When compared to the world’s largest producers of automobiles, such as Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Subaru, Renault, Honda etc. Proton Malaysia maybe a small and insignificant maker of world cars. Nevertheless, “little things” do sometimes go on to achieve great strides.

One of Proton’s latest green or “electric” cars, the Proton Exora REEV won in the “most energy efficient multi purpose vehicle” category at the 2011 Future Car Challenge, held in London. Readers may wish to know exactly, what is REEV? REEV actually denotes Range Extended Electric Vehicle.

The Proton Exora REEV, was declared as the joint-winner with Toyota’s Prius plug in petrol hybrid as the best overall range extended vehicle. All in all, some over 70 vehicles, half of which were running on electricity, took part in a race which started in Brighton, England.

The latest race was said to be organized by the Royal Automobile Society (RAC). But unlike other previous races held, the “Future Car Challenge” competition was not about finishing first. Rather, the above race organized by the RAC or Royal Automobile Club of England, was intended to confirm and verify which vehicle could use the least amount of energy to cover the distance of 92 km, which started in Brighton, which is located at the southern tip of England.

For your information, the Proton Exora REEV is an electric vehicle that is developed in co-operation between Proton Malaysia limited and Frazer Nash Research limited of England.

Both the Proton Exora REEV and the Proton Persona REEV, are reported to be powered by a 70 kW motor which is backed up by a small petrol engine, which kicks in with the sole purpose of recharging the lithium ion battery pack. As a matter of fact, the Proton Exora REEV was declared as the eventual winner in 2010 in augural challenge of the Future Car Challenge.

The win by Proton REEV in 2011 surprised all quarters including Proton Malaysia itself. Datuk Nainuddin Che Din, Proton’s Project Manager, said that Proton Malaysia was rather confident of doing well in this year’s competition.

In the meantime, Proton’s Managing Director, Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Mohamed Tahir declared that he was more than thrilled with Proton Exora REEV’s win this year.

Fraser Nash’s director for regional operations, Mr Gordon Dixon, reiterated that Proton’s win proved that his company’s faith in electric vehicles which are in fact, he said, platforms for the future.

Proton Malaysia meanwhile, announced that electric cars by Proton, will be made available to the general public by the year 2013. Hurrah for Proton’s success and achievement. All Malaysians are indeed proud of your achievement.

5 of Proton’s “green” vehicles of the Proton Exora and Persona Series are currently being tested by a few governmental departments of the Malaysian government. The results will be known shortly.

Proton Malaysia’s latest success in Brighton, England, will go a long way in making both the EXORA REEV and the PERSONA REEV and tremendous success in a few years’ time. This augurs well in Malaysia’s attempts towards building a better and cleaner environment all rounds.

In my last article, I wrote about why young Malaysian drivers get into road accidents. Youngsters nowadays think that they are invincible, thus they tend to drive recklessly on the road.

Allow me to quote to you a true life situation which happened to me not too long ago. A “P” driver who is only 17 years old recently obtained his license to drive. The said driver has posed me with a perplexing question.

The driver Tan E.S. wants to know if he can drive to Singapore with a friend sitting beside him. Tan took the normal lessons of 10 – 14 hours tuition under me. The above is the normal number of driving tuition lessons most young students undergo these days.

Personally, if you should ask me, “P” license holders who are hardly 17 or 18 years of age are still not competent enough and are therefore not yet ready to be driving along expressways, highways and lebuhraya of our country. Therefore, the Karak Highway, the North – South Expressway, and the East – West Highway are all beyond the reaches of a novice “P” or probationary drivers. Parents should keep in mind this tip.

To gain valuable experiences, what do I then recommend? As an experienced lecturer on safety courses for would be drivers, I would like advise and also insist that students and new drivers:

i) Initially drive in the vicinity of their housing estates or kampung (village).

ii) One should travel only to nearby towns in the beginning after they have attained their driving licenses to secure valuable experience. For instance, if a student should be living in Klang, Selangor, he or she can gain experience driving to nearby places such as Pelabuhan Klang, Kapar Town, Shah Alam, Meru and Kota Kemuning nearby.

Only after that a “P” driver can then travel to further places like Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Selangor. But the sad thing is that, not many parents would heed this instructor’s advice.

Referring to my student, Tan E.S., who wanted to know if it is alright for him to drive to Singapore on his own, albeit with a passenger friend accompanying him, what do I feel regarding Tan’s proposal?

Did I agree to Tan’s proposal to drive to Singapore? Obviously not! Why, you may wish to know, have I decided to disagree with Tan’s proposal?

The reasons I gave Tan in rejecting his idea were:-

i) A person who has just turned 17 and has just received his “P” or probational driving license, hasn’t got the experience to drive to Singapore yet. Anyway, it is just too dangerous to carry out such an unthinkable suggestion.

ii) Readers should also not forget that family cars which are to be driven by “P” holders are sometimes big cars with cc capacity of well over 2000cc or more. For example, a Toyota Innova or Honda Accord are vehicles which are all over 2000cc or more.

