Mr Mazlan Samad, 49, was feeling smug, thinking he had outsmarted the other drivers in beating the jam at the Tuas checkpoint.

He had packed his family of five into their Toyota Picnic MPV for a short self-drive holiday to Malaysia for the long weekend.

The frequent traveller up north thought he would avoid the crowd by leaving home at noon on Friday, since most Singaporean drivers heading for Malaysia start out early in the morning, and he thought the jam would have cleared by the afternoon.

But 100m after the Tuas complex, he saw an apparently endless sea of Singaporean cars waiting to enter Malaysia.

"Apparently, every other father, mother and child had the same idea as I did about leaving home late," the managing director of drive-tours and events operator Fanfare Promotions adds, recalling the incident four years ago. Eventually, he took four gruelling hours to crawl past Malaysian Immigration, with the situation made worse by cars that had stalled from overheating.

"These days, my family and I would leave home long before sunrise for our driving trips on long weekends," he says.

Self-drive holidays have no doubt become popular among Singaporeans, say industry insiders, whether it is revving up across the Causeway or barrelling down other foreign highways in rented or borrowed wheels.

Mr Christopher Quek, managing director of another drive-tours and events agency, Wheels For Fun, says: "When driving, people can just stop at any interesting places that they see along the trip. Planes and coaches don't let you do so."

Most tour operators specialising in drive holidays to Malaysia say they have seen an increase in Singaporeans signing up for their trips in recent years, although they decline to give exact figures.

A spokesman for Tourism Australia says the number of Singaporeans taking self-drive holidays in Australia has grown from 47 per cent in 2005 to 51 per cent last year.

Global car rental company Hertz, which is the biggest in the world with branches in 147 countries, says Australia is its top self-drive holiday destination for Singaporeans who rent cars.

It has seen an increase of 40 per cent in Australian car rentals by Singaporeans this year. The more adventurous could consider a self-drive honeymoon through the lolling hills and vast, misty wilderness of New Zealand.

Newlyweds Ng Wei Hiong, 33, and wife Jacquelyn Tan, 32, did just that last month on a two-week trip to New Zealand's South Island.

Mr Ng, a civil servant, says: "My wife was deadset against taking a tour package as she wanted to go 'Lonely Planet'."

The gutsy first-timers simply armed themselves with guide books, a rental car and maps. They never regretted their decision. It was paradise on earth, they said.

But before you jump into the driver's seat and floor the pedal, be sure to get up to speed on overseas conditions as foreign driving practices and traffic conditions may confound you.

Since the 848km North-South Expressway in Malaysia opened 14 years ago, about 60 Singaporeans have been killed in accidents on it.

With the school holidays around the corner, the Automobile Association of Singapore (AA) is holding its annual Overseas Safe Driving Forum to help holiday-makers prepare for a trip and drive safely in countries such as Malaysia and New Zealand (see box).

Experienced drivers offer Singaporeans new to driving holidays this advice: Be prepared to drive on the right side of the road in certain countries and do a little research to find out what road conditions are like in the country you are visiting. In Malaysia, for example, deep potholes are often dangerously disguised as shallow puddles on wet roads.

And what about those horror stories about Malaysian highway crimes?

Mr Mazlan says: "People are negatively influenced by what they read in the papers.

"The truth is that these incidents are isolated cases. It takes just a few incidents to strike fear in many Singaporeans' hearts."

Still, some like Mr Ryan Chua take no chances. Four years ago, the 26-year-old marketing executive was driving on a smaller highway leading into the Pasir Gudang route in Malaysia when a pick-up truck bumped the rear of his vehicle.

He recalls: "I saw two suspicious-looking characters sitting inside, so I decided not to stop. I locked my doors and drove all the way back.

"That was pretty scary. I went home with a damaged bumper but for my safety and peace of mind, it was worth it."

Besides Malaysia, another popular destination to take to the highways with the wind in your hair is Australia, where the popularity of self-drive tourism has prompted Tourism Australia to provide dedicated resources for such needs.

Mr Adrian Neo, 32, is a seasoned driver on Aussie roads. He has lived in Sydney for a few months and holidayed in other cities Down Under, where he would borrow a relative's car or rent one.

Says the assistant manager at the National University of Singapore's School of Design and Environment: "Parking in the city areas is limited, and in public lots, the wardens are super 'on-the-ball' in catching drivers who exceed the time limit."

He also advises would-be self-drive holiday-makers to acquaint themselves with entering and exiting roundabouts, as big cities in Australia usually have many of these.

Since Singapore does not have many of such junctions, "the way we drive around them is very dangerous", says Mr Neo. If you are driving in New Zealand, Mr Ng, who drove through it on his honeymoon, emphasises strict observance of the speed limit: "They take a very strict view on speeding. They even have TV ads showing people getting fined for exceeding the speed limit by 10kmh."

Other things to worry about are cold weather because it rains a lot in New Zealand, says Mr Ng, and the terrain as the roads can get windy since it is a mountainous country.

So which country, according to experts, has the most polite drivers?

Mr Neo says in Perth, Australia, people resort to sounding their horns only in extreme situations.

But the unanimous vote goes to New Zealand.

Mr Ng says: "NZ drivers are one of the most polite I have experienced. They almost always give way to you and are very patient."

Mr Neo, who has also driven in New Zealand, agrees, adding: "Singaporeans are probably the worst drivers in the world, especially those with a kiasu (Hokkien for afraid to lose) mentality."

In general, all experts caution Singaporean novice overseas drivers not to be overconfident in other countries just because they are used to well-lit streets and well-maintained roads. This is because conditions elsewhere may be different.

AA member and seasoned overseas driver Larry Leong, 40, an IT professional, sums it up: "Don't rush and don't speed. It is okay to be late than dead."

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 21, 2008.

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