Thursday 19 March 2009

Orgasmic driving experience

Despite the extraterrestrial rules and somewhat nonsensical speed limit, I have thoroughly enjoyed by driving experience in Melbourne. Let me share with you the orgasmic driving experience…

I know we are all used to driving in the presence of rempits and non-rempits motorcycles. Those few days of driving without a single motorcycles was just fantabulous. It just feel damn great. You have to feel it to know it.

There were hardly any land-mines a.k.a. pot-holes on the road. Smooth drive all the way bay-beh!

Toll-less highways. When driving in the freeway (a bigger version of highway), there is only one toll-point and you can actually avoid it. In fact, you can use most of the freeway without having to pay toll at all.

When parking is free, it’s free. There will be no one ushering your car into space and collect money from you to ensure your car stay “damage-free”. Don’t you just hate them?

When you signal to change lane, rest assured the other drivers will let you change lane instead of accelerating right next to you to block your way.

Signboards are actually accurate unlike here where signboards tend to lead you to highway so that you will pay toll. Worse, some leads you to nowhere.

And the best of all… traffic-jam-less driving. I know some of you will say that there is quite a bit of traffic jam during peak hours, i.e. pre and post office hour. That is true. I saw that while driving to Crown Casino. But traffic jam is only during those hours. Here in KL, do you realise that there is no such thing as peak hour anymore. I just got back from musicians practise from church and was caught in a jam. It was 10.05pm!

As such, I have derived much pleasure from my driving experience in Melbourne despite the weird traffic rules. Yes, the law enforcement is strict and some of us may not favour such driving environment as some would want to cut queue at a junction, jump lights, drive on emergency lanes and stopped in the yellow box just to get ahead of others.

But there are many; who would abide the traffic rules to ensure a pleasant and safe driving environment. For the kind of orgasmic element mentioned above, I will abide the traffic rules anytime.

16 comments:

leyaw said...

what does that 1/4P means?

Anonymous said...

G'day mate!!!

Your last three posts makes me so wanna move back there.

Did you take any pics of the 'No Standing' sign? You should post that and see if your readers knows what that means? ;P

Anonymous said...

LOL, please don't tell me you blew your load lovin' the roads :P

iamthewitch said...

I know just how you felt zewt! I was in Sydney also and I was amazed at how pedestrians simple ruled!!! And all the drivers were so courteous and never failed to give way. What a shame that brings to Malaysian drivers...

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

hahah the picture says it all..i hate that rule!!! what can u do in 1/4 hr!!? and sure enuf, someones there to give a ticket..

ManaL said...

Next time, try driving in Bandung. U can make a u-turn in a two-way road without causing anyone to give u the middle or two-fingers sign.

Here in malaysia, one need to keep saying prayers to avoid some silly moronic impatient drivers around. Ur examples on driving in melbourne us just one of the many examples of good quality road and driving across the more developed world, incl US and UK.

Terra Shield said...

I'd rather obey rules than have crazy people endangering my life... honestly

whoalse said...

I hope you made the trip to Great Ocean Road which is a lovely drive.

I have to agree with the points you raised, zewt. I had the experience during my Feb trip back. Rude drivers who would budge in after I signal to switch lane. That incident just turned me into what I used to be! LOL

Aaaah....and the pot holes! Hopeless!!

Anonymous said...

Gee...I thought you've migrated? Anyways, I've never been to Aussie but in Brunei, drivers are more courteous and pedestrians rule. :)

ardy said...

Heavenly, isn't it? I had the pleasure of driving there during my student years, and it was really an eye-opener.

Oh how I miss those good old days!

foongpc said...

Wow! How I wish Malaysian roads are like that. Unfortunately, I think it'll just remain a dream : (

Anonymous said...

Despite a lot of fast and obnoxious drivers, I much prefer to drive here than in KL.
1. No motorbikes. And I can place my bag on the passenger seat without worrying someone will open my door and snatch my bag.
2. No potholes. Roads here are very wide and very smooth. In fact most of the roads look very black and new. Almost as though there's oil on it. Mebbe the oil underground seeps into the road... ;)
3. There is hardly any queue jumping, ppl seldom weave in and out during traffic jams, and trucks stay in their lanes even though their queue is mile long and the car lane is empty.
4. Free street parking even in the middle of downtown (have to pay for street parking in DBX tho).
5. No one and I mean NO ONE, jumps a red light. And if they stop beyond the pedestrian crossing as they attempt to stop in time at a yellow light, ppl actually reverse to get behind that line.

p/s: Most luxury cars have reverse sensors. I think only those below rm100K don't have. And Camry and Accord are below rm100K. :D

Huei said...

sigh..n not to mention parents won't TRIPLE or QUADRUPLE park outside schools and make the already f*cked up traffic worst!!

Anonymous said...

dude u love the parkin system in melb >? i've been drivin here for a couple of years.. n boy do i hate it ... wanna know how troublesome it is having to move ur vehicle every time the stated Ps duration end ? tat is if ur able to get a parking spot to begin with .. hav fun driving from zones to zones if u need 2 overstay the stated durations.. o and metered parkings are really exp.. 3.50 an hour.. so for ur 2p .. its 7 dollars .. u can probably park whole day in pavillion with tat kinda money..

cars here are sold empty .. piece of machinery tat drives u from point a to b ,., luxuries like reverse sensors are all optional .. because they wanna advertise the cheapest possible rate .. they dont even come with car mat for god's sake.. and FREE AIRRR .. get wat it means ?>? it means free airconditioning in ur .. suprised ?? air con in ur car is optional untill recently. So u end up payin more than the advertised price... talkin bout hidden cost huh >? at least cars in malaysia only hav several specs to choose from ,. no fuss there pickin ur air con , car mat, reverse sensors, abs ++++ ..

parallel parking ..aussie style means reverse till u hit the curb .. den u steer ur car forward .. do u c the need for reverse sensors here >? wats so skillfull abt tat .. u can hit the curbs without problem i supposed..

just a piece of my mind ,.. i'll hav to drive again tmr .. another stressing day faced with noobie drivers ...

zewt said...

leyaw - hahaha... i shall drop a note at your blog.

jemima - hahaha... i have... :)

sinergy.starfall - shhhhh... :P

iamthewitch - malaysians are a shame of many things, not just driving... unfortunately.

constantly craving joe - i prefer to have that compared to thugs collecting car protection money.

manal - bandung too? wow... we are really falling behing indon... sigh.

terra shield - my sentiments exactly.

zewt said...

whoalse - unfortunately, i missed the 12 apostles... no time ler. but i am sure i will see it again one day :)

mar - anywhere but malaysia eh?

ardy - if you were a student there, chances are u can make aussie your home one day.

foongpc - another 50 years perhaps.

kat - same like melbourne lor... no motorbikes really make one helluva difference isnt it?

huei - damn right. what kinda example parents are setting to the kids...

Mike Au Yong - well, i am not trying to say aussie drivers are more skillful, just trying to say that malaysian drivers are not as skillful as they think. and hey... u should drive a few years in KL to know the wonders of driving in your next day.