Autoworld Safety and Defensive Driving Course
It is often said that road accidents is one of the biggest killers in Malaysia. Every year, thousands perish on the road, while thousands more barely get out of the wrecks of their cars alive. In response, our government responded by pumping huge amounts of our hard-earned money on various road safety campaigns around the calendar. Has their efforts worked? Yes and no.
According to the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS):
(1) By 1997, Malaysians registered a total of 8.55 million vehicles on the road, a figure that rose to 16.8 million in 2007*,
(2) Number of accidents went up (naturally) from 215,632 in 1997 to 363,314,
(3) The “good” news is that despite the increase in new car ownership, and also the number of accidents reported, we see that the yearly fatality figure has been maintained at around 6,000 per year every year.
*Figure is a cumulative figure of the total number of registered cars, bikes & trucks.
The fact that the death toll did not rise significantly year on year with the number of accidents should be scant consolation when it means 17 people die in a day due to road accidents. At best, this only serve to highlight the improved engineering of safety features in cars protecting occupants from certain death compared to cars of older, less crash efficient designs.
Cars today are made to be safer than ever before, with many active and passive safety features built into them, even not counting the various three-letter acronym electronics. For a start, they handle much better, they steer faster and they stop faster too. In addition, many cars these days have more airbags than you have fingers.
However, all the safety features engineered into the car cannot overcome basic laws of physics. However well engineered your car is; when the tyres lose grip, you lose traction; when the brake pads heat up, you lose stopping power; and if you simply refuse to steer around an obstacle, you crash. The simple fact is this, no amount of safety features will do you any good if you don’t use them properly.
So, with that in mind, Autoworld is bringing you the 1st Autoworld Safety and Defensive Driving Course, a one day programme on 18th July 2009 (Saturday), where after a theory session covering various driving tips, participants get to experience themselves first hand situations that require precision car control, all in a closed and controlled environment.
This course aims to help participants improve their confidence and awareness in their own driving, and also to equip them with the necessary skills to handle emergency situations which often require split-second actions. After attending this course, participants is should also be able identify driving errors that could lead to road accidents.
The theory sessions in the morning, held at Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah will start off with teaching drivers the proper sitting, steering and hand positions while driving, before moving on to the push and pull technique, system of car control, road signs, overtaking, night driving, understeer, oversteer, driving under adverse conditions and also basic vehicle checking.
After lunch, in the afternoon, participants will head to the Shah Alam Stadium car park for the practical session, which includes live practice of braking, slalom, skid control and obstacle avoidance. For the practical session, Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd* has kindly confirmed sponsorship of five units of the various models from their marque as practice cars. Participants, however, are free to bring their own cars instead should they choose to.
Autoworld has appointed Mr Kenvin Low, Chief Instructor of Asia Advanced Driving Academy Sdn Bhd to be the chief instructor of this course. A veteran of motor racing, Low also currently serves as team manager for the all-female Red Bull Rookies team, who competed in the Merdeka Millenium Endurance race of 2008, and recently in the inaugural Sepang 1000km race.
His teaching career in driving has spanned ten years, with experiences in defensive driving courses, advanced driving courses and even motor racing. He possesses teaching credentials of international standing, with a BTEC Diploma and RoSPA National Diploma in Advanced Driving Instruction, UK(2007).
Participation of this course is open exclusively to members of Autoworld website only (registration to be a member is FREE), with only requirement of them being in possession of a valid driving license. Registration fees are RM400 per person, but early bird registrations (before 30 June 2009) are entitled to a special price of RM250 per person. Limited places are available, so register online early to avoid disappointment.
To register or to find out more, browse to http://www.autoworld.com.my/course/
To register as Autoworld member, browse to
http://www.autoworld.com.my/aw/registration/register.asp
*Updated/Edited 30th June
