Today you have pain, tomorrow you will have joy.

This morning (19^th of Feb 2009) I had the privilege to ride a motorcycle on the Penang Bridge from the mainland to the Penang Island. The Penang bridge requires the users to pay a toll of RM7.00 (the payment is only collected at mainland side).

You may ask what is so special about riding a bike on the Penang bridge.

You would agree with me when I tell you that you will be able to witness a great phenomenal reality framed in time. Exact to the words I used, the scenario was indeed a framed picturesque.

About 2 kilometers before reaching the toll booths, we can see lines of vehicles queuing up. You must note all the details here. When I say lines it doesn’t mean straight lines but a little jagged. Okay, I can hear those who use the bridge on daily basis will not agree with the term jagged, they prefer to say “interlaced” lines……in simple English, it means vehicles cutting into other lanes indiscriminately ….. you want a more appropriate word….erratically. There are 20 toll booths. Simple maths, you should have 20 lanes, but in Malaysia “toll collection” technology”, we have 7 lanes with 20 booths. It is neither innovative nor extraordinary but, rather a practical way of making you feel that you are moving fast, where in fact you are at the same place for a very long time.

After paying the toll, the 7 lanes magically become 2 lanes. This is where you will find your “squeeze yourself” skill come into play. You will see small cars tip toeing in between 2 big vehicles. At one moment I was wondering whether the small car was actually small or it became small after being squeezed by the big vehicles.

With all the acrobatic maneuvers, you will see victorious drivers smiling when they take the lead and enter into the 2 lanes.

This is the normal life you will see on the Penang Bridge, but this morning it was quite different. I am sure all have heard about the bridge expansion project. They are building the 3^rd lane. At the mainland area, there is an approximate 2-3 kilometers of 3^rd lane ready for use. This morning the short span of the 3^rd lane was opened. Yet, the vehicles were queuing up and to be specific, it was even worse than the normal days.

This is where my privilege of going on the bike prevailed. I managed to dance using my bike and swam through the thick piles of vehicles with a smoothness of a silkworm. Throughout the path till I reach the toll booths, I saw very little movement of the vehicles. Simple logic, there must be something holding everyone at the other side of the bridge.

My bike was still breathing well and had youthful energy to dance and swim again. From the 7 lanes area, I am now at the new 3^rd lane area. I was indeed very proud to be on the newly built 3^rd lane. My thoughts paused and thought for a while, why aren’t the vehicles moving even with the opening of the 3^rd lane? To know the answer, I know that I had to move forward.

As I moved further I saw the 3^rd lane coming to an end I can see the vehicles merging into the old 2 lanes. Although this can be a cause of the slow traffic, I still thought there should be another better (worse) reason. After traveling another 4 kilometers, the 2 lane traffic was forced to merge and be 1 single lane. And this is the main reason why the entire traffic on the Penang bridge was damn slow.

I wonder whether the contractors were trying to equal the equation, you add the 3^rd lane in the front and deduct 1 lane from the existing 2 lanes in order to make the equation equal. Not to disturb the “ying yang” of the bridge I guess.

I was fortunate to be on the bike today and not as frustrated as the guys in the vehicles that were either not moving or just moved a little. Since I was always moving, I didn’t feel the boredom that could lead to frustration, anger and violence.

I can smile and write this with cheers because I could see the entire scenario from the beginning to the end. I hope we all can bear these kind of frustrations a little longer till they get the entire 3^rd lane opened completely.

If you add something, then you should subtract something…..to make it equal.

Today you have pain, tomorrow you will have joy.

By the way, the picture of the Penang Bridge is a dream situation which every user would like to see.

Subra

The least respected colour in Malaysia

All of us travel a lot on the road everyday. We come across many traffic lights. Traffic lights are a communicating tool. The colour of the light indicates to us on what to do. Simple enough, "RED" means we should come to a complete stop before the line marker or right behind the vehicle which is before the line marker. "GREEN" you can move your vehicle to your desired direction. Sometimes you will see arrowed "RED" and "GREEN", which means the same except it only applies to the direction indicated by the arrow.

Then there is another colour called by so many names.... "AMBER", "ORANGE", "YELLOW" and so on. We name it as "YELLOW". This yellow comes after the green. It means, slow down your vehicle and get ready to stop. In some places, yellow comes after the red too. It means, get ready to move your vehicle.

Anyhow the "YELLOW" that comes out after the green has been abused terribly. Once we see the green vanishing and the yellow emerging, we press the accelerator harder that anything and we usually beat F1 drivers' over-taking speed. Even some of us have "turbo-charged" engine that cannot be stopped once we have pressed the accelerator. In aviation it is called as "V1" signal ; take-off cannot be aborted. Most of the traffic light system doesn't have the yellow coming after after the red (or before the green). Most of us will look for the yellow on the other side's traffic light. Once we see the yellow light for theother lane, we start to move our vehicle (not getting prepared to move the vehicle but move the vhicle itself).

We will come to an understanding that we will be ready to forgive the abuse of the "YELLOW" when we see how the "RED" is disrespected totally.

In today's situation in Malaysia, the "RED" light in the traffic light system means,

• Stop or
• Slow down
• Look for any policeman, if none, proceed to go
• Strictly don't bother about the road user who has the "GREEN" traffic light signal

You can see this happening at almost every traffic lights, regardless of heavy traffic or not. Motorcyclists have never been bothered about the "RED" light at the traffic lights. Nowadays, even car drivers are also following this trend. Just try to count the number of happenings when you are on road today.

The worst which I cannot digest is the one at Jalan Heng Choo Thian & Jalan Bagan Luar junction. The Butterworth Police Station is just adjacent to this junction and yet many motorist beat the "RED" and move on. It seems that none are bothered about the police station nearby.

Anyhow, I think that the police are still respected in some way but the least respected colour in Malaysia is RED light.

Subra