More Driver Ed.

I guess I really don't have a great deal to talk about these days, so it appears that road conditions are mostly on my mind. Talking about the weather when one is bored is not really an option here. It is hot, it is sunny, it is rainy and then the cycle begins again.

Now, for the Driver Ed.

Lately, it has been a challenge navigating the highway, or shall we say, Jalan Kota Tinggi or whatever community it passes. I should be delighted, they are re-surfacing the road, so that hopefully the true monsoon season will not have us all falling into potholes that would swallow up a cow.   But, ranting seems to be what I am proficient at, so here goes.

When coming upon a blind curve; which is inevitable on the roads here, it is very efficient to mark this with a loss of lane sign to prepare the nutbars who want to always be first in line to jockey for position. There is no need to indicate which lane is ending or for that matter, even better if you indicate the wrong lane.  Watching the scrambling that occurs as a result of misinformation regarding which lane ends can have you laughing and talking about what you saw for days.

Choose A or B.  Circle your answer.

A.  Be sure to erect a sign like this if the left lane will disappear around the corner.

B. Be sure to erect a sign like this if the left lane will disappear around the corner.

Perhaps you find this trivial and picky.  However, put yourself behind a wheel and join half of the state in a free-for-all on the highway that consists of blind corners and various other road hazards along the way.  Now, approach a blind corner with both lanes - that is correct, there are only two lanes, not three - filled as close to bumper to bumper you can get without colliding, and then think that the right lane is going to end because you saw a sign just like option A above.  It comes as quite a surprise when you and everyone else has jockeyed to the left lane to guarantee your spot in the traffic jam when you quickly discover that the left lane is actually the one discontinued.  If you stay there, you will be playing chicken with a steam roller. Who wins that one?

I guess we should be happy they are giving any warnings at all, however,  this new signage they have offered is kind of generic and definitely saves the money to produce two - one for left and one for right lane warnings. They are telling us something, just not the full message.  They must be thinking, 'yup a lane will end, but what the heck, we never told you any of that information in the past, so count your blessings that we even considered any warning at all'.

For those who need further training: