[b][By jari97]
21st June 2006[/b]

Surely many of us have experience one way or the other about tailgating and the subsequent possible outcome of fender bending either in the capacity of a spectator, victim or, god forbid, the instigator.
Malaysian driver have the uncanny knack for being short on memory or never learn from the mistakes or experience of others (I guess in this case, it’s not only “Melayu mudah lupa”). As long as it never happens to oneself, one would believe to be invincible with an air arrogance and infallibility.
It’s not that we have never witness pile ups or accidents before. Even not in real life but surely through myriads of multimedia sources out there, one simply can’t say that they haven’t even witness one. In the 20 years of my driving experience (legally & illegally), I’ve witnessed more than a dozen accidents, involved in less than half of that and thank God never been hurt badly. But it’s enough to leave a profound effect on me, just imagine the wasted resource, not only in terms of monetary loss in repairs but also the hassle of wasted time and effort in making reports for the police and insurance claims plus the inconvenience (for most of us), the loss of a primary source of transportation for days on end. Worst still is the fact that there is a conceivable possibility of fatal injuries.
Now why do most Malaysians tailgate? Is it because of bravado, lack of proper training, arrogance or just simply sheer stupidity! I would like to think it’s a bit of everything. It must be human nature to tempt fate, taking chances and doing the so-called “calculated risk”. Let’s calculate the risk…
I’m no mathematician but please bear with me with my crude formula:-
First let’s define tailgating… technically according to UK’s Motorway code (if my memory serve me well), is that any car traveling less than 4sec behind another car at speed of 65mph (+/-110kph) as it will take a car about 75 meters or 240 feet to come to a complete stop traveling at the said speed. And essentially tailgating limits the ability of drivers to be able to react swiftly to events which may be happening further along the road, and significantly increases the chances of a pileup. Fundamentally, a car traveling at 100kph will need about 4-5secs to stop the car, add a 1 or 2 sec lag for delayed reaction, since I’m confident most of us do not have any professional driving training unlike pro race drivers, thus our reaction time suffers accordingly though most of us aspire (“berangan-angan”) to be the Alonsos or Schummies of the highway). As we are all too familiar with Malaysian tailgaters usually love to be “up close & personal” being less than a sec away. A reminder that this rule of thumb only applies to during ideal and conducive road condition but unfortunately there are always variables to throw the wrench into the cogs.
Just imagine in an emergency situation 4 cars traveling on a highway at a constant speed of 100kph with less than 10’ apart (less than 1 sec apart) and the lead car performs an emergency breaking. Lets say there is a 1sec lag in reaction time the 2nd car will hit the front car (with 1 sec elapse will be traveling at about 60-70kph) at full speed of 100kph, thus the impact will be approx 30-40kph difference. Let’s say the 3rd car will be hitting the 2nd car at 2sec lapse since the initial incident at about 50kph differential accordingly the 4th car possibly will hit the preceding cars at full speed. (This formula calculation may be flawed but the situation is definitely plausible, it happened to me!)
We all know that the minimum speed for a car crash to be potentially fatal can occur only at 30kph. All the succeeding cars have the possibility to have fatal occurrence within its occupants. Ok… bended fenders can be fixed; even broken bones can be mended but what about loss of life!? SIAPA NAK GANTI!!!??? It will be HELL to pay!
So what can we do, you may ask? O’ my esteemed Goosters & Goostresses it’s really simple;
Just follow the rules and codes, abide to the posted speed limit, even that is the maximum speed for an ideal condition, and as we all know that ideal condition doesn’t present itself very often with our erratic weather, “SV” maintained roads, etc unforeseen variables that will definitely impede smooth driving condition.
Be patient – speeding in the hope that you may get to your destination faster. Ask yourself, is it really worth it to gain 10mins, 30mins or even an hour advantage of reaching your destination faster with the risk stacking against you?
I know most Muslim (but not exclusively) would say “its fate or dah takdir” if anything untoward happened and throw up their hands and be fatalistic about it. But didn’t God say and the Prophet reminded that do what ever humanly possible to avoid calamity or danger and only after exhausting all possibilities that only then we should leave it to Him?
Spread the Gospel of good driving etiquette. Start with the people that you care family & friends. Get them on the bandwagon make them spread the good word too.
Discipline ourselves, do we really need the government to crack the whip for all of us to fall in line and simply forget about it when the campaign losses steam? Remember that bureaucrats are reactive but we as individuals and small community has the capability to be proactive.
I know that this seemed to be a thankless task, but even if only you and your Maker know that you have done a good deed and played you part for the greater good of society, for me that am reward enough. Nobody can take that pride and self worth away from you.
Have a sweet and memorable drive with your love ones and be Goo-d.