Traffic in US vs. Malaysia

Talking about the gas price differences in Malaysia and US. It link me to the traffic system in these two countries.

Some people who have never visited Malaysia would never have idea how busy is Kuala Lumpur. They may think Malaysian are living on the trees or in the jungle. I remember I keep some photos I have taken with a baby elephant in Thailand before I came to US. When I show them to some of my friends from many different countries, I told them that's my pet at home in my country. And surprisingly, they do believe it! Huhh!!

And previously, one of Malaysian au pair in West coast of US was asked to rematch because the family claimed that they need an au pair from a big city who can drive very well. Oh shit!! See what these people think of my country. It is such a shame, isn't it? But after a while, I think it's not our shame but those who have no idea about Malaysia is. Probably they know only things that infront of their doorstep.

Well, there is still some people who know better about Malaysia. I am so glad that our formal Prime Minister Tun Datuk Dr. Mathir's contribution to Malaysia development. His vision created a lot of good names of Malaysia in the world. People knows about F1, Multimedia Super Corridor, Twin Tower (used to be 4th highest building in the world?), and so on. There is some of the aspect we should be proud of being a Malaysian.

But I really want to critic about the traffic system in Malaysia. As I can say, some of the road signs are not installed for the driver to check the direction. It is more for driver to check that they went into wrong exit. Why do I say so? There is some road sign placing either too close to the exit or even after the exit. It's just confusing! What for to place it after the exit? To check whether you drove in to the wrong exit? If you drive in Kuala Lumpur, you definately know how bad is the traffic especially in the morning when everybody rushing to work and leaving office in the evening. What is the real cause of these traffice jam and accidents? Is it because the country is too small but the vehicles on the road is overwhelming? Is this a problem without a solution and hopeless? I doubt how much effort do we put to at least reduce the problem. Could we improve the public transportation or something else? ....

As I'm here for the 5th month, I really love the traffic in US. The land is big and there have enough spaces to build huge highway. Some highways link to each other and some even started from the South to the North, from the West to the East across countries. The highways are really highway. You can enjoy speed driving at least up to 120mph! If you are driving at 65mph, probably you need to spare more hour on the road :)

The country road was so complicated when I first arrive. There is too many roads and if you don't familiar with that area, you will probably lost in the woods. But luckily the road map is so helpful as it is close to 100% details and accurate unless you get an outdated map. The little green road name plate is placing on every begining and end of the road. And the road directions signs are so clear and place at the right position. If you are going to a new place by checking on the map, you will not missed it if you follow the road sign.

Another aspect that surprise me is the efficiency of police in US. In the town I live, you can see the police patroling everywhere and hiding somewhere under the trees or the intersection like they are get ready to arrest those break the rules. So, if you want to speeding, you have to be careful and scanning every potential spot of police's 'favourite'. It's funny but it works well.

I used to be a tough driver in Malaysia but now I almost trained to be gentle. I may have problem to drive in Kuala Lumpur again... hahaa...