Today’s article is intended to talk about the rules and regulations for Malaysian driver if they are planning to drive in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Below is a list of 14 things they are expected to follow:

1) Drive on the left side of the road.

Malaysian drivers should have no problem at all with this. Malaysia, being a former colony of England, and ruled by the British until 1957, adopts the British form of driving. Therefore, drive like you usually do in Malaysia.

2) Roundabout, giving way to traffic from the right.

At roundabouts, give way to traffic coming from the right.

At traffic junctions, the right has the “right of way”, so they say. I assume there will be no problem at all here.

3) No drinking of alcoholic drinks allowed.

As in Malaysia, drivers are not allowed to consume alcohol drinks and drive. Malaysians are fully aware of the consequences of drinking and driving.

Again, no problem with regard to this requirement. It’s after all, a continuation of what Malaysians have been doing all along.

4) Speed limits required.

When driving in the U.K., there are certain speed limits one has to observe. In Malaysia, speed limits followed are:

i) School vicinity – 30km/h.

ii) Town limit – 50 km/h.

iii) Between towns – 60 km/h.

iv) Highways/ expressways – 90 km/h.

Keeping to roughly the same speed, as you normally do in Malaysia should keep you well within the laws of the United Kingdom.

5) Reporting all accidents within 24 hours.

Like they do in Malaysia, drivers have to lodge a police report within 24 hours of an accident. Failing to do so is an offense in the U.K. As they say, “Do like the Romans do when you’re in Rome”. Adopt the maxim and you should have no problem at all.

6) Overtaking in the right hand side.

Remember, as drivers, overtake only on the right. Do not overtake on the left because it is dangerous. Overtaking on the left, in case you are not aware is permitted only in extreme and necessary cases.

And only when the traffic in front of you is attempting to turn to the right. Only then can a driver overtake on the left.

7) No usage of mobile phones allowed.

While driving in the U.K., absolutely no usage of hand phones are allowed. You are advised to use hands free equipment. It’s supposed to be safer.

Malaysian, I gather will have no problem at all with this ruling. We, in fact have been practicing this all this while.

8) The permissible age of driving is 17 years for small vehicles and 21 years for large vehicles.

This I’m sure is not a problem as far as Malaysian drivers are concerned. For years, Malaysians have been drummed into their ears that no one is permitted to drive unless they are of age.

9) Time limit for driving in the U.K.

The period allowed for a Malaysian driver who wish to drive in the U.K., according to the Department of Vehicles Licensing Authorities (D.V.L.A.) of Swansea is 12 months.

After expiry of this period, Malaysian drivers should get a British provisional license out, follow all pertinent regulations and eventually secure a full British driving license.

10) Conversion to full British license.

Well, the story goes like this.

Malaysia it seems has a high rate of accidents. The 3rd highest in the world behind China and India. The British authorities, it appears are rather reluctant to accept Malaysian licenses for conversion.

But as I understand, certain designated countries like Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan, even Hong Kong can easily convert their domestic licenses into full British licenses.

Just too bad for Malaysians. Well, as they say, “you can’t win them all, can you?” Anyway, as a Malaysian, you are entitled to attempt getting a full British licenses on your own although it is not an easy task.

11) Inform the authorities if you’re suffering from any chronic illness or diseases.

As a driver, if you are suffering from any chronic illness or disease, the onus is on you as a responsible driver to inform the authorities about it.

12) 3rd party insurance policy.

As in Malaysia, a driver has to be covered by at least 3rd party insurance. That’s the law in the United Kingdom. So, should you intend to rent a car, see to it that you get the necessary required motor insurance unless you fancy being behind bars.

13) Maximum age limit for drivers is 70 years old.

If you are 70 years and below, you will have no problem at all driving in the U.K. After this age, special permission are required from the British driving license board.

In Malaysia, the Road Transport Department appears a bit laxed on this requirement. In Malaysia, you can continue to drive as long as you are still fit and capable.

