First and formost, I'm also one of these Malaysian drivers and am as guilty as the rest about what I'm about to say here.
The first time that I took the wheels of a car was way back in 1964, before I sat for my HSC. Acik Rahmah's husband was at that time a taxi driver who plied mainly the Kuala Pilah-Seremban route. Those were the days when all sorts of cars were used as taxis, but passengers always looked out for the Mercedes.
Acik's husband's taxis changed models - there was the Austin Cambridge and the Vauxhall, but the one that I drove was one of those Mercedes 200 diesels. This was on the way back from Jerantut after sending some personal belongings of the late Taufik Ismail, our neighbour Mail Godang's son, who was on transfer to Jerantut as OCPD. To this day I don't know if the fare was ever paid, because none was paid at Jerantut because Taufik was nowhere around, and the goods were left at the Police Station. Poat Calit could find out from his m.i.l.Makcik Rose, perhaps. Poat is my youngest brother who married Makcik Rose's daughter. Makcik Rose is the widow of Taufik. Small world.
In Brunei in 1966 while doing a Geography practical we were assigned some powerful Austin cars, never seen in Malaysia. The undergraduates who had driver's licences enjoyed themselves. I was tempted to offer to drive, but didn't because I didn't have my licence.
In fact when I bought my first brand new car in 1968, an Austin Mini 850 (NC 8157) for $5,300 (eat your hearts out, guys), I still didn't have a valid licence. I only went for my driving test in Temiang, Seremban, one month after buying the car. After the oral test, during the test drive, when the Chinese tester learned that I was the ADO of Alor Gajah, Melaka, he decided that I deserve a driving licence there and then. He asked me to turn back to the JPJ office and asked them to issue a brand new licence to match my brand new car.
Let me assure you that in the 41 years since , I have not had any accident. Except in 1996 when I momentarily lost control of my car in front of the Ulu Bendul school, swerved the right, hit a road-sign and damaged my right front wheel. Fortunately this was 1996 and the KP-Seremban road traffic was still light.
A police friend told me recently that the police is thinking of putting up a screen when there is an accident on the highway. This is so that the drivers from the opposite side don't slow down to gawk, and cause unnecessary traffic jams and more accidents. In fact Zainal Pak Itam and I saw this afternoon, driving back from Nilai, that they are already using the screen. We saw the jam in front and suspected there was an accident. There was. And there was the jam on the opposite side, too. Then we saw the orange screen. But obviously it failed to hide the accident. In fact there was a car that had fallen down to the left embankment on the opposite highway because the driver was looking at the accident instead of where he was going. Firstly, the screen was not large enough. Secondly, the highway is downslope, and no amount of cover-up would do.
The other problem is the way we drive. We may be university graduates, but the moment we are behind the steering wheels we're all uneducated maniacs. We drive at our own speed - too fast when we should slow down , too slow when we should speed up. We do everything we shouldn't do - talk & text on the phone, look for pimples in the rear-view mirror, don't give way, tailgate and cut in, don't signal, or give the wrong signal, turn and stop without warning, park as we please, block traffic when we park, and do everything else we shouldn't do when driving.
Worse, be especially wary of the mousedeer (kancil-lah) driven by a dear, a young lady who thinks she is answerable to no one.
The other problem is there are far to many vehicles on the roads. Or too little roadways for all the vehicles.
The standard of the roads has improved tremendously. I remember getting extra mileage claim for East Coast roads, and then spending every single cent to put the car back in shape, because of the poor roads back then. Yet, this road improvement has not kept up to the multifold increase in vehicular volume. The car per capita is worth calculating.
What is needed is a drastic improvement in public transportation so that people are encouraged to use it much more. This is done in many other countries. That maybe a long way off. The trains are overloaded and always late. The buses are always late and never stick to their routes. The taxis are driven by racing drivers. But do we also have to kill each other when we drive ?
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