April 19, 2008

Driving Fast Can Be Vey Tempting

From my personal standpoints, driving fast can be very tempting. As far as i could remember, my fastest driving speed was about 145 km/h on a portion of national route 4 back from Sihanoukville.
My ten-year old toyota camry was shaking with terror, and i thought that it were dancing. haha. The engine was roaring impatiently and painfully, and i never thought that it were crying for a slowdown. The speedometer indicator was trying to move in a clock-wise direction but it seemingly couldn't go any further. Everyone in the car was closing their eyes. They put their total fate upon me. I sent more pressure through my right sole onto the gear pedal as the car continued to tremble. I took over a Rav4, a CRV, a Honda, a semi-container and 20-ton twelve-wheel giant truck. I was enjoying it. "Rattana! Slow down", my mum opened her eyes and shouted a warning. I released my foot, and thought in mind "Don't worry mum. It is going to be alright. I want us to get home as soon as i can." Five minutes later, i started to break my insane driving speed record again. Oh i made 146km/h this time. Haha. My mum gave me a serious look, without any words. I still could understand what she wanted to say "Are you rushing to the hospital or pagoda?" We are on a holiday trip not in a car race competition. Her look woke me up from my drving insanity. I was driving only 80 km/h all the way back (on the national route, not in the city, omg). That's a nice speed everyone.

Looking back at that moment totally freaks me out. Let me repeat, driving can be very tempting. I couldn't believe that i put my own life, my beloved parents', and my teenage brother's and any passengers' on the line, just to save 20 minutes being home early. That's incredibly insane to drive super fast on a such a small two-way traffic road. From the bottom of my heart, i do appreciate their dependability upon my driving skill which helped me pass the driving test with five bugs. :-0. Sigh, i was asked to pay or i failed. No choice.

Here are some driving rules everyone must repect no matter in any circumstances:

- Always put the safety belt on. Please make it your number one drving habit, though you may think you are the best driver in the world. The fact is the best driver still makes a mistake and got hit by the non-best drivers. In the USA, you will be fined $101 for not wearing the seat belt.
- Drive carefully. Use both hands to drive. Avoid phone talk without loud speaker or bluetooth headset. My dad told me "Accident can happen in a fraction of a mili-second, or in a blink of an eye."
- Repect the traffic regulation such as speed limit, traffic light, traffic officials, regulatory signs, warning signs and so on. In the USA, you will get a ticket for overspeeding. You might want to pay the ticket or go to court to prove unguilty and to remove bad driving history.
- No Alcohol. Alcohol reduces your vision accuracy and judgement. Don't drink if you drive. If you have to drink, make sure that there is another person to drive for you. The level of alcolism drops after time. So if no one helps you drive, take rest and wait till you are refreshed.
- Respect other drivers and pedestrains.
- For women, NO MAKE-UP WHILE DRIVING.
- For men, I DONT WANT TO MENTION IT.

Have a safe trip, and never fall asleep, drivers :-)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

146km/h? U're a daredevil. If I had been in your car at that time, I would've sworn not to ride the car with u as a driver again.

U know what? The fastest speed i drove in Cambodia was 40km/h. Hehe...

Anonymous said...

hhaha, pm, are you saying the truth that you drove 40km/h here? i think sometimes only, esp when there's jam! heheh, i drive up to 60kmh sometimes here!!!

Anonymous said...

To Ice:
It's true. The fastest I dared to drive in Cam. was 40km/h, and at that speed, I felt a bit scared already.

Anonymous said...

To Ice:
Oh, I made a mistake. I drove 40miles/h, not 40 km/h. so it's approximately 60km/h.