Somebody I knew was driving from her course in the heart of KL back to her office. The rainy season in Malaysia has begun so most of the days you’ll be lucky to see a sunny day. She left the IStana Hotel early to beat the normal traffic, and managed to escape KL and on her way back to the main highway before 4.30pm.
On a normal day, she would be speeding and terrorizing the streets. I’ll never know why, but this time she didn’t do more than 80 km/hour. Perhaps she thought that there is no need to hurry since the worse (KL jam) is over…or at least she escaped it.
At 40 km/hour, as she turned this sharp bend, either she was sleepy, hallucinating or her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she realized that her car was veering towards the opposite side of the road and toward the divider. Over the divider would be a very steep ravine.
Quickly (or irrationally), she stepped on the brakes and the car spun out of control. She could feel herself being swung around as the spun. She wasn’t aware of her actions but she might have have steered the wheel to the left to prevent from crashing into the divider and plunging into the endless ravine, because then she saw that her car was charging towards this mountain.
From the windshield, she saw the mountain coming closer (or her car heading towards the mountain) and knew it would be a head-on collision. Since there was nothing else she could do (in that few seconds), she just closed her eyes, prayed and waited for the bang. She knew this would be IT.
Ka BA BOOOOM!!!! (Kepala Meletup)
She opened her eyes. To her amazement and relief, her car had slammed to the mountain wall on its right side and not from the front. A portion of the car was stuck in the big drain next to the wall (the drain actually cushioned the crash. If not for the drain, the impact would have been worse).
Not believing her fate, she unfastened her seatbelt, put the gear into park, and switched off the engine. She scrambled to get out of the car fearing it might blow up. As she struggled, a kind gentleman opened the door (bear in mind half the car was in the air as the other half was in a drain). He helped her out. People began to crowd and helped her. One man asked, " do you have anybody whom you can call?"
Then, the lady broke down in tears as she could not believe how close she was to death. She could have easily plunged into the ravine, or got herself killed if there was a head-on collision with the mountain.
She was shaking, speechless and ghostly white. Amazingly, she did not sustain any serious injuries except for shock, scratches and bruises. Of course, there is the painful neck, head and body ache that followed.
The gentlemen advised her not to stay at the "popular crash spot" as it was dangerous. Although she didnt feel like driving, they encouraged her to drive while they followed her from behind. The gentleman’s daughter even rode with her to keep her company.
Soon after her accident, she discovered that her ex-colleague had passed away earlier that morning. He suffered an undisclosed kidney problem. Unbelievable. There could have easily been 2 sad news.
The lady in the story is now resting and recuperating from a traumatic experience. She is grateful for the second chance at life, and determined to lead an improved life.
The moral of the story:
If the road is slippery and you lose control of your car, do not press the brakes even though that would be a first thought, almost a reflex action. Alternatively, just control the steering wheel. Pressing the brakes would definitely result in the car spinning like a gasing, especially if you drive ultra light cars.
-asma wan- signing off
