what I have been thinking while driving the Subang Jaya-Penang route along the North-South Expressway: Why doesn't anyone use the left-most lane for cruising?!

I have noticed it many times. The middle and right lanes are always occupied by cruising vehicles (i.e. they are not overtaking anyone at that time). Some even cruise below the legal speed limit, so if I were to be cruising at 110kph, and they at 100kph, I effectively overtake them from the left!

Why is it so hard to use the left lane? This I believe is due to the misconception of highway lanes and their uses.

Firstly, the left lane is popularly called the "slow" lane. Drivers don't like to be labeled as "slow". Hence they use the middle or right lanes, typically labeled "fast" lanes. Well, this is wrong understanding! The left most lane is actually the "cruising" lane, i.e. if you're not overtaking anyone, stick to this lane. You can be traveling at 110kph (or higher, if you so wish) and still be in the left lane, as long as you are not overtaking anyone. The moment you want to overtake someone, you signal to the middle or right lanes, which are known as "overtaking" lanes. One could be driving at 80kph, but as long as he is overtaking a slow lorry traveling at 60kph, he is legally allowed to occupy the overtaking lane for the duration that he is performing the overtaking maneuver.

I always use the cruising lane. I find it to be so much smoother compared to using the overtaking lanes all the time.

How to transport more than 5 people in a car?

I don't know about you, but I think the writer of this letter is not very well versed in our local transportation rules. Apparently, the recent announcement by the government that it will be compulsory to use rear seat belts has caused much hoohah and misguided rantings from the public.
In the first place, for a normal 5-passenger car, the maximum number of people who should be in the car at any time is 5. Not more. Even if there was no rear seat belt rule, the maximum number still is 5. Not 6 (squeezing 4 people behind!).

Try squeezing 4 people into the back in more developed countries. I'm sure that this will not be allowed, mainly due to safety issues (the car was designed to transport maximum of 3 rear passengers, maybe there's a weight or stability problem if more than that is carried!).

So, indeed, what should we do? It's time to think more developed. Let's not be so selfish in squeezing so many passenger, potentially harming them and yourself. Upgrade to a minivan if you have big families or require a people mover vehicle. There are many affordable models to choose from.

Hopefully this will bring about a positive change to our road safety.

Why is this road always jammed up?

Sorry, you got to tilt your head...

Section 16 U-Turn Ramp

2 days ago, a trailer blocked the U-turn ramp in front of Phileo Damansara, causing a massive traffic jam. For 2 days back to back, The Star Metro reported that indiscriminate parking still prevails here.

No joke. Here's the photo evidence taken 10 minutes ago. The red circles show those stupid cars parking along the road shoulder. They should be fined and jailed!

The jam outside Phileo Damansara yesterday

So I was stuck inside the Phileo Damansara car park for 35 minutes, inching my way out, all because of this!

But really, the article in The Star highlights only the cars which were illegally parked in the first place. In actuality, the main reason for the unnecessary jam was a stuck trailer! This stuck trailer was blocking the entire u-turn, therefore all cars had no choice but to go straight. And this caused the backlog into Phileo Damansara, and I believe spilled over to the Sprint highway and Jalan Dato Abu Bakar as well.

So, what the heck was the trailer driver thinking? In the first place, his is a long vehicle, so even if there were no cars parked illegally on the ramp, the trailer would not have been able to maneuver its way around the narrow u-turn.

But, anyway, having said all that, it's still vital that DBKL (or MBPJ, whichever is the authority in charge) be diligent, come and summon all these illegally parked vehicles, especially those parked below the u-turn ramp. Already, traffic is quite bad, but due to these vehicles, the 2 lanes are further reduced to only 1 lane.

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.

Stupid driver

This morning, on the way out from Subang Jaya into Federal Highway, the traffic was quite heavy. Long queues formed on all lanes. There I was on the right lane, and there was a red Saga in front of me. There was a considerably adequate gap between the Saga and the car in front. There was then this Myvi that signaled and started to cut in front of the Saga from the left lane.

The stupid Saga driver immediately sped up and blocked the Myvi from cutting in! The Myvi was surprised and tried to pull back into the left lane to continue on. The stupid red Saga driver then cut to the left in front of the Myvi thus preventing the Myvi from proceeding forward. The Myvi then started to sound the horn loudly and repeatedly. The Saga responded with the horn as well. The Myvi, frustrated by the Saga driver's stupidity, cut out to the furthest left lane and sped off, cut back in later in front. The red Saga driver started waving his fist like a mad dog, scolding and gesturing violently. Later on, the Saga passed by the Myvi again, and the Saga driver slowed down, looked at the Myvi driver, and started scolding and gesturing before driving off.

Ironically, the Saga then signaled to cut left in order to go towards Glenmarie. It's too bad that he did not do so in front of the Myvi, otherwise I'm sure we would have seen full blown road rage escalation!

Friends, please drive with patience and please be careful on the road. You'll never know when there will be this type of stupid drivers on the road.

How to drive to work without going insane

It's like any other morning in Subang Jaya. Thousands of vehicles squeeze through the 2-lane Jalan Tujuan, fighting for space as they inch forward to join the Federal Highway. I am one of them.

I start my journey heading toward the NPE road to join the traffic lights to turn right into Jalan Tujuan. The wait at the traffic lights last between 10 minutes and 15 minutes. By the time I manage to position my car on Jalan Tujuan, it will be already jammed up (backlog traffic from Federal Highway).

Inching forward into Federal Highway, I silently scold all the emergency-lane users, criss-cross-cutting-drivers, stupid motorcyclists who don't use the motorcycle lane (call me bad and sadistic, but sometimes I wish that they would either be fined by the traffic police, or get into some accident). This portion of the journey takes up around 15 to 20 minutes.

After I pass the Old Klang Road flyover, it's smooth sailing all the way to PJ Hilton. I keep left to turn up to Jalan Barat, and silently scold all the people who zoom past on the right lane but cut in to the left lane at the last minute. WTF queue cutters?! As if your time is always more precious than others. Here, the journey takes 10 minutes to my office.

Total time: 30-45 minutes

P/S To all you spitters/litterers who open your car door to spit on the road or wind down your window to throw your cigarette butt out, FU!! Hope you will step on someone's disgusting spit and may the stain stay on your shoes for your entire lives!!

P/P/S I know this post has nothing to do with the title. So how do I drive to work without going insane? Light foot, good radio, snacks... and have a ball criticizing all those idiotic drivers!