My workplace parking for the month of September was a whooping ~$300. Wow. Talk about cost of living. Can the basket of goods be revised to include transportation like cabs and CBD parking?

After reading yet another news of a young couple passing away due to an accident, I can't help but blog. I have already lost a dear friend to a car accident, and from what I heard the female victim from the recent car accident  that crashed into a tree along Jurong Town Hall Road could potentially be a junior I know from BBSS CO.

It has been raining for the past few weeks, so please, if you drive, drive carefully.

Here's some personal tips I've gathered from driving around on a daily basis over the past few years.

• Stay away from vehicles that are driving too slow or going off-course. Usually this is a sign of unfamiliarity with the vehicle, road, or falling asleep at the wheel.
• Stay away from speeding vehicles. If people tailgate you, just switch lanes and let them pass. Some people are assholes and the will try to overtake you deliberately and jam their brakes at you if the feel that you do not want to let them pass.
• Get out of a lane when a car's headlights dazzle you. To those who love to use your fog lamps and zhng bright white lights, I curse you. European cars like BMW, Audi or Merc have anti-dazzle rear mirrors but not typical Japan or Korean cars. In the rain, your fog lamps reflect light off the wet roads and your white light scatter when they hit the rain, dazzling others' view. Please turn them off. I don't understand why fog lamps are legalized in Singapore. We hardly get fog. Real fog lamps are yellow in color, not white, BTW!
• Drive during peak hours - I kid you not. During peak hours the traffic speed averages 20km/h and at such speeds the likelyhood of you getting into a bad crash is low. If you must drive at night, keep the left lane as much as possible.
• Look further ahead. If three cars ahead hit their brakes, it's a sign that you should hit your brakes too. Pre-emptive driving also helps fuel economy.
• Give way to traffic. It not only makes you a happier person (for having given way to people), it makes people behave more courteous towards you. Not giving way, on the other hand, only forces desperate drivers to take unwanted action.
  
• Keep the speed limit, but also go with the flow. Don't drive too slow or too fast - either way will increase the risk of you involving yourself in an accident. Don't forget, you may not crash someone, but someone else may crash you. Driving too slowly not only causes danger and road obstruction, it may trigger other driver's unwanted reaction towards you.
• Slow down at a bend where you cannot see cars ahead of you. You will never know if the traffic after the bend is at a dead stop. Some places to note: AYE (Tuas) exit to Clementi Ave 6, Clementi Ave 6 entrance to PIE (Changi), entrance from PIE (Tuas) to BKE (Woodlands), exit from BKE (PIE) to Bukit Panjang, enterance from Changi Airport to PIE/TPE.
• Keep the distance, especially in rain. I have been lucky enough to have driven enough different types of vehicles to live to tell you today that wet roads does indeed increase braking distance in multiples of two to three folds. If you drive a modern performance car with good tyres, you may not feel it, but the fact is because your car is heavier, your tyres are grippier, but the physics stays the same - once your tyres go into a skid, it is basically gliding on a film of water. Some ABS systems can only pulsate 20-30 times each burst, so there's only so much ABS can do. Don't push your luck. Keep your distance. If people take that space in front of you, let them be.

Just for the fun of it... set your gears to 'N' and try pushing your car. Let it roll on a bit, then try to stop it. You will realize how heavy your vehicle is and having that 1000+kgs hurtling towards you - even at 20km/h - is no fun at all. Now you realize how much power your engine puts out, so please drive with care. Power without control, is nothing.

BTW, please do this on a flat ground! You may not be able to stop a car rolling down a slope!!!

Yeap. The new car is here. Collected it last week and believe it or not, I've driven it almost 900km in less than two weeks. Time to send it for the first 1000km check-up.

Meanwhile, some pictures and memories of the ex-car.

My ex-car, the Nissan March K11 1996 1.0A. It served me well, with couple of hiccups and finally ended with a bad gasket. I also had a small accident in April - I hit a Merc cab and caused a small dent in the bonet and bumper on the driver's side. The Merc escaped with scratches on its bumper, but the bugger filed a medical claim for > $20k! He will get his karma soon.

The Nissan March handles well for an old car. Given this car had ownership transferred 6 times, it must have been badly trashed before I bought it. The steering is light and easy to maneouver. Parking was never a problem. However the car tends to understeer. Wider tyres are a must. The stock 155/70/R13 tyres that I had are too small and are a safety concern on wet roads, especially if you don't have ABS (I don't). Most people would have upgraded them to 14", also because 13" tyres are hard to find nowadays. The 1.0L engine is very powerful as well. The car is light (less than 700kgs) and that translates to ~1.42l engine per tonne. For a Japan-made  engine in 1996, having 16v fuel injection was probably very advanced. However the 1.0L engine takes a toll when you carry more than your left passenger.

