North of the border - Malaysian's driving skills

[Strong Eagle]

Are you talking about Malaysia? I am.....

Yah... oops... I sort of realized I was writing about the wrong country long after I made the post.




But, I did ride back and forth to KL and lived there 8 months, mostly riding bike and I will say the bikers are a damn dangerous lot for other bikers... no consideration whatsoever... and parking is even more of a nightmare... especially for a larger bike.

[Vaucluse]

Are you talking about Malaysia? I am.....

Yah... oops... I sort of realized I was writing about the wrong country long after I made the post.




But, I did ride back and forth to KL and lived there 8 months, mostly riding bike and I will say the bikers are a damn dangerous lot for other bikers... no consideration whatsoever... and parking is even more of a nightmare... especially for a larger bike.

Hehe, age catching up with you, SE?

There are relatively few large bikes on the roads here, except on week-ends when the clubs are out in force on the highways . . .

[ScoobyDoes]

i prefer the driving skills in Malaysia even though i definately don't prefer the jams.

I used to think highly of you but after that statement I think you should be given psychiatric help . . .

Seriously? SG drivers worse than MY? I would suggest that SGs are much better simply because laws are enforced as opposed to here in Bumi-land.

(So, which country do you prefer to live/work?)

I think more than two years here after five around KL does qualify me for needing a shrink, but my health insurance doesn't cover it. But.....


I have far less cases of tailgating me in Malaysia.
I have far less cases of outer-lane hogging in Malaysia.
Far less crazy race weavers in Malaysia, a Saga only does 60kph i suppose.
People tend to indicate more in Malaysia.
I love the fact i can do 190kph on N-S and just pay RM50..... sometimes


If there is a jam on the N-S and the shoulder turns into another lane, there are as many SG registered cars thumping up it as there are local ones.

So what that people park outside The Curve/Megamall and block all the roads to save RM1 on parking. So what they use the shoulder as another lane from time to time, it speeds up traffic......... until they encounter somthing on the shoulder like bikes under the overpass sheltering from the rain, then we're screwed as they try to filter back in.

Road design and conditions in a lot of places leaves a lot to be desired but not the driver's fault. Though after more than three years with my Cherokee i became confident enough in the roads and drivers to swap it for another Subaru This swap was in itself encouranged because the 4.0L block in the Cherokee drank petrol like mad, the price of which wnet up 50% in those three years.



With regards your last question.......hmmmmmm! Lucky i frequently trip upto KL/Subang and can get the best of both worlds but honestly I might prefer living around KL (not in). The ONLY thing that makes me think otherwise is the jams and volume of traffic but this makes it similar to Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta which is only fair. Whilst there are jams in SG because of the very high accident rate at least they are not thrice daily like in KL/Subang.

[mrswkn]

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[simonL]

for me, actually driving in Malaysia is not that bad. At least people tend to indicate more, give way more (less road hoggers) and slows down for jaywalkers.
The only problem I have is that the roads have too many potholes!

[ScoobyDoes]

how do you manage the policeman and pay him $50? I was caught last week. I suppose it is Ramadan month, time to solicit Raya money. He ask me 'want saman?' I just nodded. I never ask for the alternative as I was a bit disgusted at paying b... When I told my brother I got saman I got a good scolding for not paying b..

Dipstick

If the polis asks if you want a summons just say, "No" or "I would prefer it if you didn't" if you want to be English about it.

Answering "Yes" or nodding is like saying "Please Officer, strip me naked, birch me and stick something sharp up my bottom." Nobody volunteers for that and of course a normal reaction is to decline.

[QRM]

After living in in both Malaysia and Sinagpore for a number of years, I have to admit I find driving in Malaysia "better" than Singapore. The word "better" in this context is still very much open to interpretation.

There are two reasons.

1. Perception, Malaysia still is third world, so you expect that sort of brown pants driving and are pleasantly surprised its not so bad, more like off white pants.
You are even mentally prepared for a near miss with a cow/bullock sleeping in the middle of the road, bit like Protons cars, all you hear is how crap they are but having driven a few, not as bad as I was expecting.
In Singapore you get the impression its first world and yet you are very surprised to see parking on zebra crossing, babies with no child car seats, 15 brown and wet workers on the back of pickup truck and drink driving being an acceptable norm.

2. Defensive driving in Malaysia is the way of life, you have to more aware of your surroundings, with pot holes the size of Singapore, buses that think its a stock car race, and Mat Rempits trying to knick your phone off the dash. I find the average driver in Malaysia, while they trash all the regulations they seem to have a better grasp of their surrounding, maybe because the drivers knows his brakes dont work and has to try and think alot more about the road ahead.

Bottom line if there was an extreme car version of an assault course who would you put your money on, a Third world Mumbai Trishaw driver or a Singapore taxi driver?

Put it this way heres a video, if this was done in Singapore the guy would have been run over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9DLlMMXhKg


Also In Malaysia during ramadan people know to steer clear of any car that has gold koran inscription on the back window. The Bumi will be auto-piloting the vehicle while in a hunger induced coma.

[Vaucluse]

1. Perception, Malaysia still is third world,

2. Defensive driving in Malaysia is the way of life, you have to more aware of your surroundings, with pot holes the size of Singapore, buses that think its a stock car race, and Mat Rempits trying to knick your phone off the dash.



Also In Malaysia during ramadan people know to steer clear of any car that has gold koran inscription on the back window. The Bumi will be auto-piloting the vehicle while in a hunger induced coma.

. . . ad the rest of the time you know to steer clear of cars with the buddha with the lotus leaf on the back window as they are permanently somewhere else.

So true, though.

On my way to work there is a section that is separated by traffic cones to stop total gridlock . . . until a bus decides to run them over . . . and scatters the cones over three lanes creating chaos.

[ScoobyDoes]

On my way to work there is a section that is separated by traffic cones to stop total gridlock . . . until a bus decides to run them over . . . and scatters the cones over three lanes creating chaos.

For some the response is to tear one's hair out and think they live in hell, for some it is to sigh and others to ignore completely.

For me it would be a sigh before bursting into laughter......of course the laughter comes later when i'm not in the jam anymore but given i never have to be anywhere on time and "traffic" is an accepted excuse in KL I could probably afford a smile if i saw it happen.