Sunday, June 20, 2004
Guide to Malaysian Drivers
Part Cinco
The next thing is about Flow! Imagine a river stream flowing. Whenever it hits a rock or an obstacle, it has to change its path to continue flowing. Same with driving. The key to driving effectively under the least amount of stress is the combination of the “Look Ahead and Plan” method, gearing, the cornering technique and speed matching. There are times when I thoroughly enjoy the drive as it is a blissful challenge to overtake over 1000 or so cars on the way in to work. It’s not that I’m driving super fast or that my car is fast, I’m just driving logically consistently smarter without causing any additional trouble or congestion for myself and the others on the road. Sure you might hate me for disappearing out of your sight in traffic jam situations but whose fault is that really? I’m not breaking your flow because you are not flowing in the first place. As far as I am concern, I’m trying to get away from you because your driving is more dangerous to me. You are probably dreaming in your own world while driving and not fully concentrating on what is happening around you. If you were, you would be more courteous to other drivers behind and around you, unless you weren’t thought that etiquette when you were growing up. Do I need to knock some common sense into that head?
The deduction here is that most of them stuck in the jam like being stuck in the jam and don’t mind being late for work as they dread the routine office politics and piles of work waiting at their desk. They’d rather be entertained by the Hitz FM Morning Crew or Light’n’Easy, waste petrol and polute the environment further by being in the car longer, damage the clutch, gearbox and engine by inching along at 1st gear at speeds below 20 km/h. Well like some other drivers out there, we don’t like being stuck in traffic and believe it or not, think that your driving is more dangerous/annoying/frustrating/temper initiating/mood spoiling and down right rude, to our journey. We do not have the luxury to drive leisurely to work and breeze in to the office and give bad traffic as an excuse everyday. We do not also feel that it is justified to penalise our sleep time and wake up earlier just to compensate for the slow traffic crawls you cause. I really believe that there’s a conspiracy out there, some secret code that we faster drivers miss that say’s, “Ok everyone, today, let us all drive at 18km/h, even though we can drive faster, but lets not.” There was really no real valid reason for the jam today. No accidents, no car broken down, no road closures or diversions, just plain simple unacceptable slow driving. Even the Sprint LED traffic display board is to be blame for psychologically conditioning people’s mind to drive slowly. “Trafik Perlahan dari Jalan Dato Abu Bakar ke Jalan Semantan.” What happens? We start thinking it is slow traffic along these roads and end up believing that we all have to drive slow.
Keep your eyes and senses aware of your peripheral environment so that you don’t get in the way of other peoples flow. To put it simply, one could weave in and out of traffic without contributing to the bad traffic if your flow is good. I am not saying that one should drive fast and recklessly, you can, but do that at your own risk and when else nobody is around like on the race track, not on a public road where you could endanger others. What we are trying to achieve here is improved, responsible, understanding of driving skills and traffic flow so that it doesn’t cause a chain reaction resulting in a jam or accidents for everyone else. This is where speed matching comes in. When switching lanes, position yourself to go into the intended lane by, moving (either accelerating or slowing) into the gaps by going faster than the cars meant to be behind you and slightly slower or equal speed to the car in front of you. Do not brake suddenly while you are still in the current lane as you will get in the way of the cars behind you and break their flow. Worst still that person could be caught unawares and slam on the brakes and ram you from behind.
In Part Seis: Queue Jumping, Flow, Driving Attitude, Road Hogs, Malaysian Roads, Orange Poles
Disclaimer: The author takes no responsibility and accepts no liability for any harm or injury that may arise from practicing any of the content mentioned in this article. Speed can kill if you are not skilled to handle it. Road racing is a dangerous activity. Always observe the law and apply common sense and consideration when driving.
Part Cinco
The next thing is about Flow! Imagine a river stream flowing. Whenever it hits a rock or an obstacle, it has to change its path to continue flowing. Same with driving. The key to driving effectively under the least amount of stress is the combination of the “Look Ahead and Plan” method, gearing, the cornering technique and speed matching. There are times when I thoroughly enjoy the drive as it is a blissful challenge to overtake over 1000 or so cars on the way in to work. It’s not that I’m driving super fast or that my car is fast, I’m just driving logically consistently smarter without causing any additional trouble or congestion for myself and the others on the road. Sure you might hate me for disappearing out of your sight in traffic jam situations but whose fault is that really? I’m not breaking your flow because you are not flowing in the first place. As far as I am concern, I’m trying to get away from you because your driving is more dangerous to me. You are probably dreaming in your own world while driving and not fully concentrating on what is happening around you. If you were, you would be more courteous to other drivers behind and around you, unless you weren’t thought that etiquette when you were growing up. Do I need to knock some common sense into that head?
The deduction here is that most of them stuck in the jam like being stuck in the jam and don’t mind being late for work as they dread the routine office politics and piles of work waiting at their desk. They’d rather be entertained by the Hitz FM Morning Crew or Light’n’Easy, waste petrol and polute the environment further by being in the car longer, damage the clutch, gearbox and engine by inching along at 1st gear at speeds below 20 km/h. Well like some other drivers out there, we don’t like being stuck in traffic and believe it or not, think that your driving is more dangerous/annoying/frustrating/temper initiating/mood spoiling and down right rude, to our journey. We do not have the luxury to drive leisurely to work and breeze in to the office and give bad traffic as an excuse everyday. We do not also feel that it is justified to penalise our sleep time and wake up earlier just to compensate for the slow traffic crawls you cause. I really believe that there’s a conspiracy out there, some secret code that we faster drivers miss that say’s, “Ok everyone, today, let us all drive at 18km/h, even though we can drive faster, but lets not.” There was really no real valid reason for the jam today. No accidents, no car broken down, no road closures or diversions, just plain simple unacceptable slow driving. Even the Sprint LED traffic display board is to be blame for psychologically conditioning people’s mind to drive slowly. “Trafik Perlahan dari Jalan Dato Abu Bakar ke Jalan Semantan.” What happens? We start thinking it is slow traffic along these roads and end up believing that we all have to drive slow.
Keep your eyes and senses aware of your peripheral environment so that you don’t get in the way of other peoples flow. To put it simply, one could weave in and out of traffic without contributing to the bad traffic if your flow is good. I am not saying that one should drive fast and recklessly, you can, but do that at your own risk and when else nobody is around like on the race track, not on a public road where you could endanger others. What we are trying to achieve here is improved, responsible, understanding of driving skills and traffic flow so that it doesn’t cause a chain reaction resulting in a jam or accidents for everyone else. This is where speed matching comes in. When switching lanes, position yourself to go into the intended lane by, moving (either accelerating or slowing) into the gaps by going faster than the cars meant to be behind you and slightly slower or equal speed to the car in front of you. Do not brake suddenly while you are still in the current lane as you will get in the way of the cars behind you and break their flow. Worst still that person could be caught unawares and slam on the brakes and ram you from behind.
In Part Seis: Queue Jumping, Flow, Driving Attitude, Road Hogs, Malaysian Roads, Orange Poles
Disclaimer: The author takes no responsibility and accepts no liability for any harm or injury that may arise from practicing any of the content mentioned in this article. Speed can kill if you are not skilled to handle it. Road racing is a dangerous activity. Always observe the law and apply common sense and consideration when driving.
