How to Minimize Traffic Jams And Survive during Festive Seasons– Do your Part
Come every festive season, the traffic jams are horrendous. The fact that there are more cars on the roads means heavier traffic, but each and every one of us on the road can help to minimize the congestion, and hence make the road safer. On another note, having to deal with an accident, especially when you are out to celebrate a good occasion with your loved ones is not something you want to have to do. Finally, since you are with your loved ones, or are on the way home to see them, being safe must be on the top of your priority list.
Here are some of the things each one of us can do:-
1) Maintain Speed limit and follow the main flow.
If everybody maintains the speed limit of 110 km/h on the highway, then it means that everybody is going at 110 kmh. The problem begins when people drive slower than the speed limit. These drivers effectively become the ‘pebbles’ rolling in a stream. All other drivers going at the speed limit have to slow down for these drivers or drive around them – having to slow down for these cars will eventually slow down the traffic, and the crawls will start.
I had a very good personal experience driving on a British country road back in the early nineties. Traffic was heavy on that day, as we were all going along a road that was leading to a rally stage of the RAC rally that was happening at that time. The police in England are a vigilant lot, and speed cameras were everywhere. Given that the prevailing speed limit at that time was 80 km/h, I expected that it would be a crawl, but it wasn’t. The road was narrow, with many winding turns, with not many opportunities to overtake, but the pleasant surprise was that everyone was driving at the same speed – 80 km/h. Thus it was a long line of traffic, but with everyone travelling at the same speed, it was an enjoyable drive.
On Malaysian roads, the variance in speed amongst drivers is usually big – the better drivers have no problems keeping to a constant speed, but the not so good drivers would have trouble maintaining a more or less constant speed, especially if the roads are narrow and winding. The only advice I can give to drivers who are not so good, is to say that if there is a better driver, do let him or her drive. The long term solution is to improve your driving skills – your life may depend on it.
2) Leave the fast lane clear.
Always leave the fast lane clear for faster cars to overtake. It is potentially dangerous to hold faster traffic behind you, as the faster drivers will tend to get impatient, and will try all sorts of manoeuvres to get past you, and this can cause accidents to happen. Do not insist on staying on the fast lane. One of the signs that you are hogging the road is when you have people overtaking you from the left. Another obvious sign is when people start flashing you or giving you dirty looks or worse still, the finger. If you have to use the fast lane to overtake, by all means do so – signal your intention, do it and move back when you are done overtaking. Another common fault is people forgetting to move back to the left after having overtaken a slower car, or moving over very, very slowly.
3) Overtake smartly – do not dilly-dally
Fuel-saving techniques are good, but you must know when you need to put a little more pressure on the accelerator. When overtaking another car, do step on the gas. If you want to irritate the guy behind you by going slowly, do it another time. Think of it as you doing your civic duty to keep the roads safe. Personally, I do get irritated by people who take forever to move over to the left.
4) Do not create your own traffic jam
It is amazing how a bunch of cars can move together for miles together in their own little jam. Remember that it takes 2 hands to clap, and the more cars there are around you, the higher the chances of traffic incidents. If you find yourself ‘trapped’ in a bunch of cars, you have two choices – either accelerate away or slow down and drop back from the pack.
Point #3 above should be noted on overtaking – there is nothing more frustrating than having to wait for someone ahead of you to finish overtaking and get back into the left lane so that you can get past that person and get on with your journey. Therefore, if you are overtaking, and there is someone who appears to be faster or appears to want to go faster, do your overtaking quickly and move over smartly to the left, and don’t forget to signal your intention to do so even whilst you are still on the right lane.
5) Driving on Trunk roads
Traffic jams on trunk roads are usually caused when there is a slow moving vehicle travelling on the road. All faster traffic will pass it until there comes along another driver who cannot pass, and now there are two vehicles on that road. The third car will now have two cars to pass, and if he can, he will pass, until another one who is not that good at passing comes along, and then there will be three cars moving together, and so on, until there is a long line. This is when accidents will start to happen.
If you are the first car in this line, you will know it by the long line of cars behind you, or you notice cars following you for a long time and not passing you. The thing to do is to pull over or slow down where it is safe, and wave the cars behind pass you. Stop at a lay-by if necessary, or in places where there is an overtaking lane, pull over to the left, and drive slowly, letting other cars by.
If you are the second or third car, and cannot pass, leave a space between you and the car in front so that others can work their way around you. Remember that you are in a potentially dangerous position, and consider dropping back or stopping so that you are not the indirect cause of a slow line of traffic.
6) Going Through Towns and Villages
Whether it is a festive season or not, always slow down for towns and villages, and keep your eyes open. Potential dangers lurk when going through junctions, or crowded places, where there may be motorcycles, people, or even cars dashing out onto your path – going slowly gives you more time to take evasive action.
7) Give Way For your Own Safety
In driving, there is this thing called ‘right of way’ – where safety or defensive driving is concerned, you may have to give up this right of way in order to prevent an incident. For example, you may be approaching, say, a junction on your left, and you see a car coming from the side road, with the obvious intention of turning left or right to join the road you are on. Technically, that car should stop, as you have the right of way, so you are within your right to just ignore that car. However, if, for any reason whatsoever, that car does not stop, you will have a potentially dangerous situation at hand. Thus, the best thing to do would be to at least slow down to a speed that allows you to react.
8) Make Sure your car is roadworthy
I won’t go into details, but as a responsible driver, you must make sure your car is roadworthy. This covers items like signal lamps, headlights, wipers in good working order, and even washing fluid for your windscreen. Brakes and tyres, wheel alignment also must not be ignored.
Life is a very fragile thing. I have seen a friend alive one moment, and dead the next. People always think that accidents happen only to others – the truth is, accidents can happen any time, and a vehicle can be a lethal weapon in the wrong hands. Keep it safe, and enjoy life!
