Elderly man drives 30km against the traffic on highway
TEAMCAR - A villager drove his vintage car against the flow of traffic on Malaysia's main freeway for 30km, apparently unaware he was on the wrong side, a news report said yesterday.
When stopped by officials, the 80-year-old man had two questions: why there were so many cars on the road these days, and why they were all flashing their headlights at him, the New Straits Times newspaper said.
It said the man, identified as Ah Pee, had made a wrong turn on his way home in the northern state of Kedah and got into the North-South Expressway -- the first time he'd ever been on the six-lane road running the length of the country.
When he realized he was going in the wrong direction, he made a U-turn but stayed his side of the road divider, putting him in the fast lane and heading into oncoming traffic, the newspaper said.
It said police stopped Ah Pee about 30km after he'd made the U-turn, and his vintage Morris Minor car was steered into the emergency lane.
"He was driving between 60 and 70kph, and I could see the befuddled look in his eyes as the oncoming vehicles flashed their headlights at him," the Times quoted an unidentified policeman as saying.