Quite a few years ago, an accident happened near a toll gate which involved the spilling of flammable liquids. Probably due to panic management strategy, all four lanes were closed during peak hour Sunday traffic. Lots of cars with plenty of commuters were jammed there on the featureless highway for six hours in the heat of the afternoon.
I won't be surprised that some folks were without drink and food for the entire period. The worst thing no toilet was found within miles. So one family resorted to using mineral water bottles as urinals. We suspected creative people may use umbrella or sarong ( a big piece of fabric sewed as a tube to wrap around the lower body) to act as mobile toilet by the road side grass verge.
This happened again on Saturday (the day before Chinese New Year eve). All cars going north bound from Johore Bharu to Penang experienced congestion. A normal two hour trip took six hours. It was bumper to bumper crawling for hours at a time. Some cars over heated and broke down. Others crawled for hours. Cars parked in two rows on a service road and three deep on the high way itself to enable people to queue up to use the toilets and buy drinks in a Shell petrol station convenient store.
People who drive a $23,000 Kancil may wait in queue with a person who drives a BMW. A passenger of a cheap van or a Mercedes may resort to peeing by the roadside. This is indeed the great equalizer, all are reduced to humans with our many needs and frailties.
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