At the age of 13 and after having done close to 230,000 kms on the road, fuel economy hovered around 10.5 - 12.5 km/l. If the engine had been properly maintained it might achieve 13.5 km/l as some other owners reported. Some may opt to replace the 1.0L engine with a 1.3L engine instead, achieving similar fuel economy but with more power.

Nontheless, I've learnt a lot about cars from the Nissan March K11. I've applied really nice stickers around the car and the last I saw it on SG CarMart the seller did not remove my stickers and sold the car "as-is".

My new ride, the Nissan Latio DS3 1.5/4AT. I've test driven a Volvo S40, Merc B170, Mitsubishi Lancer, Hyundai Verna, Hyundai Advante and hitched a ride on Toyota Altis, Toyota Vios and Nissan Sunny. I would say for the price (I got it at a clearance price), this car kicks all those Japanese car's asses. The only cars that beat the Latio are the Volvo and the Merc, as expected, but that's for more than twice the price!

The Latio's 1.5L HR15DE engine co-developed by Nissan and Renault is capable of approx 14km/l fuel economy - similar to what the Toyota Altis promises. After about 800kms of running-in, I can feel the engine coming to life. The engine's power may not seem immediate from a standstill, but starts to really kick in near the 2500-3500 rpm range. The interior is amazingly stylish witn an european touch, nothing like the Lancer or Altis. You will not believe the spaciousness in the rear cabin too. The ride is very silent and comfortable, with the exception of the engine rattle near 2800 rpm.

However the tyres may need a change. The stock Toyos are comfort tyres but lacks some handling character around corners. They squeak terribly on epoxy or smooth cement flooring as well. There has been feedback that the Bridgestone Turanza GR80 is a good replacement. I might get them swapped out at 20,000 km.

Comparing this car up against the better Volvo S40 2.4i (my parent's ex car), the Volvo has much better handling character, but most probably due to the 16" rims, wider tyres and heavier weight (1400kg). The rear wheels of the Volvo has also been toed-in for better roll handling. The 2.4 litre, 5 cylinder engine together with a 5 speed auto transmission can transform the Volvo from a smooth cruise into a track monster with a slight squeeze from the accelerator.

The Merc B170 is not a sedan, but comparing it against the Latio, the Merc has some refinements worth mentioning. The engine produces a unique whiz and is amazingly smooth through the RPM range, but the CVT transmission needs some getting used to. The interior has been very well designed for the elderly, with traditional knobs, large displays and well positioned room lights. The dashboard is neat but a little too high, obstructing frontal view.

Both Volvo S40 and Merc B170 have extremely comfortable seats with a supportive head rest. The Latio however had a weird head rest that I couldn't rest my head against.

As far as it goes, I have no regrets choosing this car. It should be following me a long way from here after learning a hard lesson from my previous purchase - get a car that can grow with you.

So who says the Latio looks "uncle"? Here's a concept car from Nissan based on the Latio design... when I strike lottery maybe I will zhng the car until like that.

I think I've had enough. Okay, maybe not I think, but I guess I've really had enough. Here's the story...

My old car decided to die on Saturday night (Jun 7) - just a few weeks before I would be getting rid of it.

Prior to that, symptoms were brewing but never seemed serious. Now and then the car started in the cold morning with rough engine idling which went away after about a minute of warming up. I thought, maybe it just needs a little warm up for the day. For the rest of the day it drives fine, even after eight hours parked at the office basement.

Then on several occassions I could hear water boiling under the hood after a drive home from work. Quick checks always revealed that the radiator overflow tank had hot bubbling water and needed an occassional refill. I always keep a bottle of water at the back, so it wasn't much of a concern. I just had to add some water before every journey.

The first of the boiling incident occurred on May 29, prompting me to book a new car. It was a little on impulse, because I was totally pissed off. More on that later.

On Friday night (Jun 6) after driving home from work, the car had coolant boiling and bubbling off from the overflow tank again. But this time I could actually see steam coming from under the hood to the left of my car (driver's view). I checked the overflow tank, and there was still water in there, so I didn't bother much and went home.

On Saturday morning, I drove a short distance from Bukit Batok to CCK with my windows down and air-con off. It was a slow drive and so nothing weird happened.

