I felt compelled to write about the driving culture in Malaysia, if you can call it that, following a recent drive to Fraser’s Hill. Being a local, I am amply aware of our ballistic and ‘kiasu’ tendencies when we get behind the wheel, deservedly and sadly, earning us the shameful label of being rude and bad drivers.

It was a long weekend, and expectedly there was a queue of cars at the Jalan Duta toll booth. All the Touch n Go and cash gates were in working order but in true Malaysian fashion, cars from the longer queues nudged in front of our car to gain that extra one metre to get past the gates. Why do we do it? It is embarrassing. What do we gain from this pushy behaviour apart from an insignificant one-car lead? Are we in a race?

Once on the highway, my husband and I encountered a road hog. Plodding along in the fast lane, the driver was either oblivious or just plain selfish despite the flashing lights levelled at him, and the long convoy of cars trailing behind. It was laughable if it wasn’t annoying. To our knowledge, the road hog sat it out because we changed lanes to overtake the driver as did the many other cars in the fast lane. Why inconvenience so many people?

The drive up to Fraser’s Hill had its share of frustrations. Because of the winding road to the hill resort, there are laybys for drivers to stop to allow others to pass and/or enjoy the mountain views. But, they didn’t pull over, didn’t care about holding up traffic and didn’t make it easier for others to overtake them.

On ground level, double parking and triple parking is another bad behaviour. We park illegally when we want to, for instance, do a quick banking transaction. We literally abandon our car to buy food or pick up a few things from a 7-11 or a KK. And, we park haphazardly along busy roads when collecting our children from school. We justify our actions by convincing ourselves that we won’t be long. A brisk dash and we will be back in our cars and be gone. While our excuse is the lack of parking spaces, albeit valid sometimes, we conveniently forget it causes inconvenience to other people and invites accidents.

Driving out and into our condo is challenging. Food trucks, cars and people milling and walking about make for busy road conditions. Double and triple parkers at the exit and entrance gates obscure vision posing a real danger. They don’t realise how difficult it is to look out for oncoming cars when they block the view of the road. There have been some close shaves but nothing too serious only because the mass of traffic only allows vehicles to trundle along.

Running a red light is another incomprehensible behaviour as is not signalling on our roads. I honestly think it’s not about reaching our destination on time (that’s another story) but rather not wanting to wait. We are impatient for the lights to turn green. And, we feel a little cheated when we miss our turn because of a slower driver ahead of us or when someone manages to cut in front of us, without signalling, of course.

I have also seen enough drivers who do not stop at zebra crossings unless there are traffic lights that legally compel them to. Even then, there are a few  who continue driving despite the flashing green man. This has happened enough times at the Avenue K crossing to KLCC. Pedestrians hurry and scurry to avoid being mowed down. Seriously. I cannot understand this morbid driving mentality because drivers are also pedestrians. So where is the empathy?

This may sound like an exaggeration but we can never be sure when we drive out each day that we will return home alive and in one piece.  We don’t know if we will be fortunate enough not to be involved in a fatal collision when we drive to work, go out to have breakfast with friends or while we are on a holiday.  Stricter enforcement should help.  Continued education and reiteration that driving is a serious endeavour that can kill us and others, should help.  What will certainly help is for all of us to make a conscious effort to be careful, considerate and patient every time we get behind the wheel.