In my last blog post, I wrote about one of my driving student who was working as a night club bouncer in Johore Bahru back in the 1970s. I told the story of how my student drove so fast our highway police could not catch up with him. Luckily he was not charged because back then, our Malaysian police do not have the necessary tool to measure the excessive speed he was driving.

The situation today is very much different. Malaysian police today are using the latest equipment to nab motorists who speed. They have the help of H.D. or high definition cameras!

Speed cameras called LT120-20 Tru which are said to be capable of capturing very sharp images are being used. If can even show clearly registration numbers of speeding vehicles.

Malaysian motorists who are caught speeding along our expressway, have all along challenged the police and J.P.J. summons issued. Even in the courts, there is not enough conclusive evidence to prove that a motorist has been speeding. All these will end soon.

Tens of thousands of the 285,000 motorists found speeding within the last four months of 2011, have been caught by the newly acquired 5 H.D. cameras and other 36 laser speed detectors.

Permit me to unfold to you some of the TruCam specifications and you will know what I mean. Then, decide for yourself whether you can escape from its clutches or otherwise. The LT120-20 TruCam sophisticated specifications include:-

i. Speed range: 0km/h – 320km/h

ii. Temperature range: 10°C – +60°C

iii. Maximum distance: 1,200m

iv. Measurement time: 0.33 seconds

v. H.D. image of speeding vehicle is captured and its speed detected using laser technology.

vi. The image of the offender’s vehicle is cropped out of the original picture, attached to the summons and sent to the vehicle owner.

The LT120-20 TruCam is said to be able to identify vehicle make and its model, license plate number and driver’s plus passenger’s characteristics. All these are good evidences which the courts will need to pin you down for the offence that you have committed.

The U.S. made LT120-20 TruCam, is reputed to cost approximately US6,000 (RM17,000). Summonses captured by the above unit, is normally despatched to the offender within 7 days of the offence being committed along with the captured images.

J.P.J. advised that initially offenders are sent reminders to contact the authorities concerned for an interview with them to verify the authenticity of the summonses. A failure to heed the above advice will result in a RM200 penalty. The final follow up procedure will be hauling the offender to court eventually.

In conclusion, it is believed that some 2,375 motorists are caught speeding in Malaysia everyday. With the LT120-20 TruCam it appears that the days for Malaysian motorists who fancy speeding along our highways and expressways dangerously are indeed numbered.

Your waterloo so to say, has finally arrived. Like Napoleon Bonaparte, who lost to Admiral Lord Nelson in 1815, your “D” day is imminent. Hurrah for the LT120-20 TruCam recorder!

The authorities especially the Police and the J.P.J. should buy more of them! They say the ends justify the means. TruCams may be expensive. But eventually, it will go on to save a lot of lives.

In the 1970s, I recall teaching a Mr Lim. What this student’s full name is, I have since forgotten. Mr Lim was then in his forties. In reality, the above student already possessed a driving license.

Through sheer neglect and indifference, Mr Lim’s driving document became null and void. He had permitted it to lapse for more than 3 years. As a result, Lim had to do a retest to get back his driving license.

Mr Lim, I remember was then living next to Pui Ying Primary School along 4th mile, Kapar Road, Klang. Although staying with his wife and children at the above address, Lim worked as a bouncer in a nightclub in Johore Baru, near Singapore. Lim went on to tell me, he used to travel rather frequently to Johore Baru in his red 2000 c.c. Mitsubishi car.

In many of my conversations with Mr Lim, this student of mine told me something which I found hard to believe. Lim said, he could travel from Kuala Lumpur to Johore Baru in less than 2 hours. Taking into consideration the fact that the distance from K.L. to Johore Baru is approximately 250km and that the maximum speed limit of our national expressway is 110km/h, my friend Lim must have been speeding away at speeds of over 180km/h to achieve the above feat.

This student told me a story which I feel should be related to all my blog readers. Once Lim said he left Kuala Lumpur at about 2.00 pm, he was in fact late and in hurry to get to Johore Baru. This time around, Lim was speeding as usual well over 180km/h.

At Nilai, a small town approximately 60 – 70 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur, police personnel manning a road there, were unable to stop Mr Lim who was travelling excessively fast that day. My student had in fact sped past the police, even before they could take out their pens to record his car registration number.

The police in Nilai then radioed their counterparts in Seremban about the speeding red car of Mr Lim. Students who are familiar with Malaysian towns well, should know that Seremban is more or less 120km from Kuala Lumpur.

As the story unfolds, Mr Lim who was travelling very fast that afternoon in excess of no less than 200 km/h. I believe he was once again not stopped by the police authorities at Seremban. The police were becoming rather apprehensive. They now suspected that Lim must be ferrying drugs in his car. If not, why has Lim chosen to go so fast and had refused to stop at police road blocks set up for him thus far?

The police authorities then contacted their counterparts, this time at Gemas to stop Lim. Gemas as far as I’m aware is approximately 150km from Kuala Lumpur. This time around, the police felt that by hook or by crook, my friend Lim had to be stopped at Gemas and at all costs.

A road block was immediately set up at Gemas. I was told the police spread a spikes barrier across the entire road to prevent Mr Lim from getting across the road block laid out.

At Gemas, Lim found the road block and steel spikes barrier too much for him to handle. With pistols drawn, the police stopped Lim’s car and ordered him to disembark. Lim was asked to stand astride, put his hands on his car bonnet while the police frisked him thoroughly.

The police in fact found nothing. Lim was not carrying any drugs whatsoever. Although Lim was speeding away from Kuala Lumpur to Gemas at speeds well over 200 km/h that day, the police at that time did not possess sophisticated ray guns to record the speed at which he was travelling. The police therefore could not cite Lim for the offence of speeding.