After a long day, I picked up the car in the evening together with three other friends. We were headed for Marina Square and went down Bukit Timah Road. Just past the CTE exit towards Bugis, the traffic lights at the next junction turned red and I applied the brakes. As the car slowed down it started to idle really rough (sort of like piston misfiring) and stalled. Modern brakes are hydraulic driven and don't work with engines off, except for the parking brake which is practically useless when you have a full load. Stunned and still in forward motion towards the statonary traffic, I shifted to N and cranked the engine to start. It started right up and I saw the temperature gauge slowly going up towards the 3/4 mark (normal was 1/2 mark). The engine became really rough and delivered little power and couldn't accelerate. I quickly turned into KK Hospital and parked in the basement. This time I saw more steam from under the hood. I checked the overflow tank and there was water present. I added some water but I did not check the radiator as it was still pressurized and dangerous to do so.

So the four of us took a bus to Bugis to grab dinner, etc. and returned about two hours later. I started the engine and it was still idling really rough. It was slightly better after cooling off, but still bad enough to not provide much power to accelerate. I checked the maps and found the shortest route to the nearest petrol kiosk to grab some engine coolant - realize all this time it was loosing coolant and I had refilled with water so there was hardly any  coolant in there by now.

I pulled over at the first Esso I saw and bought two bottles of coolant while Wenxi went to grab water. I started pouring a whole bottle of coolant down the radiator, and another bottle of water after that. Then, with the radiator cap still off, I cranked the engine. It started up, idled really rough, and then before I knew it, a heck lot of coolant gushed out of the radiator and my car was billowing white smoke from the exhaust. After about another 3 seconds or so, I heard a "plonk" and the engine died.

I tried to crank it up again, but it wouldn't barge. No usual "neh neh neh" sound, just one "gonk" every time I attempted to crank. The engine's jammed, but I didn't know what (later I learnt it was called a hydrolock) so I shifted to R, and pushed the car back and fourth in attempt to un-jam the engine. I attempted cranking again and this time it went "neh neh neh" but the engine never started. Just as I was in eager attempt to start the engine again, Wenxi who was standing behind the car yelled out to me and I saw with my very own eyes for the first time in my life all the coolant and water mixture flowing right out of my exhaust.

OMFG, I thought to myself. What the heck just happened?

I called Thomas, who told me white smoke meant I had water in my engine, and that water flowing out of my exhaust meant I had to call the tow service. Here's the best part. I didn't have ANY tow service's number handy, and it took a whole half hour to ask around for one. My mobile phone's battery was almost flat.

After about an hour, a tow truck arrived... you gotta love this one - the photo of the most memorable moment. Getting towed while parked nicely in the petrol kiosk.



The tow driver thought it was the usual battery dead problem, etc. but not until I told him I saw coolant came out of the exhaust that he decided to immediately strap on the wheels without any further questions asked.

Off we go to the workshop, which was of course closed on a Saturday midnight. I left it there till Monday morning and then met up with the mechanic to describe my encounter.

My car was diagnosed with a blown head gasket around the first cylinder. A gasket is a thin piece of material usually made from ceramic and some other composite material. They are used to seal oil, gas and water so they do not leak and do not get in contact with each other.


Cylinder head gasket from a Honda Civic.

Looking back, if I had all these prior knowledge I would have guessed a gasket failure - The rough engine idling was caused by coolant getting into the combustion chambers, causing incomplete combustion and reduction in power of one of the cylinders. Boiling water was actually caused by leaking combustion gasses flowing into the cooling system. The hot gasses boiled the water and pressurrized the cooling system, forcing hot water to flow into the overflow tank. While this happens my engine was actually starved of water - it was filled with steam. Then came the white plume from my exhaust which was a sign of lots of water getting into the combustion chambers and turning into steam as it exits the exhaust. Finally the engine went into a hydrolock when too much water seeped into the engine.

I got my car back today, after four days of repair. The mechanic took apart the entire engine to check for problems with my lower engine as well just in case the hydrolock busted my cylinder block, connecting rods and crankshaft. Luckily none of that was dmanaged. All I had was a busted gasked and a slightly warped cylinder head. After some machining ("skimming" as they call it locally) and installation of a new head gasket, the car was ready to go again.

I must add a good word for this mechanic though - it was an excellent job, at an excellent speed and very very resonable price. Despite me requesting that the work be as cheap as possible, they still washed the car exterior, vacuumed the interior, and cleaned/dressed up the engine. The company is Autosaver. I went to their workshop at Toh Guan Road. They specialize in Nissan and Toyota cars.

