There’s one thing Malaysians have to go through once in their life as a step closer to earning their adult card. If you guessed getting their driver's license, then bingo, you are correct! If any of our readers have recently passed their driving test like me, you have come to the right place. Driving can be a little daunting for us rookies out there but rest assured that here you will find some tips and tricks that will help out on your little highway adventures.

If there's one word to describe what it’s like driving in Malaysia, it’s ‘chaos’. Driving on Malaysian roads is the equivalent of giving toddlers a puzzle and expecting them to make something out of it; everyone else here essentially works out their type of driving style, no matter how dangerous or careless it is. 

It’s the reason countless ridiculous incidents happen on our roads such as tailgating, bumper-to-bumper smooches and of course, road rage. All these things will eventually lead to an accident which causes one of the things we are famous for—our awful traffic. If you’re unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of these mishaps, the only sentence that you’re able to say is “Your father’s road is it?”. For some odd reason, everyone that drives in Malaysia shares the same thought towards careless drivers which is what makes driving here a very special experience.

Have you ever been in certain situations where you don’t know what you’re doing as a driver? Let's get started with the most nerve-wracking part of driving which is reverse parking. It can be quite frustrating for us rookies because parking spaces can vary from being extremely wide to pathetically tiny. A good rule of thumb is having a “reference point” where you can use it to align to random things. Normally when I reverse park I’d use the pillar in the rear windows of my car to align with the parking lines, then fully lock my steering wheel and back into the parking space, it works 90 per cent of the time and it definitely helps when you are starting out, after adjusting for an overwhelming amount of times you’ll eventually get it perfectly in.

There's this method that I’ve used in the past and it’s been quite helpful when I’m driving. Imagine there are four parts of a mirror and each part can tell you whether it’s safe to switch lanes or not, these boxes tell you about the distance of incoming cars. A final tip, don’t hesitate when you switch lanes because hesitation is dangerous when you’re driving.

Sometimes things can get pretty unfortunate (touch wood) and if it actually does happen, here are some tips so you don’t find yourself in trouble. While it may be tempting to just drive away, it's just going to make things a whole lot worse as every car nowadays comes with a dash cam that records everything. Your best option is to firstly calm down, take down some vehicle identification and inspect the damage, make sure you use your best judgment on whether to make a police report about it or just settle it among yourselves because making a police report is quite a bigger hassle than what people would normally expect. Lastly, make sure to save any dash cam recordings if you have one in your car.

These are the tips coming from a new driver like some of our fellow readers. Driving may seem very daunting and scary but after a few drives you should be able to grasp the fun in driving as it gives you a sense of freedom to go anywhere you like and it feels amazing to just drive on the open road to explore new things. So to wrap things up; drive safe newbies!