Malaysian driving techniques, How to drive in Malaysia

We've had great tips from Sean and the others but what we truly need is how to drive in Malaysia.

I've had friends from UK / Aust who said that driving in KL is scary. They said it's SCARY how we drive small cars but zip around like big cars.

Anyway - I'll start it off with my own experience on driving in KL

1. Look left / look right (over your shoulder) before turning or changing lanes. You'll never know if there's some dumbass hiding in your blindspot, particularly since we have an abundance of motorbikes and kancils.

2. Avoid following taxis. They think they own the road and most of the time drive at 40km/h. Then they'll emergency brake if they see a customer by the road. So stay far away from them if possible.

3. Metro bus drivers are ex-rally drivers. They drive big, usually smokey and really run down buses. They cut queues. They stop by the side of the road even though there's a designated bus stop area. They drive really fast. The honk like mad if they see fit.

4. Don't do a disco light thing when it rains. Hazard lights are meant for stationary cars. Morons in KL drive with their hazard lights on if it rains and Singaporeans drive with it on when driving through tunnels. Be wary of these cars.

5. Motorcyclists usually drive on the center lane. And they squeeze between cars whenever possible. Read #1 again. They turn right from the left lane and turn left when on the right lane. Be careful when following a bike. Some may even decide to u-turn if they don't notice you.



Pls add on. Real driving daily sitautions and everyday occurances.

6. Steel Balls. To cross an intersection junction with cars on all 4 sides, you will need to have superman's ball of steel to cross else wait until next year to cross.

7. Parking. If you can't seem to find a parking, just park anywhere you like be it on the yellow borderline or not especially at Pasar Malam's. No need to worry, you won't get summoned.

8. Never ever use the car in front of you as a guide to brake. Look ahead of 1 car in front. Malaysians are fond of braking out of a sudden in traffic or even on the highways.

9. Turning left/right at the traffic lights. Example : 2 lanes, one straight one right. The arrows on the floor indicates the left lane to go straight OR turn right, right lane indicate ONLY to turn right. If you're on the left lane and want to turn right, fine BUT watch for the car that is on your right, they are fond of GOING STRAIGHT so u will bang into them.

10. Tudung drivers a.k.a. monocular vision drivers. Drive either far behind them or just quickly overtake them. Since they have monocular vision on the road, they can't actually notice you even if you flash your high beams at them... so stay away from them.

This post has been edited by khguan on Oct 30 2006, 10:16 AM

i received bunch of driving style in malaysia....email...but all deleted...

11. Lady/Women/Ah Sau. Be xtra careful when they r around u while driving esp at junction, roundabout, u-turn, side by side....their view will always be pointed to de front coz rearview n sidemirror are only accessories to them..they never take turn.they will take their turn anytime, anywhere if they want to..(these only apply to some of them )

very similar as no 10.. same species of monocular vision drivers...

12. Tailgater...when you meet this kind of moron...try give them a way...coz then pay gov money more the us.....(summon) ...if stil the samething..dun look at back....try maintain your speed

13. Cut 'Q'

malaysian drivers like to cut 'q' not all of them.. but many of them.. i dont blame some of the drivers..as the missed the 'q' or some other better reason.. i'm not commenting at those drivers that are in the bottleneck area where 3 merge to 2 lanes..

typical example.. Highway jammed.. (Pedas/Linggi towards KL).. so what they do.. they take the emergency lane.. Cheras (Jln Cheras n Loke Yew) near the slip out or slip in to the mainline.. near roundabout area..

pls try to q.. dont cut 'q'.. sometimes u may cause accident...

This post has been edited by dxtaz on Oct 30 2006, 04:54 PM

i experienced this one b4 bro..this dumb apek driver drove slow like heck on de fast lane so i tried to overtake on de left lane...u know what? by de time i almost catch him, he suddenly cut through in front of me n stopped.i jammed my brake, screeched all 4 tyres n pull over.de reason he suddenly doing that was bcoz 2 people waved at him from de roadside..damn! if desperately looking for passenger why drive on de right lane? at that time, de 2 people dont even dare to board de taxi coz they just stared anxiously at me, maybe expecting me to come out n play with that apek..but i let him go without a word though..de only thing i did was tailgated him 1st n slowly overtake n threw out a mean look at him...haha..i saw him shrunk to de seat...

this is the beauty of malaysia, brothers, a nation of you-wont-know-what-to-expect drivers....

almost forgoten.....last time..teach by some uncle...

Beware some of the"P"...... is better away from them....you will never know what will happen just a clip of eyes.....

14.) beware of the MOT1U driver.. he don't give a sh1t about you.

14. beware of elderly drivers at night. (usually driving kancil or very old sagas) they usually cause a long line behind them when you're on the trunk road, especially during peak hours

If possible, try avoiding cars with alot of smoke when you're in a jam, unless you really like to smell unburnt gasoline

Don't follow big trucks. Majority of the time they carry lots of dirt or have a lot stuck on them. Having stones flung at your windscreen and paintjob isn't pleasant.

Don't follow people with AD07 tyres. They usually will fling lots of stones at you if they are revving like mad (ask wiramod as he is a 'victim').