So anyway, this car is gone for good in a few more days. I will be trading it in for a brand new Nissan Latio DS3 (1.5/4AT)... at a massive loss to prevent any further losses.

Thus far I have paid $3k downpayment, about $5k in total for repairs over the past 10 months I owned this car, and another $5k in losses to pay off the remainder of the loan. Totals to $13k... pretty much unknowlingly huh? At $13k over 10 months I could have eazily paid installments for a Toyota Rav 4 with some spare change.

Moral of the story...
1. Don't buy freakin second hand car unless it's somebody you know who takes care of their vehicle.
2. Take care of your cooling system. It is as important as any other part of your car. Usually it is the cooling and lubrication system failure that breaks the engine, not the sparks, air filter and other crap they replace during regular servicing. If your car runs a timing belt, it's equally important as well. A snapped timing belt usually means a FUBAR'ed engine.
3. Your car regular servicing schedule does not do this, but it IS a good thing to get a cooling system flush every year or two as the coolant loose their anti-rust properties.
4. Exhaust with white smoke = bad (water in combustion), blue smoke = bad (engine oil in combustion), black smoke = not so bad (usually a bad carb tuning or faulty oxygen sensor). Usually white/blue smoke are signs of serious engine trouble.
5. Since most people commit a 7 to 10 year loan on a car, it is a good idea to think forward and get a car you know you'll continue to drive for another 5-7 years down the road. Don't get a puny car, or a cheap car, because you will outgrow it very quickly and selling them off in 3 years' time will make you big losses.

Justin

Story excrept from: http://www.princess-michie.blogspot.com/

So it all happened cos while i was walking, my schoolbag hit a woman accidentally. And i believe that the woman is none other than the angmoh's girlfriend!

After bumping into her, she starts throwing vulgarities at me. At first I thought she's some crazy woman who goes around shouting at people, so I ignored her. Few minutes later, she attacked me from the back! She hit my back with her umbrella but thank god she missed! So instead of my back, she got my schoolbag! If not I’ll most probably be lying in the hospital right now.

Then naturally I turned, and asked her what her problem was. She was shouting at her top of her voice telling the whole world that I bumped into her. That's when I finally understood why she was shouting at me. She tried to flee after everyone said that she's the one at fault by hitting my back. She then ran into the NTUC.

She said:" Back off! I'm calling the 911!"
Me: Hello, this is Singapore, you do not call 911 here, you call 999!.
She: Back off im calling 911 now.
She: im gonna call the 911 now.
Me: It's 999.
She: fine I’ll call 911 now.
Me: *sigh* go ahead. I'll wait for you, please go ahead and call the police.
She: Why must i call the police? You call lah.
Me: Cos i thot you said you wanna call 911?
She: I don’t have a phone, you call. (Why she said she wanna call 911 when she dont have a phone? siao!)
Me: This is Singapore, you do not go around hitting people with your umbrella then call 911, and im sure you can’t do the same even if you are in America.

Then some security personnel came over to break the furious argument we had.

Those personnel asked us to leave the supermarket. She refused and said:" No, im not leaving, i scare she'll beat me up." Like hello, she's the one who attacked me first.

*few mins later*

She dashed out of the supermarket, so my friend and i chased after her demanding for a reason for hitting my back.

Just right about 10 steps after exiting from the supermarket, the angmoh boyfriend attacked us from the back! This time round, he grabbed both my friend's arms from the back, then lifted her up off the floor and throw her hard onto the floor! And that caused her arms to bleed! And before I could even react, I saw his fist flying towards my face! I moved back a little but I still got punched slightly in the nose and I managed to block the other 2 punches from him with both my arms. Next, he kicked my right leg, and he attempted to run. Just when he was about to run, my friend tripped him and he fell straight onto the floor.

He quickly picked himself up, and he ran towards a watch shop where all the helpful passersby blocked him from escaping.

A few uncles came to help us because they saw the whole incident.

Then, the girlfriend appeared out of nowhere. She accused us of hitting her first. Trust me, we didn't even lay a finger on her! Needless to say, hit. She was cooking up crap trying to gain sympathy from the crowd. Fortunately none of them listened to her instead they scorned her off!

It all happened in a flash, so i couldn't video the part whereby he attacked us. They are both in their late 30s or early 40s. And that angmoh was like 6 feet tall! Pick on someone his size!
AND if they are not guilty, then why are they escaping?

That uncles are super. Very commendable effort for holding them back until the police arrives. Thumbs up for them!

