Street driving pt. 1

Street driving is a complicated art, the survivability depends highly on the ability to adapt (change), techniques to overcome challenge and of course a little bit of luck, all of this to get the joy and suffer from commuting process. It is exactly what Fort Minor sing in their song “Remember the name!”, its 10% luck, 20% skills, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and a 100% reason to remember the name”. If there is ever a statistic to compare the accident rate between average Joe and Ah Beng racer, I would put my money on Ah Beng when it comes to safe journey. Why? We have seen many reckless asshole that plough the road with their crazy high speed zig-zagging and uber acceleration but we seldom see them involve in any serious accident. On the contrary we have young kids driving on their father’s BMW 3 series and got killed when they skidded on the corner and hit a tree; we have people accident when they lane switch from auxiliary lane to main road; we have people rear ended another car during a downpour and the road is wet…. So many cases, why those ah beng didn’t die?
Answer is simple, they knew the condition of the car and environment better than a typical Joe.

• They knew their Goodyear Eagle GA is a non-directional tyre, so its water characteristics sux, they know not to speed during the first phase of rain coz oil from the road will be virtually ‘floating’ around which makes the road very slippery.

• They knew the limit of the car during high speed cornering because they have ‘frequent’ that zone, they know what speed is safe for such corner and will their car sensitive to porthole



• They knew their braking ability of their car and will find a way to avoid accident if they see the braking distance is too close, rather than an average Joe who pray to god so that the brakes will save them



• They knew their acceleration rate of their car and know whether will beat the red lights or not

But if you ask a typical Joe whether he knows any of the statement above, I can bet with you they knew not more than half of it. Partly because they are ignorant and do not think the knowledge is critical to their survival on the street. I have my first accident when I underestimated the power of 140kmh, or another word, the handling of a 1000kg car running at 140kmh is not linear as you are driving on 80kmh. To stop within 50m is ridiculous in stock standard form. That is why I hit the back of a bike (luckily with no casualty), this is a costly lesson because I have to pay to repaint my bumper, but it also taught me power without handling is useless. So I know adjustable will have its value…

The point of this post is to enlighten people especially the average Joe type to love the ones you dear most and don’t drive ignorantly on the road. The bastard who drove like an arse will meet his doom one day if he is not good enough, no point cursing him/her because he/she is entitled to the road as much as you. Just be defensive when driving and you will reach your destination in your expected time.