When all roads lead to Petaling Jaya

There is nothing like a trip to the barber to get a little conversation going, and which sometimes leads to a debate.

Especially if one has been going to the same barber for a haircut for 30 years. It is no holds barred among friends and you can speak your mind.

Well, I took that trip yesterday morning, and my barber being located in Petaling Jaya, the topic soon swerved towards the new one-way loop traffic flow implemented this week.

Since hearing about this one-way loop, I have felt that it would be a boon for PJ.

Firstly, I must qualify that I used to live in PJ for almost 20 years, and most of my working life was also spent in PJ.

Getting my first car when I started my career in journalism in the early 1990s, I soon got used to all the short cuts in the mostly residential PJ to find my way back home in Section 10, or to the office in Section 13.

The traffic was not so bad then but knowing your way around could cut travel time by half, as one could avoid traffic lights and roundabouts too, the two main contributors to traffic congestion, outside of rush hour.

Well, the traffic has gotten worse as more condos, commercial complexes and mixed development projects abound in the once-peaceful city.

So, since I was already in PJ yesterday, I took the opportunity to see for myself how things have panned out with the one-way loop into its fourth day.

Firstly, it is not difficult to see why so many people are angry or just frustrated with the new traffic flow. What used to be easy little access and exits along the two-way routes are now inconvenienced with the need to take a slightly longer route to get to the intended destination.

However, to me the intended objective, that is to make the traffic flow smoother within those few kilometres on either side of the Federal Highway, will be met, and will benefit residents and visitors to PJ.

So, after my haircut at PJ Old Town, I headed to PJ New Town at about 12.50pm, and I noted it took me about 10 minutes to go one full loop from Jalan Barat (near PJ Hilton), go over the Federal Highway, enter Jalan Utara, come back over the highway to enter Jalan Timur and return to the same point in Jalan Barat.

Of course, I didn't stop there. I also did a half loop - that is entering the highway from Jalan Barat and back up the ramp off the highway on to Jalan Timur and returning to Jalan Barat. This took me about six minutes.

The main congestion I discovered occurred at the points where one enters and exits the highway. Otherwise, travelling the loop was smooth simply because there were no traffic lights and the roads were now at least five lanes wide.

Altogether, I travelled two full loops, two half-loops, navigated through other access and exits in and out of the loop, and even stopped for lunch at the iconic A&W (since it was going to be closed soon), and then headed back to KL - all in slightly under one hour.

Again, I cannot stress enough what a relief it is to be able to drive without the traffic lights that stop and start traffic unnecessarily along the Jalan Barat/Utara/Timur route.

So, the debate I had with my barber centred on some of the main objections to the new one-way loop.

He spoke of the difficulty in dropping off people and waiting along certain roads, aside from the lane-changing and maneuvering if one was from an extreme left or right lane, to make the turn to exit the loop on the other side.

My problem with that kind of thinking is that it always boils down to driver attitude.

The bad habits of Malaysian drivers, include haphazard parking (blocking lanes, thus creating an artificial congestion), double parking, dropping off or picking up people anywhere they want, and making illegal turns instead of taking that extra few hundred metres drive for a legal and proper traffic flow. There are always options.

And on the topic of potential accidents from the lane-changing required, I know only too well, why many accidents occur.

It is a case of that little stick, located on either right or left of the steering wheel, which is sadly under-utilised. Yes, people not bothering to indicate where they want to turn or when switching lanes will indeed invite trouble, more so, when they are trying to sweep across three or more lanes just on the strength of their aggressive driving.

There is no doubt that the implementation by PJ City Hall over the past few days left a lot to be desired, but in the long term, it is also improved driver attitudes that will make sure the one-way loop works.

This is one of the ironies of the attitudes of people in the Klang Valley and in other major cities too, I am sure.

There is so much of support among urban population for the Pakatan Rakyat when it comes to voting. They like to express their disgust with the alleged corruption or bad management of Barisan Nasional authorities and the police, among other things.

But so many road users in these urban areas take it as their given right to abuse traffic laws without a care for the problems it causes to others.

If you want a clean and better managed government and local council, then you need to also tune your driving habits, business ethics and overall moral compass towards what is good for the general population instead of thinking of yourself.

And there is no point in saying that others are doing it. The buck stops with you. Everyone must play their part. Only then, you can start complaining about what the authorities are doing wrong.

The one-way loop is a solution, it is not the problem. If all road users optimise the new traffic flow and don't look for the convenience just to suit ourselves, it is going to take just a matter of minutes to navigate and get to one's destination along the affected roads. – October 16, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.