As promised, I managed to snap a few photos of my new (old) car. It comes to show I really love the color of QQblogs, huh? (Not!)

Update: Seems like I missed out critical information when I first posted this entry. This 1996 Nissan March K11 1.0A costs SGD $21k with approx 8 years of COE remaining. Some told me that's kinda pricey, so if you're planning to get this car you might be able to find one for approx $19k.

A little more background, this car is one of the very early mass produced electronic fuel-injection (EFI) engines back in the early 90s and has won numerous awards (see article in Wikipedia) for its design and reliablity. Guo Qiang (KHCO), ex-owner of the March 1.0M told me today that this car never broke down on him except for two incidents - a blown tyre and a flat battery, which are pretty common "wear and tear".

For those into performance, this car is a good candidate for mods. Small and light with easy access to air intake and bolt-on exhausts meant simple DIY mods for small performance boosts are possible. An Australian Forum I found is pretty active and has good information, including even DIY ECU diagnosis! The people there are pretty helpful and will even go to the extent of taking photos to help you. One of the mods produced approx 250bhp/tonne, even more than a stock Lancer Evo 2006.

Enough of geek talk, let's see some photos... 

Front of the car. No, that's not my number plate. It reads: "detach8, this is my wife's taxi."

Ah, the wonders of Photoshop.

The rear, showing a pig decal on the fuel cap.

Sides... nothing interesting here.

Cute decal at the rear. Heh.

Of course, not forgetting the interior, which is in very good condition given the age of the car.

Lastly, say hi to the guardian of the car...

Who's smiling at you...  (it's alive!)

Come to think of it, maybe I should put a QQblogs decal at the rear.

Lastly, some financial lesson I learnt having drove my uncle's Renault Kangoo 1.4A around for a year... you car should only cost you ~25% (or less) of your take home pay, otherwise don't own one. The Kangoo was running over $550/mth on installments alone, adding poor fuel economy (8km/l) to it means petrol can cost as much as $300/mth. Road tax, season parking, insurance, etc. that will add up to slightly less than $1k, way too much for me to afford.

A couple of weeks earlier I was driving my vehicle as usual and noticed some scratching noise when I applied my brakes. The noise started to get louder as time passes and happens only when I brake. Coincidentally my braking force seemed to have reduced, and I was guessing the brake pads were out.

Using a torch, I peered through the little holes in my rim and saw a nice groove forming on my once shiny brake discs and kinda freaked out. Booked a quick service with Renault and surprisingly their response came the very next day. Renault was previously represented by Exclusiv and recently handed the operations over to Wearnes Automotive, which might explain for the service improvements.

I drove to the service center (used to be at Ang Mo Kio, now at Leng Kee) and sent it in for repair as well as the regular serving (now at 60,000km) since my Road Tax + Inspection was due.

So the 60,000km servicing package was like $550, since they had to change quite a bunch of things like timing belt, spark plugs and all the what-not.  The brake disc was damaged and I had to get a new pair (they had to be installed in pairs, apparently) for like $400. They called me up later and informed me my engine mount was cracking and is advised to change it, which costs another $200. The whole bill came close to $1.3k including GST!

Am officially broke. Never cheap to own a vehicle here! Anybody a vehicle guru can tell me if I was ripped off? 

Damn I still have to pay for inspection + insurance + road tax. 

I was driving along Bukit Panjang yesterday night after dropping my girlfriend home. Along the way, I overtook a Taxi into a space of almost three cars' length ahead of it. The cabby then deliberately accelerated towards my vehicle and started flashing his headlights at me, as if I was in his way. Hey, I've been driving enough to know my speed against yours when overtaking, ya?

No big deal, I thought. I continued to drive along. Then came another car that overtook him. Duh - he was keeping such a distance from cars ahead, anybody could overtake him. He did the same thing - flashed his headlights and accelerated towards the overtaking car, as if that car had a runaway passenger who didn't pay.

Somewhere down the road, the Taxi filtered out to left most lane. I was (still) in the center lane. We stopped at the traffic light junction just before the Malaysian railway crossing at Teck Whye.

If you live in Teck Whye, you'll know there's a lane merge for the two lanes on the left. My lane was moving ahead, and I was just in front of the taxi when the lane merge came. As soon as I started to keep left to get into the merging lane, I saw (in my left mirror) the Taxi deliberately accelerating towards me, attempting to squeeze me out and then started honking and flashing his headlights.

What the hell's the matter with him?

I got fed up and accelerated ahead, merging into the lane.

