We are part of a society which relies heavily on personal transportation solutions such as cars or motorbikes. Unlike countries like Japan or Singapore, our public transportation system still has a long way to go before it becomes a feasible solution to majority of Malaysians.
Till that happens, which might happen in say 20 years (now that is a BIG might), we have to rely on buying cars or motorbikes, which would eventually be upgraded to cars. Simply walk into local colleges or universities and you will notice increasing number of cars driven by students which could be as young as 19 years old.
Without cars or motorbikes, you can safely say that our economy will slowly come to a grinding halt. With a heavy dependability on such transportation solutions, we have a lot cars on the road and this number is rising. With this, accident rates rise naturally as well. At the same time, our drivers don’t learn anything about defending themselves on the road at the driving academies which is another problem all together if you ask me. We only learn basic vehicle maneuverability and road safety, nothing about defensive driving.
Drivers have to first of all understand different driving phenomenons and learn how to negotiate them, while keeping in mind the safety of others. At the same time they will have to also understand the safety features on their respective cars. With such knowledge, drivers have better driving skills and this will translate to a reduction in road accidents.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye also recently mentioned in his article on The Star that defensive driving skills is a must, following numerous accidents in public, commercial and private motoring sectors. Although defensive driving is not offered at driving academies, drivers can do their part by taking part in such events that are organized by the private sector, whether it is by auto companies or by defensive driving schools.
Such an event can cost between RM500 to RM2000 and they offer life-saving hands on knowledge which once learned, can be shared with your loved ones. A typical one-day event will highlight driving phenomenons such as understeer and oversteer as well as how to negotiate their cars during the wet and other vital information. Drivers will also learn the effective way to sit in a car and operate the steering wheel and pedals. They will also learn how to carry out emergency braking and how to avoid obstacles on the road.
Although auto companies which offer such training such as the BMW Driver Training, the Mercedes Driving Experience or the Ford Driving Skills for Life treat these events as part of their branding or CRM efforts by promoting safety features or the drivability of their products, the knowledge obtained is still valuable.
Some companies such as Castrol and Shell also carry out such efforts. The former has the Experience Nurburgring yearly campaign which involves defensive driving as part of the campaign and the latter has just launched the Shell Helix D Academy which will give out 30 tickets to a defensive driving event.
Whether it is via the events above or via various driving schools, defensive driving saves lives and should be made compulsory. What do you think? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section :)
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Compulsory? Good idea but now we are going backwards, we will be allowing incompetent drivers on the road when we allow them to get the license for auto transmission only.
Auto or Manual driving test is irrelevant. Most people drive Autos these days. Most learner drivers in western countries take their test in Autos and it has never been an issue. They don’t have the level of negligence and recklessness we see on our roads. The problem is our driving curriculum.
If you don’t have the coordination and ability to shift the gear yourself, how do you expect that you can use your turn signal, look at the side view mirror, find a suitable gap, manage your speed and finally change the lane safely. That’s why we ended up with people driving at the right lane all the time eventhough the gap is big enough for the car behind to overtake using the left lane. This kind of drivers think that changing lane is something challenging, that’s why they never bothered to get back on the left lane even when the lane is free.
Driving license these days is too easy. Incompetent drivers are allowed to drive, how many people these days can’t do parallel parking? Nobody is forcing you to drive manual once you got your license but the ability to drive a manual car will show the driver’s competency.
If there will be an “automatic only licence”, I hope that they must display a big sticker like the “P” sticker. This way I know who to avoid while driving as I rate them lower than “P” drivers. Btw, I have a license to drive as fast as I want on public road.
Malaysia always will go backwards.
I wonder when will it be compulsory that we drive in reverse.
auto or manual, it doesnt matter. what matter is our mentality. almost everybody nowadays are kiasu on the road.
btw, this should be made it compulsory, both in practical n theoretical test of driving test
i think it should be a necessary as part of curriculum to obtain driving license. but cost surely skyrocket..
too expensive for many at the price of RM500 – RM2000. It should be less than RM200 and many will consider. with the rise in inflation and cost of living, people will put defensive driving at low priority.
where to enrol in such defensive driving/riding training? Am interested but have not come across any info on any course being conducted
anyway, agreed…to make it compulsory will be a burden to most folks. Just make it accessible for those interested to do will be good
A bike course will be great since it take greater skills to handle a bike than a car since most modern cars are well equip wt all sorts of gadget nowadays (..abs/esc…etc) compared to bikes which need more human skills to handle
Impossible for the course to go below RM 200, unless it has automotive companies subsidies. The time, manpower and cost to run the programme are enormously huge beneath participants point of view, beside those organisers are not charity organisation although the programmes was held with good intention.
Just trim expenses from somewhere, ie: ciggy, travel, happy hours.
Beside new licences, those over 15 year old licence should encourage to take defensive driving programme. Road condition back then and now is so much different. The programmes are fun and informational, learn better driving for own and learn to identify the hazards (indentify careless drivers) who knows the skill may save their life someday.
How about if it’s indirectly subsidized by auto insurance companies. People with defensive driving certificates (not color xerox copies LOL) can get something similiar to a “No Claims Bonus” where their overall insurance bill drops.
Insurance companies should theoretically benefit from lower accident rates.
Or charge people who don’t have defensive driving training more! LOL.
Even if its free, it’ll b useless if it’s not put to practice…for eg who doesnt know it’s dangerous to tailgate or talk on the phone while driving but people still do it….knowing is one thing, doing it is another….these ppl needs to be counselled and sent for rehab..
