In a new study published by Waze in its first-ever “Global Driver Satisfaction Index” (GDSI), results have shown that Malaysian motorists are amongst the fourth unhappiest drivers in the world, ranking 17th out of a total of 30 countries that were surveyed.
Countries and cities were ranked based on a single digit score, from one (miserable) to 10 (satisfying), with the results of the survey then divided into six main categories: Traffic, Safety, Road Quality, Driver Services, Socio-Economic, “Wazeyness” and a final overall average being the “Most Satisfied” index.
For Road Quality, it appears that Malaysian drivers are relatively happy with the way things are, scoring a 7.4 average, just as Britain had achieved. The score is good enough for a joint ninth-spot overall, beating even the US and France for road quality.
In terms of Driver Services, which refers to the convenient availability of things like petrol stations and parking spaces, Malaysians as a whole weren’t very happy, achieving a score of just 1.4. Most satisfied with their Driver Services were the Philippines, who achieved a full 10. Indonesia was ranked the lowest, with just 1.0. Strangely, even Japan ranked lower than us, being next to bottom with a 1.1 score.
Scores were back up for safety, with Malaysia nabbing a generous 7.1 average, but still only managing the 23rd spot out of the 30 nations. This puts us ahead of Belgium, Israel, Panama and more.
For the Socio-economic category that assesses the accessibility of cars to Malaysians and the economical impact of fuel prices on us, we reported an average score of 6.6, which was good enough for 14th spot overall. It appears that US citizens are amongst the happiest with the accessibility of their cars there, and the prevailing petrol prices.
Malaysia’s rank in in the Traffic category is unclear because we just don’t seem to be listed here. What’s clear is that we aren’t in the top 15, nor are we in the bottom 15, either. A tie for somewhere in the middle? Most likely.
Where being helpful and happy on the “Wazeyness” scale, Malaysians rank a low 3.2, just ahead of Argentina, Italy and Indonesia.
Overall, this was good enough to land us 17th spot with our averages tallying to a “Most Satisfied” score of 5.1. The Netherlands holds top spot for satisfied drivers, with the country scoring an overall 7.9, while drivers in El Salvador appear to be the least satisfied, achieving a score of 2.1.
For the cities survey, it appears that Kuala Lumpur locals have shown even more dissatisfaction throughout the six survey categories, and it’s naturally reflected in the “overall” category.
In the Traffic index, KL drivers ranked their experiences to be in the 1-2 bracket. The drivers who scored it as such collectively showed an average travel time of 33.5 minutes. Manila and Jakarta were also included in this bracket, with Washington DC taking top spot, with a 7-8 bracket score.
For Driver Services (fuel stations, parking lots, etc.) KL drivers seem satisfied with the current situation, scoring it in the 9-10 bracket. It also seems that Road Quality is satisfying to us KL folk, with the average score falling in the 8-7 bracket.
Socio-economy is where it starts to fall away for KL, declaring a slight dissatisfaction for the price of fuel and vehicles here, with an average score of 6-5. However, when it comes to helping each other out through the Waze app, KL drivers scored in the 3-4 bracket.
For the overall “Most Satisfied” drivers ranking, Kuala Lumpur stands in at 28th, also with an average score or 5.1 out of a possible 10. Phoenix, Arizona is listed as no.1 with a total score of 8 out of 10, while Bandung, Indonesia is listed to be rock bottom, scoring 3 out of 10.
So, how do you feel about these results? Are they reflective of your driving experiences?
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I think Malaysians should be contented with our roads here.
Malaysians are an ungrateful lot, always unsatisfied with our Gov. Cukurlah ada BN and DBKL, we have good roads for our Proton
KL roads generally are ok. Only those DAMN MANHOLES which started off at the sides of roads and as roads expanded, they become in the middle. And with every resurfaced roads, the manhole is left alone and gets deeper and deeper.
KL road good? Don’t make people die laughing la.
KL people are ungrateful unlike Penang people
Eh, I thought Msian road better than Sweden? 6th best in the world?
Ini mesti muslihat yahudi/cina DAP/LGE/DSAI.
6th best in road network. Not quality sadly
Malaysians are generally an unhappy and dissatisfied lot. Anything done will be disputed, those that fail will be bashed sky high, and those that succeed will be dismissed as nothing special, or their view is it should have exceeded its target.
Also to Malaysians, anything local is a failure. Only imported products, imported ideas, imported thinking, imported pipu, imported company, etc is the best.
Indeed.
Japan is very low in the index because nobody in Japan drives. Everybody (ok, almost everybody) takes public transport. Probably the same reason that our neighbour, Singapore, is not even on the list.
To be honest..malaysian road much better then the uk. But malaysian driver that make a lot of problem..
looks like japan’s road is worst than us. last time i was there i thought the roads conditions looks ok?
this shows that anywhere in the world there are always dissatisfied people.
My opinion is that KL roads are actually not bad. the traffic jam on the other hand…thats a different story
yes, very good road.
wait a minute, if already good, why spend money to resurface before the KL Street Racing 2015?
Our main highway’s standard are quite at par with any major cities around the world but its the road users that contribute to the unpleasant driving experience. After living and driving in overseas for years upon returning to Malaysia I had a complete reverse culture shock to the driving scene here at home ! First of all the idea of speed limit is none existent, vehicles are traveling at various speed as the driver wish, on the highway out of the blue there will be someone driving at 80 km/h on left lane which is below the speed limit, then when you’re in the midst of overtaking that car suddenly an idiot coming out of no where doing 160km/h suddenly appear behind, you would swear that when you were overtaking the slow coach there was no car on the right lane appearing from the rear view mirror. Right of way doesn’t exactly exist too as there are those who have no idea what “BERHENTI” signs means and they just pull out of the junction to on coming traffic, worst still selfish as they are they take their own sweet time hogging those on their right of way. Cutting queue is all too common everywhere everytime, some of these drivers who cut queue aren’t exactly in a hurry to where they are going, but just simply hate the idea of driving behind everyone else ! Others include double parking, obstructing traffic with their marvelous parking… And the list goes on and on.
Totally agree with you.
Dissatisfaction is not on the road condition but on selfish drivers attitude. It doesn’t help that the cops never do anything.
The top 3 common offences (that causes serious accidents) are:
1. Reckless driving
2. Queue jumping
3. Beating traffic lights
4. Excessive Speeding (esp small cars, lorries and buses)
Changing lanes without signaling is just minor offences compared to the above.
road network – very good
road maintenance and quality – very bad (just too patchy and too many potholes)