A Hit and Miss

There will be a revision to the drivers learning curricular which will be implemented in stages coming a few months time. The curricular was jointly developed by the MIROS - the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety. The main focus of the curricular would be:

• Creating an all-round driver that knows understands road ethics and proper driving skills.
• Awareness of the road laws.
• Exposure to driving in various environments covering urban and rural areas
• More on applying what is learned in class on the field driving.

Presently, a student driver is required to seat for three hours of videos talking the basics of driving either cars or motorcycles before they are allowed to start learning. A problem behind this is that a lot of people find it dull - and so there is a word of keeping things fresh and exciting that will make people focused.

What is also interesting about the planned revamped curricular is that learners will learn the reasons of doing this and this...an example would be that a driver should consider lower the car gear when descending a hill. The reason of this action being performed was never explained at all by the driving instructors. Another good example is the importance of spacing between the car ceiling and your head - its reason was never explained at all.

The number of accidents that happened in Malaysia remains high and one of the main reasons behind this is that not all skills are learned from driving schools. One of the most important skills missed out is the ability and what is to be done in a very emergency situation. For instance, if suddenly your care tires got punctured, how will you stop the car safely without causing much trouble and inconvenience to other drivers?

It would be a better idea if say BMW or Honda who do hold advanced driving courses to work together with MIROS to equip drivers of the essential emergency handling skills that would be worthwhile in future. Sometimes, these skills can save a driver's or the lives of passengers in the car. However, with the cost of having this is roughly $1500 per session, MIROS and the government will have to figure something out to get this.

On the other had: Outlaw of Xenon?

The RTD is considering of outlawing the use of Xenon lights used by cars.

The Xenon lights is three times brighter than a standard car light and it is white in color. The proposal of outlawing is being mulled following many complaints from other road users when during night driving.

Despite being economical - bright, and uses the same voltage as the standard light but performs three times faster, the lights are too glaring to many drivers particularly at night. Secondly, not many drivers know that there is a drawback of using Xenon lights. These lights do not work well particularly during rainy times as the amount of light penetration is far too great than standard lights and may blur the vision of a driver in that kind of situation.

Perhaps it is a high time for the idea to come out, but it is advisable to give them a period of one month to do so before action is taken.