Chinese New Year and Road Safety - 5 Safety Tips

Safety first!

Chinese New Year is a time for a reunion. It is a joyous occasion for merrymaking, feasting, and sharing happy moments together. People are in high spirits and they are relaxed. However, when you are driving on the road you should adopt a different attitude. Here are the 5 essential safety tips:

1. Defensive driving: Your mood should not be the same as the time when you are with your friends and family members. Your attitude while driving should be in anticipation of hazards that loom ahead of you. Be on the lookout for moving objects on both sides of the read. Look at the rearview mirror to check the situation of the vehicles behind you. Obey the speed limit. Sooner or later you are going to reach home. Better be safe than sorry.

2. Full concentration: You can’t be excited by talking to people you are about to meet soon on the cell phone. You also can’t be happily chatting away with your passengers in the car about seeing friends and meeting family members back home. You need to concentrate fully on the road. By talking and chatting you are only paying half your attention to the road. As you know, at this time, the highway is full of vehicles. They are all rushing home just like you.

3. Sufficient sleep: Because Chinese New Year is around the corner. You let your hair down and you paint the town red. By the time you return home, it's already 4 am in the morning. You know very well at 7 you are going to hit the road. Are you able to drive safely home with just three hours of sleep?

4. Upkeep of vehicle: Service your car and check the condition of your tires before you go on a long trip home. You don’t want to be stranded on the road high and dry. Nobody is going to repair your car during the festive holiday.

5. Take breaks: When you work, you often take breaks, maybe just a quick tea break in the afternoon to refresh yourself so you can continue to work with your fullest concentration. Likewise, take frequent breaks along the way. Get out of your car to breathe in the fresh air and relax.

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. I wish all readers a very happy Chinese New Year. And for those hitting the road, I wish them 一路顺风（yi lu shun feng）- a safe journey all the way.

Fuel Saving - 15 Top Tips

Save

While it is great news that the petrol prices are coming down slowly, it is also prudent to maintain, to use, and to drive your car in such a way that you can improve mileage further. Here are the top 15 tips as recommended by experts:

 1. Fuel-efficient vehicle: For a start purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle especially a small car with a manual transmission. 

 2. Extra weight: Remove unnecessary items in your car. Extra weight means extra petrol consumption. 

 3. Close the windows: Closed windows will reduce drag and improve fuel economy. 

 4. Fuel tank level: Pump petrol as soon as it is one-quarter empty. The later you pump means extra work on the car’s systems.

 5. Tire pressure: Maintain the tire pressure at an optimum level for better fuel savings. 

 6. Wheels: Use normal-sized wheels instead of wide wheels as more friction will greatly reduce fuel efficiency. 

 7. Regular maintenance: Your maintenance should include changing of engine oil. Remember to check spark plugs, fuel filter, and air filter. 

 8. Air-conditioning: Turn off the air-conditioner whenever possible for fuel savings. 

 9. Pump petrol: Do refill early in the morning or late in the evening because gasoline is densest under the coolest time of the day. 

 10. Driving style: Drive smoothly. Do not brake or accelerate hard. Always use higher gears. 

 11. Waiting: Turn off the engine when you know it is going to take a while. 

12. Check alignment: When your alignment is in order you will improve engine drag and in turn improve gas mileage with better performance 

 13. Avoid high speed: As you increase your speed your aerodynamic drag also increases thereby increase fuel consumption. 

 14. Cruise control: Over a long-distance a constant speed often saves gas. 

 15. Avoid short journeys: Cold cars consume more petrol. You save a considerable amount by walking for short distances.

Image Source:https://www.greenoptimistic.com/12-ways-to-improve-your-cars-fuel-efficiency-20190531/

Car maintenance

Every Sunday I do a very quick check of my vehicle. First I check the tyre pressure and I pump the tyres up to the recommended level. Next, I open the bonnet to check the fluid level in the windscreen washer fluid container and the coolant reserve tank to make sure they are between the ‘Low’ and 'Full' level. Next, I check the belts to make sure that they are not loose. I also check the engine oil level to ensure that is not below the minimum level. Once a week I wash the car and I only use buckets of water and nothing else. If necessary, I use a product called Jetsen (cleans, polishes, shines, and seals) to remove a stubborn stain. I also remove the floor mats to give them a good shake.

