A Crash in the Fast Lane: How Two Sisters Escaped Without a Scratch

A trip back to the Malaysian capital came to a screeching halt when Goh Ru Ling and her sister crashed into another car in the fast lane. How did they escape unscathed?

Returning from a family celebration, Goh Ru Ling knew she had a long drive ahead of her to get home, but she didn’t realize that was the least of her worries.

She and her sister, Joanne, were driving back home to Kuala Lumpur after spending a week-long vacation in their hometown of Penang. The weekend had been a happy one, celebrating their father’s birthday. As they drove home that Sunday evening, they reminisced about how much they had enjoyed it.

The ride home should have taken about four hours but because of a massive traffic jam - possibly caused by the fact that Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) measures had just been lifted - the journey had stretched into a seven-hour ordeal. “It was very tiring,” says Ru Ling, who was behind the wheel of her 2018 Subaru Forester while Joanne took a nap in the front seat beside her.

The crawling traffic began to flow better, and they were able to move into the fast lane on the North-South Expressway, cruising along at about 80km/h when, suddenly, the car in front of them stopped dead in its tracks.

“The driver in front of us just jammed on the brakes while we were at high speed, so I couldn't stop in time and ended up crashing into the car,” Ru Ling recalls.

Escaping the crash unhurt

It all happened in the blink of an eye, but Ru Ling remembers how frightened she felt, especially because her sister was also in the car with her. The enormous impact woke Joanne up but, thankfully, the sisters were wearing their seatbelts. Neither one suffered any injuries.

Fearing the worst for her Forester, though, Ru Ling got out to check on the damage, quickly realizing that, except for a slight dent in the front bumper, it looked the same. Meanwhile, the rear end of the car that they had crashed into had caved inwards.

Ru Ling was surprised and relieved that the two of them had escaped unscathed. When you look at the statistics, you can understand her relief. It’s commonly understood that higher speed translates to increased accident risk. Scientists at the University of Adelaide analyzed real traffic data and found that the risk of a car becoming involved in a serious accident doubles with every 5km/h increase in speed when you’re driving above 60 km/h. Which means you’re 16 times more likely to get into a serious accident at 80km/h than at 60km/h.

“It’s not like other cars, where if you get into an accident the whole car would be damaged. I feel safe.”

Built to protect passengers

Ru Ling credits her Forester’s brake system and robust construction for keeping her and her sister safe, although safety features weren’t top-of-mind when she started driving the car about 18 months before. “I work in events and I need to pick up a lot of stuff for work, so I needed a spacious car for that,” she explains.

What Ru Ling didn’t realize at the time is that Forester was rated the 2018 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). One major contributing safety factor is the high-strength steel body of the car and a Ring-shaped Reinforcement Frame, which helps maintain the car’s structural integrity, keeping passengers safe no matter at what angle a collision takes place.

Today, Ru Ling is still driving the same car. While she is still a little nervous about driving at times, and avoids rush hour, the fact that her Subaru was barely damaged after such an impact helps her feel better behind the wheel. “It’s not like other cars, where if you get into an accident the whole car would be damaged,” she says. “I feel safe.”

For Subaru safety isn’t just a set of features. It’s also a state of mind.