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Driving on some of Malaysia's highways may be pleasurable during the day but, after dark, some of them can seem spooky and desolate as there are no street-lights.
Malaysian highways are considered among the best in the world but the lack of lights have also led to various urban legends cropping up, all about freaky, paranormal events happening during a midnight drive.
Many of these stories seem to stem from the fact that when one drives through an area with no streetlights, one can only see the road directly in front of the vehicles and accidents can easily happen if attentions waver.
The Lebuhraya Kajang-Seremban (Lekas) and the Seremban-Port Dickson stretch immediately come to mind as two of the highways that are pitch dark after sunset.
Driving along these roads can seem like driving through a dark tunnel, which could explain why not many motorists use the highways at night.
A motorist recently related how he was stranded on the road in total darkness while waiting for help after his vehicle was involved in an accident.
"I shudder to think what hit me that day. It was frightening because there were hardly any vehicle on the road and it was only 9pm," the motorist, who preferred to remain anonymous, said.
The caller said it would make economic sense if the highway operators installed lights to encourage more motorists to use the highway as it was an ideal alternative to the North-South Highway for motorists heading south.
The motorist, who was heading to Seremban, said the highway was only lit up near toll booths and interchanges.
"Word spreads fast and many motorists avoid using the highway after night falls. However, during the day, it is definitely a breeze to use this stretch," he said.
Motorist Jezzamine Anne, who works at a college in Mantin, said she knew there were no streetlights on the highway and she does her best to avoid travelling after sunset.
The Seremban-Port Dickson Highway (SPDH) is also best avoided at night.
Edmund Naidu and his wife Wendy had a shock of their life when they entered the highway at Si Rusa but nevertheless completed their journey to Seremban.
The couple from Petaling Jaya was visiting their family members who were spending their Christmas holidays at the ninth mile. The night drive back to Seremban was not pleasant.
"We only noticed three other cars on the highway and this was at about 10pm," Edmumd said.
Ozaery Osman, a Tourism Malaysia staff at the R&R Mambau office, said he had used the highway only twice and found the stretch, especially from Si Rusa to Bandar Springhill, very quiet in the night.
The Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) said it would be costly and impractical to have full street-lighting on some roads.
Its director-general, Datuk Ismail Mohd Salleh, said the Lekas and Seremban-Port Dickson highways were not planned as urban highways and therefore there was no requirement for 100 per cent streetlights unlike the North-South Highway.
He said streetlight requirements were only at toll plazas, intersections and interchanges and since the highway operators were not making money, it would be costly for them to take on the extra burden.
Ismail said the traffic volume on the Lekas highway was only 30 per cent while the Seremban-Port Dickson highway was extremely quiet, even during the day.
"The SPDH is only busy during the weekends and like the Lekas, the traffic volume is also at 30 per cent.
"We will fulfil the requirements when the traffic volume on these two highways picks up," Ismail said.
He said the stretch between Rawang and Bukit Beruntung on the North-South Highway also did not have streetlights but motorists were not afraid of using it at night as the traffic volume was high.
 
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