Lim was set free. The police had no evidence that my friend, Mr Lim was indeed speeding on that particular day.

However, if the above incident which be felled Lim way back in the 1970s had happened today, the above incident would not have taken place. I will therefore have no opportunity to tell readers about it today.

It was just a matter of time. What happened recently, was bound to happen. While other countries such as America, Australia, England and even China have introduced the electric car or better known as E.V., into their markets, Malaysia was still lacking far behind.

To date, there are a few companies in Malaysia that have introduced the hybrid cars here. Examples of companies that have done that include Toyota Motors, Ford Motors, and Honda Motors Malaysia. Hybrid cars run on a combination of conventional engines and petrol. Honda’s Insight and Toyota’s Prius are two examples of hybrid cars that have made headway into our Malaysian market.

For a fairly long time now, the Malaysian authorities have been troubled with the problem of global warming. This has led to Proton Malaysia to come up with a range of eco-friendly test vehicles. Two electric vehicles that were introduced into Malaysia recently include the Saga E.V., which is designed for zero CO² emission and the Exora Reev (Range Extended Electric Vehicle). The later is specifically designed to reduce fuel consumption as well as CO² emission.

It should be noted here that the 2 above mentioned cars namely the Saga E.V. and the Exora Reev were produced as a result of co-operation between Proton Malaysia and the British company of Fraser Nash Research Limited. Work on the Exora Reev commenced as early as 2004. For the Saga E.V., work on it started approximately in 2008.

A few interesting things about the Saga E.V. and the Exora Reev include:-
i. The Saga E.V. has no internal combustion engine.

ii. The Exora Reev has a small engine of 407cc capacity. The Kancil has a 660cc engine.

iii. The Saga E.V. can travel 120km on a full charge.

iv. On the other hand, the Exora Reev is capable of doing 700km on a full charge and a full tank of petrol of 23 litres.

Furthermore, both of the above 2 cars are supplied with Lithium ion batteries. It takes some 6 – 8 hours to charge them. It also uses a normal household 13 amps plug to do the charging. While the Exora Reev is a 7 seater vehicle, the Saga E.V. is said to be a 5 seater sedan. Just like MyVi, Kelissa and Altis.

And now, we arrive at the most important thing regarding the electric vehicles recently introduced into our country. The “price”!

The Exora Reev being a 7 seater is expected to cost anything around RM70,000 and RM100,000. The Saga E.V. is expected to be sold at around RM70,000. It might get cheaper as time goes by.

Without a doubt, both the Saga E.V. and the Exora Reev are 30% – 40% more expensive than the current conventional cars. But buyers must remember a few things, they save on fuel and road taxes and are also said to be relatively cheaper to maintain.

A grand total of 9 cars have been handed over to the Government for initial tests. In the meantime, it would take at least 2 years for the Saga E.V. and the Exora Reev to be mass produced. In the meantime, the public will have to be patient.

The Ministry of Transport on the other hand has put amendments to the Road Transport Act 1987 on hold. Hybrid cars as well as fully electric cars such as the Exora and Saga E.V. will therefore have to wait a little wee bit longer to know its fate.

Although the 2 models of electric cars namely the Saga E.V. and the Exora Reev are said to be eco-friendly and does not pollute the atmosphere, users in our country, Malaysia should not jump with joy too soon over its introduction. Without a doubt, the price of petrol is currently very high here. That it will go up even higher in the near future is without saying a possibility.

But what Malaysians should be asking is “will electric cars solve our problem?” Electricity bills today represent one of the highest household items most consumers have to pay each and every month. Most households in Malaysia today pay a sum of at least RM150 to RM350 for the use of electricity. Some are said to pay even higher rates. It’s an expensive commodity.

Electric cars as one is aware have to be charged nightly for a span of 6 to 8 hours. Calculate it for a month and you will surely be able to decipher how much your electricity bill will escalate every month.

Therefore, what I like to remind you is, are electric cars going to be an answer to our soaring problem of high fuel prices? Think about it carefully and make your own decision for yourselves.

The second problem which Malaysians should contemplate is this. Most Malaysians live or stay in single or double storey terrace houses. There might be some who are lucky enough to own semi-D, bungalows or bigger houses with gardens and spacious lands around it.

Contemplate for a moment, if you happen to own an electric car in the near future, and you also own a single storey terrace house with a porch, which is only capable of accommodating one single automobile in it, whereas your family owns three to four vehicles, can you envisage the problem you’ll face trying to charge your electric car for a span of 6 – 8 hours every night?

Before concluding this short article on electric cars, permit me to provide you with another hypothesis to ponder about. Assuming that you will be going to another town, and you will be residing in a well known hotel there, your vehicle will normally be parked in the hotel basement car park. And your car needs to be charged for at least 6 – 8 hours for it to be used for your journey back home to Kuala Lumpur the following next day.

Permit me to ask you one pertinent question. How do you then solve your above problem? Unless hotel management and other large organizations prepare themselves to be equipped with 13 amps 3 pin plugs in their basement car parks, without a doubt, we Malaysians will be faced with a rather massive headache on our hands when electric cars come along.

Any new introduction or invention will always have its pros and cons. While feeling elated and excited over the introduction of electric cars into our country, we should as a matter of fact, think about the difficulties and problems that may accompany it.

America for example, has taken steps to build battery charging stations for electric cars all over the country. Petrol stations, service stations, supermarkets and so forth are all being prepared for the day when electric cars will make its appearance there.

It won’t be long before electric cars are introduced on a large scale here. We should be in fact been taking the same concrete steps to meet this problem head along now itself.