You would think that since it's 7.30pm and well beyond the craze of rush hour that you'll be driving home in smooth traffic. Wrong. That may be possible if you're living somewhere other than KL. If yesterday was Friday, and it was raining and there was traffic, I would've been more understanding and I would've been more forgiveable. It was Wednesday! What was the excuse of my usual half an hour to 45 minute trip eventually leading to a two-hour trip? Rain! The three major problems with traffic in KL is:
No 1: Rain. All you need is a slight drizzle and just ONE car to slow down because they're afraid and that creates a major two-hour crawl.
No 2: Accident. If the sun is shining, or the night is clear, and there's no reason for you to be slowing down, expect an accident up ahead. Sometimes it's not even a car accident. Sometimes all you need is two motorcycles parked off to the side of the road WITHOUT blocking traffic for there to be people slowing down and looking at the havoc outside. Yes, I understand that sometimes major accidents happen and traffic will build up. But explain to me when all I see when I, stupid enough to slow down and look as well, is just ONE GUY, who may or may not be hurt, with two motorcycles parked to the side and the other guy on the phone. Yes I understand human interest. But COME ON! There are so many other interesting things going on in this world! MOVE ON!
No 3: Traffic police. I don't know if they really do believe that they're doing a good job or whether they actually have a useful function during rush hour traffic, but why oh why do they need to always hold one side for nearly TEN minutes (and it's usually the side that I'm on) and letting them go for a mere minute? The other side seems to be constantly moving, even when there are only two cars and a motorcycle left to go.
In KL, the worst traffic happens when it's Friday night after work, it's raining, there's traffic police to "control" the situation and there's a burning car up ahead. Oh, add on work stress, nagging from the family and trying in a desperate bid to get to your boyfriend just to get a hug and feel like nothing else in the world matters and what you get is chaos in the car.