But in England, remember, it is different altogether. So, the moment you reach the golden age of 70, the best advice you can be given by me is stop driving and take the underground train.

14) Bringing in foreign vehicles into U.K.

In case you are unaware, foreign vehicles, say from France or Germany can be brought into U.K. for a period of 6 months or 12 months. However, there are certain rules and regulations which you must abide with. Amongst them are:

i) All taxes (including excise duty) must be paid in its country of origin.

ii) Registered vehicles in the U.K. should display the vehicle excise license.

iii) All vehicles over 3 years old should be submitted to the Road Transport Authority for an examination or test.

It is not possible in any article to touch upon every aspect you may face in a foreign country. For that, I do apologies.

However, if you should face any problems not covered by this article, you are advised to contact the D.V.L.A. at Swansea, England, for their assistance.

Happy and safe driving to all drivers, especially Malaysian origins in the United Kingdom!

Basically, there are 3 types of visitors who land up in the United Kingdom (U.K.). They are:

i) Those who come to U.K. on social visit staying on for a short period of time only.

ii) Students who arrive in the U.K. to attend some courses in universities or colleges.

iii) Those who visit U.K. for a longer period of time, say a year or so.

All 3 categories of Malaysian drivers at times require to drive in the U.K.

This is because transport will be a major problem for them. To be able to drive oneself around, will not only be cheaper and less hassle is involved, it is more convenient in the long run.

As a reminder, Malaysians who wish to drive in the U.K. should ensure their licenses are:

i) Valid, meaning not expired.

ii) Have their licenses translated into English. As our Malaysian licenses are normally in Bahasa Malaysia, a translated license would assist the British authorities and the police tremendously.

iii) See to it that you are covered with a minimum 3rd party insurance.

As mentioned earlier on, those going over to the United Kingdom as students or on social visits can continue using their Malaysian driving licenses.

However, those categories of people, assuming that a person has been posted in the U.K. to work will obviously be there for a longer period of time. In this case, a Malaysian would therefore ideally be advised to obtain an International Driving License (I.D.L.) issued normally by the Road Transport Department in Kuala Lumpur.

In normal circumstances, a Malaysian driver arriving in the U.K. can drive with his Malaysian license without much problems. The police and transport authorities will pose no problems.

According to the Department of Vehicle Licensing Authorities (D.V.L.A.) Swansea, United Kingdom advised a foreign visitor can drive for a period of 12 months.

Malaysians who stay in U.K. longer than the stipulated period of time mentioned above are advised to then attempt to secure a full British license. Obviously, to do this, one has first to attempt getting a provisional or learner’s license.

To teach a young 17 year old student with no experience whatsoever how to drive is indeed a very formidable task to perform. It is like, expecting the driving instructor to do what David Copperfield does, make the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur disappear.

When I think about the above, which I have to do, it sometimes makes me wonder in amazement, how for over forty years, I was able to carry out this duty to my students.

Today, I will attempt to lay out the best manner to impart this knowledge to someone who wishes to take up driving. Before we continue further, remember that since 1st January 1970, the law stipulates, instructing someone who does not know how to drive is against the law and therefore illegal. You can easily be arrested by the police and the J.P.J. authorities.

Who then has the authority to teach new students in the art of driving?

The answer to this is the driving school or institutes instructor, and no one else.

The instructor, you should remember possesses the certificate to teach. This certificate, in the driving school arena is known as the S.M.2 certificate.

In spite of knowing the above, you may still wish, to say, teach your son or daughter how to drive. Well then, here goes regarding how best to impart the art of driving to your children.

The methods I would suggest to you are:

1) The 10 and 2 position to hold the steering.

Explain to the new driver, the hands are to be placed ideally at 10 and 2 position. The steering, advise the student, should be held firmly and not gripped too tightly.

Remember, in times of emergency, an instructor will have to swerve the steering to avoid collision. A student gripping on to the steering tightly, will prevent the instructor from reacting fast enough when dangerous situations occur.

