The plan that Saturday night was to go to a cybercafe somewhere just after USM and play some games. I was 20 years old then and back in Penang for my summer holidays. With me were my childhood friends.
We gamed away through the night until it was close to 2AM which was when I knew it was time to head back. At age 20 my parents still imposed some sort of a loose curfew with me. It was a curfew not in the sense that I had to be back by 2AM, but more in the sense that if I wasn’t back by then they would call me every 10 minutes.
We headed back home in 3 cars, my car leading the pack and Gin sitting shotgun in my car. We were cruising down the wide empty roads when my friend shot past me in his Honda Civic traveling at least 50 KM/H faster than I was. Right behind him was another friend of ours in his sports car tailgating him. Some sort of race was going on between the both of them.
In the heat of the moment Gin shouted “GO TIM GO!”. Almost as if it was a reflex my foot kicked down the accelerator as my car engine roared and pushed my car forward. Within seconds I was close behind then. It was like a scene in Fast and Furious and I was Vin Diesel.
Keeping up on the wide open road was easy but up ahead I saw a corner closing in. My two friends in the cars ahead of me didn’t seem to slow down so I matched their speed thinking hey, if they can make the turn at that speed so can I.
The turn came and I eased my steering wheel clockwise only to realize that it wasn’t enough. I was heading into the corner too fast. So I jerked my steering wheel to compensate. I heard my tires screech and for a split second felt my rear wheels lose grip of the ground. I panicked. I didn’t know how to respond to a loss of control like that.
As I was about to make a move that may or may not have gotten us into bigger trouble I felt traction again on my rear wheels. My wheels had gotten a grip on the road again and stabilized my car. I immediately slowed down.
Gin was oblivious to the whole thing and was wondering why I was letting the two front cars get away.
I however knew what could’ve just happened. I could have swerved off the road at a very high speed and hit something. Gin and I could have both been killed or very seriously injured. We were lucky to be unhurt.
That was the moment I realized that I would never do something stupid like that again and race. The friends in the two cars ahead of me carried on doing that for the next few years. One of them managed to crash his car once but emerged unscathed.
Tonight at dinner though I bumped into a friend of my parent’s who wasn’t that lucky. He had hit a tree while speeding late at night and today lived a cripple. The passenger with him didn’t survive.
Speed is dangerous. Racing is stupid.
I only hope that my kids in future never have to learn the hard way. I hope everyone does. So if you’ve just got your driver’s license and are egged on by friends to speed or race. Don’t do it. It may cost you your life (and that’s if you’re lucky). It may cost others theirs too.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space