hard to say I am sorry

I'm always confused how some people use the word “maaf” ('sorry').

One morning when approaching toll gate, my driver asked for toll money. I gave him the money. While he was taking it from me, he said “Maaf”.

On another occasion, on our way to office, the driver suddenly hit the car break, shocking us in the back. Apparently he was trying to avoid a big hole on the road. We, sitting on the rear seats immediately shouted “What's going on?” And he very calmly replied “Ada lubang, Bu” ('There was a hole, Mam'). No, there was no 'sorry', nothing.

Apparently, what ‘sorry’ means to us, is different with what it means to others. I guess sometimes it can mean 'thanks', yes?

And this one is hillarious. Yesterday, the rain was really heavy. As you know, in Jakarta that means traffic jam. Stucked in a street for 20 minutes, our driver took the initiative to make a detour. We agreed, as there seemed no better solution. We did not expect that he actually did not know well the route he took. After two hours of driving nowhere, we were back to where we started. I hopelessly complained: “I thought you knew the route!” And he softly grumbled: “Just now, I took the wrong turn.” No, there was no ‘sorry’ at all... By the time we reached the toll gate, I gave the money. He took it and said, "Maaf"...

Maybe I just don't know the exact meaning of 'maaf'...