Road Survival Skills

You might have attended some kind of road survival skills workshop previously especially if you are one of Toyota customers. I would like to recommend Toyota for organizing such kind of workshops regularly. I had attended the workshop recently since it was organized in Kuching. The name of the worksop is "Road Survival Skills" because the workshop will highlight to the participants the do's and don't when accidents happen. Among the several things that I learnt from the worksop is the importance of your car jack when trying to help people in emergency. I guess you need attend one of the workshops if you wanted to know more. Another lesson that I learnt is the need to carry basic items in your car in case of emergency. 

Firstly, you should be aware about the steps that need to be taken after a minor accident and how to make a police report.

These are the 10 items you should always carry in your car. I already have some of the items but not all yet. For example, I already have the LifeHammer since it is one of the door gifts given after attending the workshop recently. You also need to have disposable poncho since it can be used to cover yourself during heavy rain and also to cover the interior of your car in case of emergency.

This is the characteristics of the multi function Life Hammer that you need to carry in your car. It can be used to cut stuck seat belt and to break window glasses when needed. It also has LED blinking beacon for emergency situation.

Another important item that you may need to carry with you is ReSQMe gadget. It is very handy and you can use it as your keychain. The gadget can be used to cut stuck seat belt and also to break window glass during emergency.

Another item that you need to cary is fire extinguisher. For vehicle, the 1 kg fire extinguisher is ideal since it is not bulky and easy to carry. Nowadays, we heard a lot of news about vehicle caught fire. It only take a few seconds for the occupants of the vehicle to evacuate once the vehicle is caught on fire. Also, the fire extinguisher can be used to prevent further damage to the vehicle once the fire is detected. Hopefully, we will never encounter such an emergency situation by carefully not to play around the vehicle wiring system. But in case that you need to help somebody else in such an emergency situation, you are always prepared.

Turn Left When Exit is Clear

This is a signage allowing drivers to turn left only when exit is clear. The purpose of this directive is to ensure the efficient use of the traffic light junction.

The following picture also indicate the directive to turn left when exit is clear.

However, this type of directive is only available in Kuching as compared to other cities in Malaysia. In exception for Johor Bahru, similar directive is available but the background color of the signage is red.

There seems to be no proper effort to make the signage uniform in term of design and application throughout Malaysia.

Drivers should be more careful and attentive when maneuvering through the junction when the exit is clear to ensure that there is no pedestrian using the same approach of the junction. In Western Countries where the usage of the particular signage is nationwide, there are occurrences where fatalities involving pedestrians occur at the junction.

Road Accident

One of your reasons to buy an expensive car is because of its credential safety features. Usually, most expensive luxury cars are equipped with state-of-the-Art gadgets that will keep the car occupants safe during crashes.

However, a late night out to celebrate the New Year Eve turned tragic when a Toyota Camry carrying five family members crashes with a Mercedes-Benz and crashed into a signboard pillar on the New Klang Valley Expressway.

It seemed that the luxury car cannot protect the car occupants from fatality once the car crashes into the fixed objects located besides the road.

The moral of the story is that, no matter what kind of cars that you drive, please drive carefully and obey the traffic rules.

Also, the local authority should have considered designing a more forgiving highways by ensuring that there are no fixed objects being installed along sides all highways in Malaysia. If there are fixed objects such as the signboard pillar, the authority should cover the signpost using crash cushions to reduce the likelihood of fatal accident from happening.

For further story of the tragic event, read HERE.

Another Fury Mishap

Picture above is for illustrative purposes only and nothing to do with the following incident.

If your house is located just a few feet from roadside, do you ever wondering about runaway cars or worst runaway oil tanker hitting your house?

Or, Do you wish that oil tankers or any hazardous goods vehicles should use specially dedicated hazardous goods route (if any) to transport their goods?

Well, the nightmare of a house located beside a road comes true based on the following tragic news.

In the News (courtesy of Star): Three people, including two siblings, were burnt to death when an oil tanker exploded after crashing into a house at Kampung Ulu Klawang, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan on Saturday.

The tanker, due to faulty brake, lost control of the wheel causing it to skid and crash into the house located beside the road.

The tanker overturned and caught fire killing its driver and two siblings whose bodies were found in the burning house. The siblings were believed to have been asleep when the accident occurred.

The lorry exploded two or three times and firemen took about one and half hour to douse the flame.

What do you think about this tragic accident? Is it the fault of the drivers or it just happen that the house is located besides the road.

090909: Honouring Your Pledged

About 250,000 Malaysians are expected to honour their pledged today, from 9am till 9 pm, as part of the Malaysians Unite for Road Safety (Mufors) 090909 campaign organised by PLUS Expressway Berhad.


They made their pledges on how they can contribute towards reducing accidents and saving lives, and honouring these pledges on Wednesday, Sept 9, 2009, between 9am and 9pm. By honouring the pledged, it is the hope of the organizer of the campaign that these pledges will transform into a lifetime change.

Wish everybody a safe trip to wherever your destination.