The awesome Mercedes-Benz A250

The launch is tomorrow!! Jati Transport will unveiled the much awaited Mercedes-Benz A-Class and it comes with two models A200 and A250. Yesterday during the test drive, almost all the selected customers chose to test drive the A250 and it seems that most of them have done their homework online about the specs of the A250.

I have to say that A250 is one solid car despite its smaller size (since it’s an A-class). I love how Mercedes comes up with new versions on every launch and it’s the most dynamic premium brand if you ask me. I love the progressive design of the A-Class too. It has this luxury sporty feel and this will be a great hit among ladies though I personally won’t mind driving one too.

The media and selected customers were given the opportunity to drive along the long track near Indera Samudra Hall, The Empire Hotel & Country Club and sometimes most of us wished it was at Sepang Circuit because the car was just awesome during “cornerings” and it is pretty stable on high-speed *ooopsy* (though it’s not encourage to drive fast huhu).

The A-Class also has great safety features which uses the PRE-SAFE® techniques which premiered in the S-Class in 2002. It has also 30 different impact configurations (which I think in English terms, 30 different scenarios). So you can tell how much Mercedes spent on research and data and testing on safety.

This is bound to be a hit with a price tag in the region of BND 60,000 plus (not sure the exact figure) and this is a great price for an awesome premium brand. I can’t wait for the launch tomorrow.

The media taking shots of the A250

One of the potential customers was excited to try the A250

The new A250

Schumi the man….

 

The image of students walking on roundabout on the 2nd morning after the launch of the traffic light dated 4th April 2013. Image taken from Whatsapp.

It has been two weeks ever since the introduction of traffic lights at Kiulap Roundabout. The responses have been very mixed, geared to more negatives than positive ones. It was interesting that someone pointed out that I’m hardly expressive when it comes to government related issue but I just had to be honest in how I felt that time because I’m a regular user of the roundabout and I foresee problems when I saw the lights being installed. And predictably my assumptions were spot on. It was havoc on the second day. If you missed my article on my rant, click here to read.

I was in touch with the PRO of the Ministry of Development through email and the PRO was giving their pointers in their defence. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the response and they should have been wary on how media will also listen to the public complaints. My role here is to educate the public and my readers what is right and I also entitled to my personal point of view regardless whether I’m influential or not.

What struck me (and many others as well) was the headline in Borneo Bulletin on 5th April which read “Motorists’ lack of understanding blamed for chaos at roundabout”. This is surely pointing fingers on road users as the first major problem rather not looking into the situation deeper. I believe the biggest error here is not the motorist but to the lack of awareness programs and even a proper dry-run before the actual launch of the roundabout.

The images on how to use the roundabout only came out in the local media after the chaotic incident which happened on 4th of April. Shouldn’t all these materials been promoted earlier on or at least a week and keep advertising on local newspaper and even use RTB like how they did with the previous video which kept airing from time to time on educating motorists to use the Kiulap roundabout or they can even get in touch with me on spreading the news for the benefit of the public. If the PRO claimed that I’m influential, then the PRO could have contacted me earlier and help spread the news (This is also my 2 cents).

This is the thing I totally disagree this headliner and it’s ok to be humble for once

My comments were featured in The Brunei Times with a better headliner. Thanks Wanee 🙂

This is definitely a good representation during that day. Taken from Borneo Bulletin website.

This is the new lanes I was talking about where some areas in the roundabout have become two lanes

So hows the situation now? Frankly speaking, it is way better. I remember pointing out that traffic lights with three lanes doesn’t work. Now some of the lanes inside the roundabout have been painted from 3 lanes to 2 lanes. This also needs some awareness campaign as first time users or even frequent users might get confused. For instance, I always use the inner or middle lane but now if I use it, the route will be shifted to middle and outer lane respectively once I’m in the roundabout. So at one stage, I was like “Huuuuh??, how did I end up in the outer lane?”.. This is because they painted new lane lines to covert some of them into two lanes.

Traffic is smoother with the traffic lights in operation. Give it another few months, then people will get used to the new concept. The new lanes in the roundabout also stopped those who loves to use the outer lanes irresponsibly. So that’s one great point that I would like to highlight. Thank you to the PRO for sharing the images on the directional use of the roundabout.

Totally agree with the headline that we need more awareness. This was taken from yesterday’s newspaper

If you are driving from RIPAS into the roundabout

If you are driving from airport into the roundabout

If you are driving from Beribi into the roundabout

If you are driving from Kulap into the roundabout

If you are driving from Gadong into the roundabout