The Taxi later overtook me on my right and gave me that usual stare. You know, the "damn you, you'd better watch out" look. 

Instead of rebutting with the typical finger flipping, I tried something new this time. I gave him a big smile and a thumbs up. He was so furious, you've got to to see that look on his face! He even took down my license plate. Big deal. I got his too. SHC 6135U. I didn't need pen and paper though!

Meanwhile, the passengers in the cab looked puzzled. You bet! Haha!

So I guess the thumbs up did work. He got furious, but it made my day. I burst into laughter on my way home.

Meanwhile: some other incidents to relate... 

Last Saturday. At a right turn junction from Bukit Timah road into Cashew Road. I was on the right-most filter lane (right-turn only) waiting for the traffic lights to signal my right of way. A red Mazda 3 behind me ('P' plate, mind you) simply squeezed out of the space behind me and overtook me midway through the right turn. Read again - I was on the right-most filter lane. Jess was a witness...

Some other common driving incidents would be parking idiots. I had this Toyota Wish park so close to my vehicle, I could hardly open my (driver-side) door to get in. If you can't park, don't drive.

But seriously, what's the problem with some drivers? Got a new car/license but have no where to do a crash test? 

You can't blame me for keeping self-defense equipment in my vehicle, can you? 

On my way out from PIE (Toh Guan) exit, a Black Volvo XC90 zoomed beside me on my right at the first traffic light. I thought, "what the heck?". Must be another retarded driver. I turned my head and it was an ang-mor lady.

Once the traffic light turned green, the XC90 accelerated at an (amusingly!) high rate and zoomed off ahead of me while my little Volvo S40 did a little catching up. I kept right as I was about to make a U-turn ahead to get to IMM so the XC90 is now direcltyahead of me.

Soon we were both crusing at approx 70-80 km/h when the XC90 was making sudden undecicive brakes and swerves. Seeing danger, I let out a honk to warn her. I was approximately 3 cars' length away.

Just before I could do much, the XC90 jammed her brake and swerved slightly left. I held my horn and jammed my brake as well. As there was an approaching car, she swerved back into my lane. We're now less than half a car's length apart.

As the approaching car passes, she swerved left again. This time the approaching car slowed down as the traffic light just turned red. She jammed her brake again as there was not enough space for her to overtake. For a long time now I haven't applied e-brake and this is the first real test for a heavy 2-tonne Volvo to brake in such a distance. Everything happened so quickly and I didn't even have time to check my rear for approaching vehicles.

Extremely angry, I wound down my window and yelled at the bitch before we drove off.

Ang Mors should be banned from driving 

Today's a horrible day on the road. I met with three near-accident incidents that was really freaky.

Incident #1: 

First was when I just left KH with Kenneth and driving him down to NP. At the U-turn point just after SIM was an uncontrolled right turn junction. There was a van ahead of me and we were waiting for the traffic to clear.

As the van made his U-turn, I decided to follow him, but traffic seems to be approaching rather quickly. The van ahead of me took his own sweet time and turned to the 3rd furthest lane. I was in a "stuck" situation with a slow van ahead and fast approaching traffic, so I applied a little too much pressure on the accelerator and the car went off control at the 2nd lane, past the van on the 3rd lane while almost crashing into it, and finally swung over to the right (1st) lane. I released the steering too late as I was afraid I would crash into the van. This caused cars behind to brake pretty hard. Both Kenneth and I were freaked out after that.

That's really my fault.

Lesson learnt: Don't follow a U-turn vehicle. Check for traffic yourself.

Incident #2: 

I was driving a bunch of NPCO people back home. I was along Bukit Timah, just after the prata shops going towards Diary Farm Road. As I was nearing the left turn (just after Courts), a taxi moving off simply just turned out without checking and I had to brake so hard ABS almost activated.

This is fucking taxi driver's fault. I had to avoid at least 4 other such incidents today.

Lesson learnt: Honk at all taxis by the side of the road.

Incident #3:

I was parking near my block. I was reversing and trying to spot the turning point on my right. A kiddo driver in a Hyundai Sonata zoomed up on my left just when I turned my steering and the front of my car swinged out. He honked and applied e-brake and we were almost 1 inch away from crashing into each other. The fucking idiot was speeding in a carpark, not giving way to parking vehicles and still had the cheek to give the fuck face.

This is obviously the fucking idiot's problem. 

Lesson learnt: Check entire rear before turning when parking, although people should have given way to you.

I should be driving the Army Man 5 tonner.