When I go for long-distance travel I check all the lights and replace those that are fused. I remove the grease and oil from the windshield using a product called “rain.x”. The chemical also improves wet weather visibility even without using the wipers. Lastly, I vacuum the interior to make it spick and span.

The shortcomings of Singapore drivers

Referring to a recent report in the newspaper says that 60 Singaporeans are killed along the north-south highway over the last 14 years.

The problems faced by the Singaporean drivers, according to expert, are:

*The side wing along the highway can cause a car to swerve to one side. The sign as shown in the picture above is to warn you about the side wing.
*75% of the way to Kuala Lumpur is along a straight road. The journey will be monotonous for the drivers. Loss of concentration and sleepiness are the end results.
*In Singapore you don’t have a chance to drive above 100 km per hour. Here, you are driving up to 110 km per hour; your judgment may be impaired.
*Singapore drivers don’t look at the rear mirror often enough. They are unable to judge the speed of the car behind.

How to prevent carjacking

Carjacking

The Automobile Association of Malaysia offers some useful tips:

 * Wear your seat belt: It's not only for your own safety, but it is also a deterrent to a car-jacking. A carjacker cannot get you out of your seat easily when you are wearing your seat belt. 

* Room to maneuver: When you stop in traffic make sure that you are able to see the tyres of the car in front of you. This will allow you to move away easily. 

* Lock your car doors: When you are in your car lock your doors immediately.

 * Someone appears at the side of your car unexpectedly: Do not open the door or roll down the window especially at night. If he tells you that there is something wrong with your car, don't get down but thank him and drive away. 

* Before you enter your car: Look around especially at parking lots to check if there is any suspicious figure around.

 * While you are about to get into your car someone approaches you: Move away from your car. Come back when the coast is clear. 

* When someone is carrying a gun: Do the sensible thing - give up the car.

Image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdxfR--RzkY

The "killing" factors on the road

Accident

In a recent issue of "Drive" published by the Automobile Association of Malaysia, it cited eight reasons for road traffic accidents:

1. Insufficient concentration: A driver may be distracted by a passenger or a mobile phone call. You need 100% concentration on the situation ahead of you to be in full control.
2. Sleep: One of the major causes of accidents is due to sleepy drivers.
3. Errors of judgment: Some of the errors are moving too fast into a bend, unsafe overtaking, too fast in fog, a gap not large enough for a vehicle, the gap in traffic closed before arrival, failure to leave a ' time to react' space and exceeding a safe speed.
4. Errors of observation: Drivers in this case usually look but do not see.
5. Dangerous attitude: Driving with no regard to other road users or vehicles such as beating the red light, older drivers with poor eyesight, younger drivers fail to do essential tyre and brake maintenance, and road hog forcing other vehicles to brake or swerve.
6. Mechanical failure: Owners fail to do regular maintenance.
7. Inexperienced drivers: One of them is that he normally does not drive but do so when the road is congested, in a vehicle he doesn't get used to.
8. An unexpected loss of control.
9. Tailgating

Image source:https://asempanews.com/jonas-nyabor-writes-bleeding-roads-the-major-highways-killing-ghanaians/

How does Alcohol Affect Driving?

How does Alcohol affect a driver?

We are often told that alcohol and driving do not mix. But how bad is the effect of alcohol on driving? According to experts, a drunk driver is affected by the following ways: 

 

Psychomotor Skills:: Coordination and balance abilities are impaired. 

Vision: The brain's control of the eyes is affected adversely by alcohol. A drunk driver tends to look longer at the centre of his driving scene and ignore the important events at the side. 

Perception: A drunk driver is unable to interpret complex sensory information on the road. 

Tracking: Steering a vehicle becomes a difficult task for a drunk driver.

 Information Processing: The processing of information becomes slower as the brain is affected by alcohol. 

Attention: A drunk driver is unable to divide attention to two or more sources of visual information simultaneously. 

 Think of your family and don't drink and drive. If you do they will miss you forever.

Image source: https://www.hardywolf.com/news/maine-drunk-driving-accidents/