Agreed. Knowledge and practice are two different things.
Start enforcing the law first. Hire 5000 trustworthy police officers around the Klang Valley area first who uphold the law and don’t accept bribes to keep everyone in line and on their toes.
That’s what Singapore did for almost 2 generations. Now everyone grows up looking over their shoulders even though enforcement is minimal
Easier said than done, I know.
I believe defensive driving is a must for all new and experienced drivers. In germany, most driving schools offer defensive driving course as standard and you must pass it before getting your drivers license. Malaysia has difficulty as defensive driving courses require much stable vehicle as those unserviced kancils and base line vivas cannot cope with.
We know malaysians are money oriented and an additional 500 to 2000 ringgit is not worth it so we must change the minds of malaysians, that saving lives has no financial limitations and that seatbelts for ALL occupants is compulsory and i dont mind anyone being charged more than RM500 if they are caught without wearing one.
We should also take events like drift and racing events to an approved track like sepang rather than closed public roads as this will teach younger drivers and children that it is okay to do in public roads. I know as my 10 year old cousin has been going to those putrajaya drift events and dreaming on driving such manners in kl.
It would be good to have drift events at purpose built venues. Not Sepang though. There are various factors that make Sepang a less than ideal to hold these events. Costs are one. So is logistics I believe. It can be different if that sport gets serious support from authorities.
The Drift personalities are professional, safe drivers and are in a unique position as opinion leaders. I know they put a lot of importance on safety. ALL professional drivers in all driving discipline pay attention to safety. What they can do is drill this message to the young impressionable minds like your 10 year old cousin. Only amateurs drive with disregard for the safety of others. Hopefully the young kids are aware of this distinction.
I have attended defensive driving both for cars and motorbike. Yes, I strongly recommend it, as it greatly improves your awareness and anticipation of dangerous/hazardous situations and take preventive/avoiding actions.
After having atteded DDC, ‘Avoiding an Accident at any cost ‘(whether you are right or wrong) has always been part of my driving. It should be made Compulsory but many are discoraged by the cost. I am looking for one for my family members.
Most drivers do not know nor heard of DDC maybe due to lack of advertisement through local media. But then again who will bear the cost ?
i would love to attend one, but i could hardly find any course nearby my area. less publicity or wat? n plz include drifting course also :P
stupid lee lam thye, firstly, he think the general public shit money to attend courses like these. Secondly, better driving tutoring and stricter passing needs to be implemented at driving schools. Don’t make stupid statements that people should take defensive driving. Make statements saying that the JPJ needs improve driving schools so that the problem is being tackled when a driver first learns to drive.
I think u r the one. He think what r needed to reduce accident. I believe him than u ds
Better late than never.Maybe all P drivers must attend this compulsary class within a year before they can do away with the P sticker.There are too many offensive driving around & I guess why the car panel beaters are doing very well lately.
Absolute agree !!! if every driver understand about defensive driving …. accident rate will be decrease
I’ll support whatever initiative to make young and/or new drivers better drivers. Many of them are clueless to what’s going on around them e.g. not looking both ways when exiting a junction.
i dun think it should be made compulsory, coz in the end of the day it does come down to the attitude of the driver. not to mention, if it becomes a compulsory, not all people would love it, and it’s not easy to find a right venue for doing this either.
1 thing need to be taught only, the usage of signal sticks in car.
Defensive driving skills is compulsory? the nation should stop paying the “guarantee pass” during the driving exam. many drivers on the drivers on are not qualified to drive.
All malaysian driver CAN drive….but not all of them KNOW how to drive…..
Yup, agreed about most msian attitude toward safety is waaayyyy lacking. Just take a look at how many parents have child restraint seats for their kids in their cars?
Really scary looking at those child standing at the front passenger seats…if the car equipped with airbags, just imagine if in a collision which can activate the airbags…..the child will be punch by the airbag! Without airbag, straight away fly thru the front winshiled….thats how ignorance msian are, and this is towards their OWN CHILD safety!
Malaysians have an offensive driving mentality. It will take more than just more than defensive course to change this. Bring in point deduction system, then surely a lot will go defensive.
Malaysians are expert drivers. Just ask anyone. No one will admit that they’re poor drivers and if anything they will most certainly add that its the other guy that needs lessons.
brilliant….
when you are new in a thing..
take it slowly / defensive..
then,.. normal way..
it is better when put into the learning as in a real driving situation / condition, explaining why we use / create the law’s driving
for example:-
law of tailgating a car..
there is the risk of accident when the distance is not suit..
firstly, fail to stop the car. can cause damage, if accident occur (property damage)
then, the is the useful we follow the law.
– the law is to avoid accident, the is when the new driver cannot see this. because the law is create by the knowledge and experiences person that is not has in a new driver….
Defensive driving is an absolute necessity for Malaysian drivers.
The main reasons for high accident rates in Malaysia (in my opinion) are:
1. Over-speeding
2. Tailgating
3. Failure to use indicators (turn signals)
In summary, Malaysian drivers generally lack basic disclipline on the road and sheer lack of common sense in driving. Driving at reasonable speed can save life in case of emergency.
Malaysian drivers need to be aware and realize the potential and capability of their cars before thinking of speeding.
Safety First, Heroics Second!
anyone have any information of getting a defensive driving licence? any way which i can get contact from ?