I think an inordinate amount of my daily stress can be attributed to driving on KL streets. Okay so I'm a bit of a terror on the road myself, but there seems to be a rather large number of nut cases who have taken to the roads with complete disregard for other drivers. I know people have made this observation time and time again, but I find it strange that some lot of those polite, warm, caring Malaysians that they show in the posters turn into incompetent, sadistic drivers once they get behind the wheel.
The really interesting part is, I think it's contagious. Steoreotypically I tend to associate law-abiding road usage with non-Malaysians (and non-Thais, non-Singaporeans-driving-in-Malaysia and non-people-from-Jakarta) but I have noticed quite a number of foreigners picking up some of our awesome driving habits. It could be that this will be one of the key ways we'll take over the world - if we manage to infect everyone else with our driving, maybe they'll run over their fellow countrymen and leave us Malaysians to rule the world.
Given that I've recently upgraded my Probationary license to a proper driver's license (apparently only valid for a year, after which I'll have to renew again, just in case I revert back to my P-level driving skills), I am now entitled to shower everyone with driving tips. Not that I haven't already done this when I still had my P license, but whatever.
I'd like to call them my Traffic Rants. Today's rant is Why Should I Signal?
- While car lights are useful as replacement lights for your house when the electricity gets knocked out, there are more uses to the shiny bright things attached to your vehicle.
- The signal "stick" is not there in case the wiper "stick" doesn't work.
- It's an incredibly simple, useful way to tell other people that you're moving to the left, to the right or turning.
- It prevents others' coffee spillage caused by sudden braking when you drive without warning into the path of another car.
- Cars have personal space too. If you don't signal, you could get run over for trespassing.
- Unfortunately, the road does not belong to your father, and even if it did, you'd still be sharing it with other people. Be polite and tell them where you're going so they don't drive into you.
- Kids watch what you do. You do it wrong, they will too. You be rude, they be rude too. Don't expect your kids to be beautiful disciplined people when they grow up if their prime examples are idiots.
- It shouldn't, really, take much brainpower to do this. Pray that the 10% of our brains that we actually use has the capacity to do so, or we're doomed.
So simple! Yet easier said than done. Unfortunately the non-signallers probably don't read this blog, but it's a worth a shot in the dark :P
