Kuching - driving

Public transport in Kuching consists of a handful of busses which run irregularly. As such everyone in Kuching drives (Malaysians don’t walk because they don’t like to sweat). This doesn’t mean that they are good at driving. In fact most seem to be quite average drivers. Traffic here is less chaotic than other parts of Asia, but it is not uncommon to experience traffic jams at peak times of the day. Lane markings on roads mean little as drivers tend to drive wherever they like on the road. Seatbelt wearing, although legally required (I think), seems largely optional.

I’ve witnessed a few near misses, but in general the speeds travelled at are low enough to permit crazy driving. Also, drivers on the road expect other drivers to behave erratically which also helps.

However, I was a passenger in a car crash. On the way to the airport, in wet conditions, our taxi driver wrote off his car. The traffic on the main highway was clogged that day so our taxi driver decided to take the back streets to avoid the congestion. As he was driving along a white van did a right hand turn in-front of us (when he shouldn’t have). With the reflexes of an ailing 80 year old man the taxi driver slammed on the brakes, but we skidded into the van as it was turning at about 30-40km/h causing the van to go spinning off the road. “Sorry la, sorry la” were the words uttered by the Chinese taxi driver just after the collision. All were unharmed in the taxi, but the driver of the van seemed to have hurt his leg. Bystanders gathered around as expected including a bunch of army guys who were nearby and the taxi driver’s big boss (who showed up in a shinny new Mercedes minutes after the collision).

Although the taxi driver had almost killed us all, he still wanted 10ringitt for driving us this far. After politely telling him that this was not going to happen, we got in another taxi, put on our seatbelts tightly, and proceeded to the airport just before check in closed.