"Murphy's Law"

Every little thing seems to piss each and every one of us, and I won’t deny that I’m among you, my fellow drivers. Rising petrol prices, more ERP gantries and bad driving conditions – all elements good to give us all more headache.

Road confrontations seem to be a norm too. It’s quite common to see drivers “chasing” each other when they’re unhappy about the other driver – very recently, I personally saw a taxi driver and a man in his glimmering Beemer shouting at each other at a traffic light junction. But suffice to say, both middle-aged men manage to walk away from each other without any flying fists of fury, spinning kicks or whatsoever.

I can understand how you, my fellow drivers, feel. It’s getting to us, and we’re getting more stressed up by the day. On top of the bills, loans and taxes we all have to pay, the erratic prices of petrol, the ridiculously raised ERP prices and more ERP gantries are just adding up to our daily spending. And worst still, some of us HAVE to drive our cars to work. Generally for reasons like dropping off the kids and missus on the way to work, living a distance away from the workplace or your job entails lots of movements on a daily basis.

Put your hands up if you’re among those who spend a fair bit of your driving time in traffic jams or crawling traffic. I’m sure all of you do. I’ve come to be very immune to traffic jams – well, I have to if I want to keep my sanity still. Test driving cars for reviews on a daily basis, I spend most of my day driving around, and most times get caught in one. Understandable if it’s peak hour, but even on normal hours? Very ridiculous…

What are the causes? The man in white whipping out his super speed camera that instils fear in everyone, an accident, never-ending road constructions or just that bloody idiot up ahead who thinks it’s all ok and dandy to drive on the fastest lane at 90km/h. Duh?

Sometimes, I just don’t understand WHY on earth road constructions and plant pruning are done even on weekends. Weekends should be the day roads are free of all these, to provide a better driving condition. I’m sure everyone has been stuck in one before, thinking that it’s some traffic accident – but only to realise much, much later that one or two lanes were cordoned off just so that constructions or plant pruning can be done. My dear authority, I know you want to justify the ridiculous road tax we’re paying, but I beg you – on weekends, please make the roads construction and plant pruning free…Please?

Even driving on our town roads is like playing a game. Lets see – taxi drivers that suddenly stop to pick up or drop off their passengers, bus drivers that will suddenly drive out of the bus bay without much care of cars behind them, zippy delivery riders on their zippy bikes, cyclists that don’t have much care of their very lives, and the best of all - “blind pedestrians”…the literal and not physical kind of blind.

Well, there’s as much as we can do as drivers - like being more careful, caring, courteous and understanding. I reckon, if all of us were to do so, the roads will be a better place to be in.

BUT if it still doesn’t work out, just blame it on Murphy’s Law of “shit happens”.

That’s not all. I happen to drive into a busier than usual petrol station the other day, and saw what must be a ridiculous sight. There’s only a certain number of pump attendants, and they were all so busy that I noticed even the counter staff had to come help drivers refuel.

What I don’t quite understand is this – are we so pampered, that we no longer want to pump petrol into our own cars? Is it because we weren’t taught how to pump petrol when in driving school?

Considering the sheer number of vehicles waiting to pump their petrol, must you still wait for the busy pump attendants pump petrol for you? Don’t you have the initiative to do it on your own? It’s an easy, idiot-proof process – open petrol door, remove petrol cap, key in the desired amount, insert nozzle, press nozzle and it will do its own job. Once done, remove nozzle, put nozzle back to the pump, put petrol cap back on, close the petrol door and get to the cashier to pay. After that, get a move on.

All these can be done in only 10 minutes maximum, if you were to do it on your own! Do yourself a favour, and also do all those waiting to pump petrol a favour.

All that said, we’re already now at the third quarter of the year. And this month’s a month of celebration, with our nation celebrating its 43rd birthday.

Now, if you must take a quick holiday, just have one across the Causeway. Take the opportunity to spend a short time away from it all with your loved ones, relax your mind and soul and just enjoy it.

I’m planning one myself. Maybe up scenic Cameron Highlands – I just want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life...

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