The Dangers of Voting

I was in Penang on 8th March. I had accompanied my girlfriend back to Penang so's she could cast her vote. We spent a couple of nights in Penang getting fat and wandering around and made our way back home via Ipoh (where I'm from) that day itself. I won't get into the political aspect of things this post. Penang caused quite a stir and while I was in Penang we visited my aunt and uncle who are quite actively interested in politics. What I'm going to be blogging about is something entirely different.

After spending some time with my parents in Ipoh, we were making our way back home by way of the North-South Highway. It was raining and the roads were wet. If you'd been traveling that day in the evening, you might have noticed the massive jam between Bidor and Tapah. Here's how it looked from my eyes.

I had been driving. It was my shift. She drove from Penang to Ipoh and I drove back from Ipoh after lunch. It had been raining. It was still raining lightly as I broached the crest of a 'hill' and there at the bottom were two cars who had obviously come into some contact with each other. One car was parked on the side in the emergency lane and the other was stationary in the left lane where I was. I didn't want to pull into the right lane as I didn't know what was there and what was coming. I braked gradually and turned on the hazard lights. A quick glance in the rear view mirror told me the car behind me was pretty clued in as I saw his hazard lights come on as well. I slowed to a stop behind the car blocking the left lane. There was a guy standing beside that car. He was trying to open an umbrella. The car was empty. The man had either been travelling alone or the occupants were out of the car already. The accident must have just happened as (i) the driver hadn't even gotten his umbrella open; and (ii) the batch of the cars I was leading pulled right up to the accident scene.

Once I had the car stopped. I had wanted to look in the side mirror to see if I could go around the car. I didn't even have the chance. I saw a flash of white fly by on my right. The car was going fast and it was already skidding, out of control. What happened next was a curious mixture of slow motion and blink-and-you'll-miss-it. The car already going sideways, hit the divider on the right and was flung into the car in front of me. I'm still very thankful he didn't slam into me. I remember bits flying everywhere. The car ended up in the drain on the left behind the other stopped car.

I'll always remember the look on the face of the guy trying to open his umbrella. He looked like he'd shit himself. He was standing next to his car when the other car slammed into it and mercifully, it missed him and he wasn't hit by any of the flying debris either. He hadn't managed to get his umbrella open either but I don't think he really cared at that precise point in time.

Here's the thing, the original accident had happened in the trough of two crests. The guy in the white car had a lot of time to see and react to what happened like I and the guy in the car behind me (kudos to you sir, whoever you are) did.

Much later when I was back on my way home, my mum rings me to ask if I'd been caught in "a massive jam between Bidor and Tapah". I only gave my mum the full story later when I'd reached home.

What I've learnt/re-enforced/realised:

1. Shit happens.

2. Most Malaysians don't know how to drive. We just get taught how to pass our driving test which itself is already laughable.

3. I don't panic under pressure and where instant decision is needed. In fact my heart rate didn't increase but stayed normal.

4. When it's raining, some people actually speed up thinking that there will definitely be no speed traps.

5. Stopping 2 tons of fast moving metal is really really hard to do with limited time and space, especially in wet weather.

6. The guy holding the umbrella at that precise point in time was the luckiest bastard on planet earth. Although he might have needed to change his underwear after that. Assuming he wears underwear that is.

You all be safe on the roads now okay?