Therefore, a good instructor should test the steering grip of the student by pushing the steering left to right, ensuring that it can rotate fairly easily.

You will be surprised how a 5 foot girl, when in fear, will hold on to the steering. And believe me, her strength is way much stronger for an adult instructor to handle.

2) Explain how to switch on the ignition key.

Many do not know how to switch on or start an engine. Therefore, the first thing a new student has to be taught is how to start a vehicle. Explain to the student, one has to turn the ignition switch 3 times to the right before a car can start.

Practice this 2 or 3 times. Do it a few times till you are satisfied that your student can actually start a car.

Why is this important?

Because if the car should stall suddenly, you as an instructor will not be able to re-start the car for her. With traffic following behind, the student is the only person who can solve the problem of a car stalling. She has to be able to re-start the engine herself.

You cannot help her as the ignition switch is too far and out of your reach. Hopefully, you get the idea of how vitally important you have to teach your new student how to start a car.

3) Explaining how to manipulate the signals or indicators.

Next, the necessity to explain how to manipulate the signals or the indicators. Show the new student that pushing the indicator left of downwards to the right, indicates the intention to go towards the right direction.

4) Adjusting the driver’s seat.

A new driver should be taught how to adjust the seating position. Show the new driver, using the left hand, that there’s a lever under the driver’s seat which controls the seat forward or backwards. The incline adjuster is located beside the right hip of the driver.

5) How to adjust the handbrake.

Adjusting the handbrake is important. Inform the new driver to install the handbrake, one has to pull up the lever. It’s the releasing of the handbrake that poses some difficulty.

To release the brake, firstly pull up the brakes half an inch, press the release button and leave the handbrake down.

6) The gears of a manual car.

To drive a manual car, one has to learn up where the gears are located. In most cars, there’s a diagram of the gear positions imprinted on the gear knob.

Teach the student the positions of gear 1 to 5 plus the free gear. Also inform the new student, that when wishing to engage any of the gears, you should step on the clutch.

As this is the first lesson, do not bother about the reverse gear. Leave the learning of this difficult gear for another lesson.

7) The horns.

Teach or show a new student where the horn is located. Some are in the centre of the steering stalk, while others are located at the side of the steering wheel.

8) The clutch, the brakes and finally the accelerator.

Explain the various important mechanism of the clutch, the brakes and the accelerator. Explain to the new driver which leg he or she has to use. If necessary, make a new driver learn by heart the positions of the gears.

Not knowing the exact position of each gear will cause difficulty when learning how to drive.

There are other items of a manual car to be learnt. But what I’ve demonstrated to you this far will be sufficient for you to drive a car. Other things and aspects of a car will be demonstrated to you at a later stage.

Hopefully, with the advice I have given will be able to assist you to teach someone you have or care for how to drive.

Woodworking 4 Home review – Reviewing John Metz’s Woodworking4Home guide.

i) Dribbling.

ii) How to trap a ball with your in step.

iii) How to head a ball.

iv) How to do a throw-in correctly.

v) How to conduct a corner kick.

Should you plan to become a teacher then, amongst the important skills you should learn up are:

i) The ability to write clearly and well on the blackboard.

ii) Have the capacity to teach well.

iii) To be able to draw would be a good asset.

iv) To tell good and interesting stories.

v) To be able to relate humorous jokes.

are some of the skills a good teacher should ideally possesses.

A potential student taking up a driving course should attempt to learn up some basic, good driving skills from his or her instructor.

Most students nowadays undergo a 10 or 16 hour driving course in Malaysia. Surprisingly, a British counterpart intending to take up a driving course has to undergo a minimum 40 lessons by a registered driving institution before he can even qualify to sit for his practical test.

As mentioned earlier, a potential candidate taking up a driving course in our country, Malaysia, has to attain some 8 to 10 skills. This will enable him to drive well, hopefully. All these, to be done in such a short duration, when compared to his British counterpart.

