We are united in our contempt for other Malaysian drivers. Lane cutting, double parking, overtaking from the wrong side, not using the indicators, abusing the emergency lanes — the list of transgressions is endless. It’s almost as if the sole use of rules is to show how little we care for them.
Our collective chest-beating in the media on this issue clearly does not seem to have any impact on this recalcitrant lot among us. Even the disastrous consequences of bad driving in terms of fatalities and more seem to leave no mark on us. The causes bandied about for this demon that turns an otherwise gentle Malaysian soul into an aggressive, bullying, road rage-spewing cowboy or Mat Rempit are almost as many as the rules broken.
Lack of education, corruption in obtaining driving licences, disregard for the rights of others, lack of penalties and lack of enforcement, increased pace of life; take your pick. Solutions are offered, regarded and disregarded, and the next time we have a narrow escape on the roads, we just sigh “Malaysian drivers” and carry on.
Maybe there is another way to look at this phenomenon. The automobile, whether on two or four wheels, is a uniquely personal object. We name them, they belong to one person and we look after them almost like they are people. In many ways they are an extension of our personalities. You only need to look at the colours, the modifications, the stickers or the soft toys at the back to make a judgement on the character of the owner.
When we ride them, they become a place where normal societal rules do not apply. We pick our noses in them, eat in them in a way which would make our grandmothers turn in their graves, listen to music in them at a volume guaranteed to turn the neighbourhood deaf if it was at home and generally let loose from the constraints of society. Our private selves come to the fore. And yes, drive as if the rules do not apply to us.
However, when there are colleagues in the car or an aged aunt riding pillion, we modify our behaviour accordingly. Now our public selves are on display. The music is at a discreet volume playing politically correct bands; we use the indicators more often and wave other, more impatient drivers past.
Of course there are exceptions to this as in when a group of young testosterone-fuelled riders go out of their way to break the rules together. But in actual fact, they are conforming to the rules of their in group at the cost of disregarding the rules of society as a whole.
At a certain age, being cool in the eyes of a desirable peer group is much more important than conforming to the laws of the land. But in the main, automobiles are an intensely personal space in which to daydream, throw off the shackles and be who we really are when nobody is looking.
If we are really concerned about our behaviour on the roads, unfortunately the solution lies in making society and the norms of civilised behaviour intrude more and more into this perceived personal space.
Countries around the world are doing precisely that when they increase visible police presence on the roads, install marked speed traps, have choppers whirring overhead, and encourage citizens to report violations. The idea is to make the driver aware that they are not alone in the automobile. Society in the form of the police and attendant fines are riding with them.
When driving is a completely uniform, public act with no room for self expression through our “style” of driving, the roads will be safer. Of course, that is when nostalgia for the days of driving for pleasure will kick in.
Remember when the front seats of cars were sofas, seemingly expressly designed for making out in while driving?