Malaysia among most stressful countries for driving

Malaysia among most stressful countries for driving

Hate driving? Have you found life to be a tad more peaceful now that remote working is actually a thing? Well, as it turns out, Malaysia is one of the most stressful countries to be driving a car, according to a study by Confused.com.

The survey takes into account factors such as road quality, congestion levels, number of speed cameras and road traffic fatalities before giving each country an overall weighted score (out of 100). A total of 48 countries were analysed, with the United Arab Emirates taking top honours (scoring 88/100) for the most stressful country to drive a car.

Malaysia ranked eighth with a score of 72, making us the frontrunning ASEAN representative. As a nation that loves cars, we apparently have 91.5 cars per kilometre of road, and an average of one speed camera for every 995.88 km of road.


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By comparison, our neighbour Singapore is in 17th place with a whopping 192.2 cars per km of road. Its score for road infrastructure quality is 90.9 (out of 100; the highest in the entire survey), versus ours at 72.4. Based on this scoring system, our road infrastructure quality is actually on par with Germany (71.7 points) and Sweden (71.9). Who would have thought?

Going back to road accident mortality rates, the UAE is the worst with a whopping 2,724 fatal cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by India and Chile with 1138 and 980 deaths respectively. Hong Kong is in fourth place with 216 deaths per 100,000 population, while Thailand is in 9th place with 31 cases.


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As for congestion levels, the UAE has 552.5 cars per km and an average of 1.45 speed cameras for every stretch of kilometre. This, however, pales greatly against Hong Kong’s impossibly high score of 0.17 cameras per km. Some of the countries with the worst road infrastructure quality are Zimbabwe, Romania, Brazil, and the Philippines.

On the flip side, topping the list for the least stressful country for driving is Denmark, followed by Finland, Japan, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

Top 10 most stressful countries to drive a car in:

  • 1. United Arab Emirates
  • 2. Bulgaria
  • 3. Turkey
  • 4. Italy
  • 5. Hong Kong
  • 6. Czech Republic
  • 7. Belgium
  • 8. Malaysia
  • 9. Brazil
  • 10. Argentina

Top 10 least stressful countries to drive a car in:

  • 1. Denmark
  • 2. Finland
  • 3. Japan
  • 4. Spain
  • 5. Saudi Arabia
  • 6. Australia
  • 7. USA
  • 8. Sweden
  • 9. Hungary
  • 10. Slovakia

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Matthew H Tong

An ardent believer that fun cars need not be fast and fast cars may not always be fun. Matt advocates the purity and simplicity of manually swapping cogs while coping in silence of its impending doom. Matt's not hot. Never hot.

 

Comments

  • Jom Global on Apr 04, 2022 at 10:19 am

    Interesting.

    Where is Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 0
    • Lolwhut? on Apr 04, 2022 at 12:21 pm

      The surveyor gave up becoz their results are off the charts. LOL

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 1
    • James KWON on Apr 04, 2022 at 1:25 pm

      this report is not true. Try drive in Tehran/ Iran and Cairo Egypt and stress will make you go crazy.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 0
  • As per almost all surveyed list, this is not accurate. Try driving in India and similar countries, you’ll start loving Malaysian roads.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 24 Thumb down 0
    • leoRNado on Apr 04, 2022 at 11:28 am

      Yes correct. Even as compared to our neighbour Indonesia, I think Msia still worth driving experience.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 0
  • seancorr on Apr 04, 2022 at 11:05 am

    Interesting, I’ve worked in the UAE before and found that driving here is more stressful compared to over there. At least they don’t have those flies without helmets riding like they own the road.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 8
    • Why So Serious on Apr 04, 2022 at 12:50 pm

      Driving UAE very stressful. U drive dinky Renault Clio facing off with dozens of supercars and luxury marques zooming past you like the schizz leaving you depressed and stressed why you are not as successful as them instead getting low paying job and trolling paultan daily.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 3
    • Jill Rosmah on Apr 04, 2022 at 1:31 pm

      Come year end..70-80% rebates on traffic summons.
      How not to have stressful driving,when riders and myvi king roam the streets,beating traffic lights at their whims and fancies.
      Only pay 20% of actual summons..thats why theses road demons have no remorse breaking traffic rules.
      If it wont burn a hole in their pockets,they dont give a damn committing more traffic offenses.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 17
      • Rakyat Malaysia on Apr 04, 2022 at 5:17 pm

        Syukur gomen caring about poor rakyat pokets and not trying to fine here, fine there like the previous ones.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 7
    • Are they even counting correctly. At 92 cars per KM, we should be filling all the national & state roads back to back from Perlis to JB, and from Tawau to Miri with just a car length gap between front & back. Seriously?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
      • stranger on Apr 05, 2022 at 10:58 am

        Simply based on how long road structure against how may car sold or active registration. simple math is how you do study. not asking everyone Q from johor to perlis *facepalm*

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Dave2d on Apr 04, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    Since this is a survey, respondents perception would be different. A bad road for German drivers who is used to driving in the autobahn might be a very good road in Malaysia.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • Julio on Apr 04, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    Interesting …. If Malaysia is considered stressful for drivers … I can’t imagine how it could be considerate for pedestrians ….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
    • Dead pedestrians do not count into the statistics as they never return back a result.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • It would be interesting to further break down the Malaysian statistic — perhaps a composite index based on state. I wouldn’t be surprised if Penang Island, KL, and maybe JB are top of the list.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • James KWON on Apr 04, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    this I dont believe. Try to drive in Tehran/ Iran and then compare. Cairo is even worse. stressful and crazy

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • the driver on Apr 04, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    This survey clearly has missed out driving in Africa. I have the experience of working in Nigeria – they won’t let you drive, so they provide a driver. Unbelievable traffic

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • bieight8 on Apr 04, 2022 at 5:43 pm

    With so many women drivers on the road of course will be stressed…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 4
  • especially klang valley. endless humps, endless extremely protruding speed reducing zones(yellow tambah red somemore), whole dashboard also jatuh. endless portholes, endless drilling of water pipes then repatching is either sinked or a bump. all bikers zooming and speeding, drivers speeding in housing areas despite many humps and bumps. no signal, driving speed on highway not constant, last minute maneuver, last min exit highway, kepoh must stop and take photo when saw accident.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Because King of the road always drive slow in fast lane or enter into left side drainage.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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