Amazing Accident

On the night I arrived Penang from Kuching, I actually witnessed an accident. It was 3am and the road was wet and slippery after a heavy rain. I was on the phone, reporting my safe arrival in Penang when suddenly I saw a car speeding along Coastal Highway.

For no specific reason (maybe the driver planned to do a brake test), the driver hit the brake when he was speeding along a straight road. The car suddenly turned to the right, hit the divider and somersaulted in the air. On first impact to the ground, I saw one person being thrown out. The car flipped and bounced a few times before coming to a complete halt in a normal condition. I at first thought, someone would have died until I saw 3 more people crawling out from the car. Minutes later, I saw one of them lighting up a cigarette and 4 of them chatting by the roadside. I then waited for a while to check if there was any camera rolling or who knows Jackie Chan came out to the rescue! But nope!

So, what actually made the car turned to the right on braking? Here is my theory. When you are speeding on a straight road and you suddenly apply the brake, the car will still keep going forward while both the front tires will stop spinning (assuming car with no ABS). Usually it would be very hard for both tires gaining friction at the same time, and for this accident, the right tire gained friction first while the left tire was still sliding along the road. Therefore the car turned to the right! With so much turning force and with the impact of the divider, the back of the car launched into the air. This made the car spun!

Anyway, no one was seriously injured. Within minutes, I could see some crowds gathering. I bet some of them must be Malaysian Chinese, because they paid more attention to the car than the victims!

Strangely, throughout the incident, I didn’t see any policeman, ambulance or reporters around!