If you were to ask me, as a driving instructor since 1970, this tantamount to a very daunting, if not impossible task to achieve.

Whatever the odds maybe, as 10 to 16 lessons is the only amount of time an instructor has. We have no choice but to impart to the candidate the driving skills he should ideally be taught within this short span of time.

Skills in Bahasa Malaysia would be translated as “olahgerak-olahgerak” for the benefit of those who are competent in the National Language.

As mentioned, there are some 8 to 10 basic skills a student should learn up within a 8 – 16 lessons driving course. What are the skills are we talking about?

The skills are:

i) Entry from the road shoulder into the main road.

ii) Cruising along the highway.

iii) Moving in tandem with the road traffic.

iv) Crossing a junction.

v) Overtaking and being overtaken.

vi) Making a U-turn.

vii) Coming out from the centre of the road into a road shoulder.

viii) Side parking.

ix) Going up a slope.

Permit me to elaborate in more detail with regards to some of the skills that are required to be learnt.

1) Entry from the road shoulder into the main road.

This skill involves getting into a flow of traffic. A driver can be on a road shoulder, attempting to get into the main stream, from a side road attempting to enter the main stream, a car parked on a road shoulder trying to enter into the main stream, attempting to change lanes and attempting entry into a round-about.

2) Cruising along the highway.

Cruising along the highway means driving safely in the correct lane. The driver should be able t control his car well while maneuvering a sharp corner, driving well in all kinds of road surfaces, driving in bad surfaces, driving along road which are in poor condition, and driving on surfaces laden with deep craters and oil spillage.

Besides this, in emergency situations such as vehicle breaking down and accidents.

3) Moving in tandem with the road traffic.

The skill required here is the ability to control a vehicle safely and carefully in comparison to other vehicle. Other similar situations are also expected.

4) Crossing a crossing junction.

How does a driver ideally cross a cross junction?

To cross a normal junction, crossing a pedestrian crossing, a railway crossing, a crossing guarded by a security warden or police amongst some of the required skills expected to be learnt by a driver.

5) When overtaking and being overtaken.

How to overtake safely is one skill expected of a good driver too. Likewise what to do when being overtaken is another skill which a good driver should possess.

6) The skill of doing a U-turn.

The skill required is to drive back to the original position the driver came from. Other similar skills also involves reversing to do parking, doing 3 point turns and U-turns.

A new driver should master all the above skills as quickly as possible, as the ability to perform them will make you a good and proficient driver.

Why Is It So Many Students Fail In Their Slope, Side Parking and 3 Point Turn Aspect Of The Test

As many as 40 – 50 students from a total of 200, fail in their slope, side parking and 3 point turn of their practical test for Class D license each week.

A fellow instructor, who was having a conversation with me, wanted to know why so many students failed these parts of the test. Below are 5 answers provided by me to him.

1) The element of luck.

To be successful in business or exams, “luck” plays a great role. Some people say, if “Haley’s Comet” happens to be crossing by on the day you’re doing your test, well, obviously you are on your way to success.

Whether you believe in this concept or otherwise, is up to you.

2) Insufficient practice.

How many times have you actually done the above maneuvers? Two times? Three times?

The fact that you feel nervous, is a clear indication you have not learnt or practiced enough.

A student who has been provided sufficient time on the above procedures, will be confident.

3) Using a total new car for test.

Don’t forget, on test day, you are given a totally new car to do your test. New means a different car from the one you practiced in prior to your test.

You are actually not acclimatized or “used to” the car. So how on earth are you expected to perform well on test day?

Whether you get a new car or an old junk (if you’re unlucky) makes little difference. The fact is, you’re simply not used to the car you have to use on test day.

In such a situation, obviously, you are going to fare rather badly.

4) Condition of test differs completely from practice runs.

Students always remark, “I could perform well during practice days”. Well my dear friend, test days are not the same.

