ACCIDENTS.

I obtained my driving license in 1967 at the age of twenty three and two years later I bought my first car. Back then there were not many cars on the road and driving was a pleasure. There were no highways in Malaysia except the Tanjong Malim Slim River road and the toll was 50 cents. I often picked up some young drivers on the road and we tried to out speed each other. Thinking back it was crazy and I was not afraid of the risk. I was so familiar with the old Port Dickson Seremban road that I once covered the distance of twenty miles in twelve minutes. It was in miles then, not kilometers and for only ten ringgit of petrol I could reach Ipoh from Port Dickson. Price of petrol was two ringgit a galloon which is about forty five cents per liter.

Somewhere along, I met with a few accidents but I survived. Nothing major and when I looked back, I smiled to myself being so reckless and sometimes stupid:

First Accident: It was early morning sometimes in 1970 and dawn had not broken. From Ipoh, we wanted to go for a day trip to Penang. With me was a friend who just got back from Melbourne and wanted to show Penang to his newly found wife in Melbourne. As I entered Sungai Siput town a lorry laden with iron bars was crawling in front of me. There were no on coming cars and I swerved to the right to overtake the slow moving lorry. As I was overtaking, a motorcyclist with no lights was right on my path. The motorcyclist could not avoid me as there was a big drain to his left. Both got head on and the motorcyclist smashed my right front lights and he was thrown off. I was sorry for the Chinaman as he was on his way to work and his food was scattered on my bonnet. I was found guilty of reckless driving by the Sungai Siput Magistrate Court and fined with RM 200 and my license endorsed.

Second Accident: It was Saturday afternoon and was going back to see my family for the weekend in Port Dickson from Pasir Gudang. That was in 1977. From Johore Baharu it was drizzling and somehow I played safe by buckling my safety belt. Even though there was no law on safety belt during that time, the Volvo 144 was equipped with one and my instinct made me fastened up. It was still drizzling as I was cruising along the Simpang Renggam Ayer Hitam road. This stretch of road is notorious for nasty accidents and had taken several lives. All of a sudden one oncoming BMW spun and the car right in front of me suddenly braked. A Mercedes taxi right behind me smacked to my rear and I was jolted. To avoid being sandwiched I swerved to the right and knocked a sign board and landed into a ditch. The safety belt saved me from any injury and I came out scotched free but the rear and front part of my car was badly damaged. The Police report disclosed that I was not the guilty party and after that I was without a car for about three months.

Third Accident: In 1993 I was working in Kuala Lumpur and I stayed late for a dinner function. After Klang town at a traffic light junction the light was green and I confidently drove on. Suddenly two cars hit the left side of my car. They were both racing and beat the traffic light. The two Drivers claimed that I beat the traffic light instead. Till to this day I still unsure however the police found that I was on my right of way. The best joke the police Officer in charge of Traffic summoned me to his office and gave me an NFA ticket. Initially I did not know what it meant. He was laughing, it was No Further Action.





Now I am always careful on the road but sometimes I tend to over step the accelerator. Just for the thrill. Driving at maximum of 110 km on our good highway with a high performance engine car looks rather stupid. Once in a while I tend to give it a go, a recollection of the good crazy old days. I can only do that when my other half is dozing off.

Quite often I reminded my two children not to drive fast. Hope my crazy day’s buddies will not tell tale about their father during my younger days. With Navigator, Ghaffar Tamam, we won the first ESSO Rally in 1972. I held the steering wheel.