THE Malaysian roads haven't been making a good name for themselves in recent years. Not with all the road bullying that's hogged headlines over the past few months. And the latest incident where a Singaporean Ferrari was almost completely totalled, didn't help matters much.
This kind of rampant violence is bound to deter people from making trips North. But from my experience, I've actually had pretty smooth-sailing trips on the notorious North-South Highway.
I'll admit, I've never had to be the one to take on the challenge of getting behind the wheel confronting the far-more aggressive Malaysian cars - the other passengers in the car are far too concerned about their safety to allow me to do that. I'm usually the one who gets into the passenger seat and snoozes all the way to the destination.
But from what I've seen, there's no reason to get into a tizzy. The North-South Highway's pretty straightforward, and traffic is always pretty smooth. Most of the time, all you have to do is contend with impatient drivers who honk occasionally.
On two trips to Malacca, I was told by different drivers that there were only two rules you had to follow to make it through on the North-South Highway:
1) The lane for the slowpokes is on the left. Just move your car there when you get honked at;
2) Stay within the speed limit (and that usually alternates between 90km - 110km /hr) or you can be pretty sure you'll get hunted down by Highway Patrol; and
3) Not all stretches of the highway are lit so don't drive at night.
The only other thing for a passenger to worry about is the driver nodding off!
The North-South Highway can be a pretty monotonous stretch - and combined with the blinding afternoon sun, it's really not the best situation to be in. That's probably the part that scares me more than the very idea of road thugs! But it's a problem easily countered with good music, and a healthy dose of conversation.
And I have to say, it's not all that bad.
Despite warnings from people that a car breakdown might result in the driver having exorbitant amounts of money extorted from him, this wasn't the case when a family trip up to Malacca a couple of years back was temporarily halted by a car breakdown. Helpful Malaysians driving by actually offered advice and help as to which was the best workshop to call because they were pretty sure that as Singaporeans, we'd be pretty clueless as to what to do.
Let's not taint all Malaysian drivers with the same brush. Remember, it's their road too. So let's just play nice and keep on our side of it.