The Mitsubishi Pajero for readers’ information is a 2,850cc vehicle. The Unser for example is 1800cc. These vehicles are considered huge compared to the usual small sized 660cc Kancil cars which are used by our driving schools or institutes today.

iii) Posh family cars, such as Toyota Camry, BMW 3 & 5 Series, Mercedes Benz, Toyota Alphard etc. are but other examples of large and high cc vehicles, which are normally driven by our novice “P” drivers in Malaysia. The inability to control such massive vehicles is an extremely dangerous thing, believe me!

iv) It should also be borne in mind that the above cars I’ve quoted as examples are not only powerful and of extremely high cc vehicles. They therefore should only be driven by people with lots of experience, especially along our expressways.

To end this article, let’s go back to the horrific accident which happened at KM 33.7 of the Johore Bahru-Mersing highway on Saturday 17th December 2011. The accident occurred, it is believed due to the young driver Ng Wei Tai, 17, losing control of his MPV vehicle before it crashed into a ditch on the left hand side of the road.

In the above tragic accident, 4 students lost their lives. Ironically, the driver himself survived the crash.

Ongoing investigations into the case, revealed a startling revelation. The young driver Ng had only obtained his driving license about 2 weeks before the accident. I have often times asked my students cheekily, “how many months were you in your mother’s tummy before she finally gave birth to you?” And my students mostly replied, “9 months or more”! I hope readers will be able to see the logic between the two comparisons raised by me.

I feel it is about time parents play a bigger role in order to prevent such unwarranted incidences from taking place in the near future. This article has laid out a couple suggestions for readers, especially parents to adhere to. Hopefully, something concrete and good can be achieved out of my suggestions.

Regarding this latest incident, Kota Tinggi O.C.P.D. Suprintendent Che Mahazan Aik said that the case was being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987. The above section happens to be the most serious offence which a driver can ever commit.

Section 41(1) carries with it a mandatory prison sentence, a hefty fine and the withdrawal or suspension of a driver’s license.

Meanwhile, motorists are all advised to be cautious whilst driving and most important of all, adhere strictly to speed limits which is suggested and allowed. As the Johore Road Safely Director, Noormazura Mat Nawi advised recently, “teens who are new drivers should particularly not drive without being accompanied by more experienced drivers by their side”.

The director went one step further. She advised parents of these young drivers to also prevent their children from driving long distances without being supervised by experienced drivers!

I have been instructing students how to drive since 1970. That works out to be 42 years. In Malaysia today, most students who take up a driving course, usually end up taking a total of 8 to 16 hours of tuition.

Regarding the above course, there exists a few questions which readers might wish to inquire about. Amongst the questions the public would most probably wish to ask are:-

i) Is the above course sufficient enough to produce drivers who are capable to drive competently?

ii) Does one feel that present day drivers or probational drivers are driving too fast especially along our expressway! As a result, many tragic accidents seem to be happening again and again.

iii) Are the current driving school or institute syllabuses adequate to deal with the current rate of accidents taking place in our country?

Many people including myself hold the opinion that young students who have just obtained their “P” or probational driving licenses are believed to be:-

a) Driving too fast along our expressways. Some are believed to be driving well over 70km/h to 80km/h or even more.

b) It should be kept in mind that students who have just obtained their driving licenses have yet to attain their 18th birthday as yet. They are therefore still immature and very inexperienced.

c) Being hardly 18 years of age, most are believed to be unaware about the potential dangers of modern cars and are therefore incapable of driving safely and competently.

My hypothetical question which I wrote in another article in this blog, entitled “Should the Permissible Age of Obtaining a Car Driving License Be Raised to 18?”

However, this article has received many negative responses from parents and other quarters. Other recommendations which I have made rather frequently include as an experienced driver, parents should see to it that their children who have just recently obtained their driving licenses should be strictly supervised by them closely.

In short, the first few years of a person’s “P” or probational license period has to be monitored closely by their parents. At least for the first two years of the probational period, a constant parental observation has to be rendered.

What in reality do I propose? Obviously, I personally feel parents love their children or siblings too much. This prevents them following my well-intended suggestions.

Why do so many young drivers seem to be involved in accidents these days? Many young people seem to be involved in many accidents maybe because:-

i) Parents fail to realize or are unaware of the fact that their children or siblings are just only 17 years old. Most important of all, they seem to be oblivious to the fact that their children are still inexperienced.

Youngsters should therefore be advised to drive carefully and most important of all, do not speed! To drive safely along our expressways or lebuhraya, ample experiences are indeed required.

ii) To drive along our expressways and lebuhraya, a driver should have the ability not only to drive well but also to realize or know what speeds actually suits them.

iii) In order to be able to negotiate a sharp corner well and safely, a driver has to use the correct gears (in cases of manual cars). Besides this, a driver’s braking techniques are also important too.

One also has to ensure that over-steering does not occur. Over-steering can possibly lead to extreme dangers as the vehicle can go out of control. All these requirements, I believe are all beyond the capabilities of a young and inexperienced driver.

In my next article, I will share my thoughts on the perils of inexperience young Malaysian drivers on the road.