WARM-UP LAP: WANTED!
About a decade ago, people always say that buses and trucks were nothing but giant turtles. On the road, it could be annoying to see a slow truck in front, crawling slowly like a leatherback turtle, forming a long line behind them, waiting to overtake it. It was not just about the speed alone but also about the huge black smoke generated from those engines invented by Rudolf Diesel about a century ago. Those black smoke made overtaking those trucks and buses quite harder since the smoke affected visibility.
It was not until in 1997 when Robert Bosch GmbH in Germany invented a new diesel engine system which was not only cleaner and more powerful, but also simpler to build. Thanks to the common rail diesel technology, buses and lorries are now more powerful, cleaner, and of course faster. No wonder why illegal street racers today are not only kapchai bike riders and modified car drivers but also lorry drivers and bus drivers as well, no thanks to common rail technology. Just imagine how an express bus overtake you easily on the expressway while you're driving at 140 km/h! It sounded impossible 10 years ago but now it's more than common. Today, speeding buses and trucks are the main culprit of those deadly and fatal road accidents in Malaysia.
How about the legal truck racing? This new motor sport has become popular in Europe but nobody in Malaysia has ever heard about this new stuff. So what to do with those big speed demons? Is there any legal alternative for them? If there isn't any, then it's time to create one.
Bob, a 28-year-old lorry driver was a new driver for Alam Express Transportation, located at the city of Shah Alam, Selangor. He was assigned a brand-new Mercedes Actros trailer for his duty. Today was his first day as a lorry driver there, and he was about to make his first delivery for his company. Unlike most of other trucks, his truck was equipped with a speed limiter that limited the speed to 90 km/h only, even though a standard Mercedes Benz Actros with common rail direct injection turbodiesel could make up a lot faster than that. The speed limiter was installed upon his request. Why?
While driving to the customer destination, he remembered his dark story behind his career as a truck driver. Bob started to become a lorry driver at 21, right after he got his E license (truck license). Before he became a lorry driver, he was used to become a delivery rider at Pizza Hut. He was used to ride crazily through the city, weaving through traffic and speeding in order to make sure that the ordered pizzas arrive right on time. The pizza delivery assignments improved his riding skills drastically and his reputation grew as the unrivaled number one Pizza Hut delivery rider in Shah Alam. Thus, he was able to do even hundreds of pizza deliveries during busy days and his salary was always higher than his manager.
After three years working as a delivery rider, he applied a truck license and started to work as a lorry driver. His basic salary was only RM800 but it was his delivery commissions that made his salary even higher. The more he could deliver goods, the more commissions he could get and his wages grew higher. In order to make money, he had to deliver goods as much as possible. So how could he deliver more goods? There was only one option - drive as fast as possible. The faster he could deliver goods, the delivery time became shorter and therefore he could be assigned for more deliveries.
About 2 years later, he was married with his wife and therefore he had to make sure that his salary was enough to afford their lives. However, there was a reality that he should face no matter how bitter it was - the rising diesel prices. He had hard times to negotiate with customers - most of them were shopkeepers - to accept higher transportation fees. So what to do now? He had to drive even faster than before. Luckily, his truck was a lot faster, thanks to the common rail diesel technology.
He applied all his skills acquired when he was a pizza delivery rider when driving his truck. This time, his driving skills were more hardcore than ever. The expressways became his drag track, while the twisty federal roads became his drift track. Even though there were plenty of hidden speed traps cameras were installed, he didn't even fear of those speed trap tickets sent to his house. In fact, the speed trap tickets only made him even more excited and looked forward to break his recorded speed record, as he was playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted. As a result, he became the most wanted truck driver by the traffic cops after he received more than 50 speeding tickets. So how did he survive with those many speeding tickets? He had to move from one place to another like a nomad.
Frankly speaking, Bob actually hated to drive crazily on the road but he had to do so or else he might not be able to feed his wife and kids he might also unable to pay all sorts of expenses - home rent, car loan, utilities and so on - just to name a few. The fuel price was constantly rising, and became astronomical within 2 years ago. As a result, all prices were skyrocketing as well and everything became too expensive, burning an inferno in his pocket. This year he has to struggle to get at least RM3000 every month for a living. So he had to do more and more delivery every day and that meant he had to drive faster to rush for more deliveries.
It was during last month when a tragedy happened right in front of him that changed his life forever. That midnight, he was driving to Kota Bharu via Federal Route 8. It was dark and rainy midnight, yet he had to make it there by dawn to deliver goods on time. However, the road at Gua Musang stretch was winding, reducing the tire grip. At a corner, he lost control of his truck and his truck slipped to the right lane. Unlucky for him, there was a Perodua Kancil car at the opposite direction of him. He tried to avoid it but it was too late. As a result, his lorry collided with the car, causing all passengers in the car including the driver died on the spot.
Terrified with the scene, he was traumatized by the collision and quit his job during the next week. For 3 weeks he became jobless. He went back to his hometown at Shah Alam and began looking to other jobs, but it was too hard since he had no higher education qualifications, plus he had no other than lorry-driving experiences only. How should he feed his wife and kids now? Luckily, his friend Ah Beng introduced him with a trucking company that was willing to pay him higher salary even with only a handful of deliveries a day.
At first he had thought of quitting from being a lorry driver but his new boss convinced him that he would pay Bob a lot higher than he ever got every month, with a condition that he must drive at permitted speed limits only. He agreed, and he was given a brand new Mercedes Benz Actros to be driven. Bob also asked Ah Beng to install a speed limiter for his truck.
Finally he arrived at the first customer's location at Rawang when his boss called him to go back once after he had done with his first delivery.
"Hello Bob, this is the Boss. Have you done with the first delivery?" his boss asked.
"Done, Boss," he answered. "Any new orders for me boss?"
"Come back to the office right now," his boss ordered, "I have something to show to you."
Bob became curious. "What is it, Boss?" he asked curiously.
"It's top secret," said the boss. "Just come back here at once and you'll surely like it."
"Aye aye, boss!" answered Bob. "I'll be there soon."
It seems like Boss has kept a secret to be shown to Bob. Along to way back to the office, he kept thinking about what the secret could be. Can you guys guess what the cool thing that Boss would like to show to Bob? We'll find out soon!