Could These Deaths Have Been Prevented?

Today's papers highlights 2 accidents that have caused the deaths of ten Malaysians, many of whom were very young and yet to reach their full potential.

One accident occurred close to a police road-block in the early hours and conditions were not ideal as the road was wet. Perhaps the accident could have been prevented if the police use a special warning signal at least 200 meters before the road block so that motorists will proceed with more care.
With speeding cars on a highway, one sometimes has to brake quite sharply when a traffic policeman starts directing traffic to change lanes on a busy highway.

Although the report mentions only stopping motor-bikes, it is possible that the driver was momentarily distracted and lost control. Having a road block below an underpass is not the safest practice as visibilty will be poor if they do not have proper lighting.

The other accident occurred when the driver tried to overtake a row of cars unsuccessfully and collided head-on with a lorry. This happens when you have inexperienced drivers using trunk roads.
The first car in the queue finds it difficult to overtake and a queue forms with very little space in between the queue. As the queue gets longer, it becomes more frustrating.

Overtaking a row of vehicles is one of the most dangerous practices. But if you must do it, check the following:

1. Ensure a clear stretch of road ahead
2. No hills and dips in the road ahead
3. No double lines
4. Change to a lower gear for better acceleration and control
5. Decide where you can re-enter the queue if traffic changes
6. Be aware that someone in front may also decide to overtake

I have observed that even on highways where we have dual lanes, many Malaysians cannot perform a proper overtaking maneuver.

I have overtaken some queues in my driving experience but twenty years ago, there were not that many cars on the roads and I vaguely remember one incident when I ran out of space as there was an oncoming bus on the KL-Ipoh trunk road and I pulled up on the road shoulder on the opposite side.

When driving on highways, I always try to avoid bunching of vehicles as that reduces driving stress and I prefer to drive with space all around. So I will adjust my driving speed up or down to create more space.

You have to be extremely alert on Malaysian roads or you too will become a statistic.