The tension you face on test day is different. The testers howling at you and the spectators witnessing all your actions. The nervousness in you and so forth all adds up to causing you to make simple, silly mistakes.

And what does all this amount to?

Of course, your failing, eventually.

5) Not having taken your breakfast prior to doing your test.

Many students make the mistake of not taking their breakfast prior to doing their test. You may think this may sound to be only a minor problem but a full stomach goes a long way in making you a confident person.

An empty stomach won’t be much help in helping you pass your test.

To be successful in your parking aspects of your practical test, slope and 3 point turn, you need lots of ample practice and as said earlier, also a little bit of luck as well.

Well then, best of luck.

To Coast Or Not To Coast, That’s The Question

The question of fuel has always been a contention amongst drivers. Certain latest brands of cars are of “hybrid” models. Hybrid cars run on a combination of battery power and petrol.

Drivers around the world have tried ways and means to save on petrol. That brings us to the question our blog readers have asked regarding what’s called “coasting”.

Basically, it is meant to mean “putting the car in free gear” and allow the car to roll along. Experts on fuel consumption seem to agree to the notion that doing this saves fuel.

So as the question has been asked, let us attempt to tackle the solution.

Whether it is correct to coast or roll along as we drive is another factor altogether.

There are a few situations where one can safely do the above. Let’s say you have accelerated and picked up speed, going into 3rd gear. Then you see a roundabout ahead. 20 – 30 cars are lining up at the traffic light. It would be ridiculous, to me at least to change into 4th gear and charge along towards the jam that’s ahead. You’ll surely agree to my line of thought.

So, what does one do in such a situation? Any sane thinking person, without saying, should actually put the gear in neutral and coast along.

What we are actually doing is, using the momentum of the car to roll along in free gear until the point we have to stop.

The vehicle running along by itself, would most definitely not consume any fuel or petrol. Get the idea?

Therefore, this method of driving or coasting as some call it, will eventually consume less petrol. Try it yourself once in a while. The you can always let me know the difference in your monthly petrol bill.

Actually, you have nothing to lose anyway.

Coasting At The Toll Plaza

Another example regarding where you can try my suggestion of coasting is the “toll plaza”.

Rushing or driving along towards a toll plaza, you see 40 – 50 cars lining up. Build up your speed to 40 -50 km/h. But you know, it is of no use. You eventually have to wait at least 5 – 10 minutes anyway.

It is of any use of you speeding along in such a fast speed? The answer is again no! So we wise by friend.

The next time, when you see a long que of cars at any toll plaza, do the right thing. Think of the amount of fuel or petrol that you would be wasting if rush ahead to the toll plaza, as if the world is about to come to an end.

You behavior, I would compared it to being “crazy”. Please excuse my words. But, if the truth hurts, well, that’s the way it is.

So again, my dear friend, do the correct and wise thing. Put your car in neutral or free gear, use your momentum that you have already gained, roll along smoothly.

Believe me, you’d certainly be saving a lot of your monthly petrol bill.

Anyway, I’m certain you can think for yourself my suggestion. As they say a “suggestion either remains to be taken or chucked away, anyway”.

Let me quote you on another example before this short article comes to an end. If you are a regular visitor to Genting Highlands resort, you’ll surely know what I mean.

At certain stretches along, at times, for a few kilometers. This is where you have the opportunity to use this idea of mine into practice. Put the car again in neutral of free gear, coast or roll along, careful with the brakes, controlling the speed as when necessary, and you can cost roll along.

The car going downhill by itself. Who knows, by doing this, you might very well end up recovering your earlier misfortune at the casino.

But there appears one thing I must advise you. Do not do it during the rain! Or even immediately after the rain.

Believe me, the road downhill is tremendously slippery and treacherous. I have myself seen, on numerous occasion, express buses landing up in the ravines.

“Suggest” I may, but I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your landing up in the ditches.

Good bye and drive carefully.

Related web pages:

1) What is hybrid vehicles?

2) Hyper milling – act of driving using techniques that maximize fuel economy