There is no doubt about the attractiveness of a free-and-easy self-drive holiday. With your own transport, you can stop at any interesting place along the way, without the need to wait for a busload of fellow travellers at a toilet stop.

But before you hit the road, be sure to familiarise yourself with overseas driving practices and traffic conditions, even for a place as close by as Malaysia.

Since the 848km North-South Expressway (NSE) opened 14 years ago, Singaporeans have had a fast and fuss-free way of driving in Malaysia. Unfortunately, it is also where more than 60 Singaporeans have lost their lives to date.

In a report done by The Sunday Times earlier this year, driving experts interviewed concluded that the highway itself was not at fault, and it is actually very well-built, safe and designed for high-speed use. So it looks like Singaporean drivers have themselves to blame.

The experts also said that Singaporeans are not in the habit of checking their mirrors, tend to road-hog, do not keep a safe distance and worse, are poor at gauging how fast a car coming up from behind is moving. Combining all these factors and the thrill of fast driving is a recipe for disaster.

Make sure your car is roadworthy. Check the levels of the radiator water, brake fluid, battery water and automatic transmission fluid (for automatic cars) and top them up if necessary. Tyres should be over-inflated for long-distance driving.

Enough has been said about this: get a good night’s sleep before setting off, and stop to rest every one to two hours or when you feel tired or sleepy. Share driving duties with a co-driver if you have one.

There are rest and service areas located every 80 to 100 kilometres, with facilities like food stalls, petrol stations, toilets and telephones, on both sides of the North-South Expressway. You can find smaller rest areas with basic facilities like toilets and public telephones – enough for a short break.

Keep your eyes on the road and avoid distractions like changing CDs, reading maps and talking on the phone. Straight roads are not any safer than winding or steep ones as monotony may kick in and you lose concentration, or worse, doze off.

Certain stretches of roads that are prone to crosswinds will have large orange windsocks to give you an indication of the wind direction and strength. Strong crosswinds could be hazardous as the car might start to swerve.

This is not the place to try force the car behind to give way like some car bullies do in Singapore. To overtake, turn on your right indicator, check the rear-view mirror to ensure no vehicle is overtaking you, and check your blind spot before accelerating into the overtaking lane. Turn on the indicator light and get back into the left lane when it is safe.