Like the recent post by Mike Ooi about some stupid drivers driving in Penang, I decided to give some free lesson for those automobile 4-wheel vehicle drivers some advice on driving on a Penang road.

1. Know your car: Get to know the maximum speed and how much momentum it will carry if you put it on free clutch/neutral. That way you can have better estimate of the distance during your drive.

2. Perception: Do not think that your car is too big. That's what happened here when Kancil¹s double parked. Try to miniaturize the perception of your car. Another good trick is to align the left sideway with the wiper (allows you to put in a safety margin while maintaining a safe distance) while driving. Do it once in a while to get the bearing. That way you get to know some of the distances on your left since you're sitting on the right side of the car.

3. Observation: They said always observe the car to your front. Do not do that! Front people tend to press the emergency brake to the max that they're able to skid 10-30 meters off the road. Always observe the subsequent front car in front of you. If possible, see through the windshield of the car in front of you to catch the glimpse of the traffic ahead so that you can get additional reaction time to plan your action.

4. Self Multitasking: They say look left and right before turning. This is dangerous as some idiots at the front might just make an emergency brake. You don't need to do that! If you've managed to overtake some car, make sure you train your mind to memorize their positions so that you won't accidentally turn into them while driving. This is due to the fact that your 4-5 o'clock & 7-8 o'clock are blind spots even with the side mirrors. Use it consequetively with your main mirror to get their bearing before you initiate a turn. Be very calculative of your action during the road. Even a slight turn might cause some other drivers grief, like what happened to Mike the other day.

5. Brakes: If you have a non ABS² car, what you can do under the circumstances is to press/release a few times during a braking maneuver. Know the amount of pressure to press before your car will skid. Although still not as sophisticated as the real ABS, at least it won't cause your car to skid as much. Initially, I thought a friend bullshitted me. However after I've managed to learn to do it correctly, it is a matter of time before you know the handling of your car. However, if your car already has ABS, do not follow the advice above! Just gently apply the break and the internal mechanism will do the job for you.

These are a few tips that you'd learn when you're driving in a Penang road. Most of them are Formula One material and they have no time to give leeway to slow drivers. Think of Penang drivers as New Yorkers on the road. There's even a saying: "If you can drive the Penang roads, you can drive anywhere in the world."

¹ Perodua Kancil is the exact clone of a Daihatsu Mira.
² ABS = Anti-lock Braking System