Is slow driving more dangerous than fast driving?

[cyril sneer]

All the near misses i've had have generally been from slow driving, especially in Thailand

 

Regular cars driving at cyclist speed on a highway surely means the driver is in an unfit state to drive

[pgrahmm]

Yes, slow driving causes all the other drivers to make course changes & corrections; greatly enhancing the chance for an accident....

The driver of that slow car will be the least affected = but the root cause.....

Too fast isn't good either.....

Best to match the general flow.....

[Lungstib]

I drove 200kms through Chiang Mai hillside today and found the mixture of fast impatient with slow unsure was the real danger. People wanting to do 100+kph are quickly angered by other folks doing 45kph and then choose to overtake at the most stupid of times. Cars are heading straight at vehicles coming the other way in their impatience to pass. Saw several tight squeezes and many m'bikes that had to pull off the road and stop. A normal day in a land where proper instruction is as rare as hens teeth.

[essox essox]

i always pass a slow driver as I wonder WHY are they driving so slow..

My Father taught me to overtake any obstacle that is slow, in front of you.

Then you have a clear road to look down....

[Kwasaki]

16 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

Regular cars driving at cyclist speed on a highway surely means the driver is in an unfit state to drive

[CharlieH]

Yes its extremely dangerous and annoying to encounter a farmer or slow moving vehicle at arund 30km or less in the outside lane of a dual carriageway, especially at night with just a CD hanging on a string off the back of it !!

[OneMoreFarang]

It would be good if there would be some kind of organization in Thailand to enforce the laws.

I heard they do this with success in other countries all over the world. 

[sherwood]

I would say yes, slow drivers cause unrest and are a danger to all other highway users. I am only talking about Highway drivers. Same for mom and kid on a scooter, push bikes and anything else that think they have a right to use a highway.

[sanemax]

Its not the slow drivers that cause a problem and its not the fast drivers that cause the problem .

   Problems arise when theres drivers all driving at different speeds 

[fishtank]

Any driving by a Thai is dangerous.

No clue most of them.

[brokenbone]

 

the scariest thing by a wide margin imo is the fookin

different set of rules various drivers adhere to,

i so totally cant stand it when someone makes a U-turn

and then proceed to cross ALL lines to make it to the left side, BEFORE they speed up to same pace as everyone else.

this is not how i was educated to do things,

and it suxx a$$ that many drivers here do this

[Myran]

Generally, no, but of course to a certain limit. The speeding cars are the ones who are driving dangerously. Of course you can't drive as slow to be a roadblock either, but some people seem to think that 5 km/h below the speed limit is considered "slow".

 

14 hours ago, brokenbone said:

 

the scariest thing by a wide margin imo is the fookin

different set of rules various drivers adhere to,

i so totally cant stand it when someone makes a U-turn

and then proceed to cross ALL lines to make it to the left side, BEFORE they speed up to same pace as everyone else.

this is not how i was educated to do things,

and it suxx a$$ that many drivers here do this

Then you were educated wrong, if I'm reading you correctly. When doing a U-turn you are supposed to end up in the "slow lane".

[johng]

 
When doing a U-turn you are supposed to end up in the "slow lane".

If you do a U turn in a country that drives on the right then yes you end up in the "slow" lane...but In Thailand you U turn from "fast lane" into "fast lane" which is what makes it dangerous...even more so when slow coaches refuse to briskly accelerate and try getting to the far left as soon as possible cutting across everyones path.

[transam]

43 minutes ago, johng said:

 

 

If you do a U turn in a country that drives on the right then yes you end up in the "slow" lane...but In Thailand you U turn from "fast lane" into "fast lane" which is what makes it dangerous...even more so when slow coaches refuse to briskly accelerate and try getting to the far left as soon as possible cutting across everyones path.

Doing a U turn I go from the fast lane into the  U turn slow lane to then pick up speed to match those already in the fast lane now heading towards me......

If you turn into the fast lane then stuff will be bunching up behind you and undoubtedly undertake....

[johng]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

If you turn into the fast lane then stuff will be bunching up behind you and undoubtedly undertake...

It's ok (not illegal)  to "undertake" in Thailand.

Mostly the  people I see U turning straight into the slow lane are the large tour buses or Juggernauts who "bully" their way across the 3 or 4 lanes of traffic + they need that much space to make the turn.

 

Waiting for a clear space in 3-4 lanes can take a while...but if there is a space in the "fast lane"  U turn and then briskly accelerate whilst watching ( in the mirrors)  for opportunities to move to the left.

[Tayaout]

I tend to slowdown when I see some potential for danger. Of course that's just me and people around me get mad since there wasn't any accident yet! 

[transam]

Don't think it makes any difference here....????

[NokNokJoke]

If the slow vehicles cause that much of a problem for you, you are not paying attention, and/or a very bad driver. (Excluding unlit slow vehicles at night). If you've driven at all here you should have learned to expect vehicles or beasts going in any direction, at any time, with no indication there might be anything else on the road.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Just Weird]

On 10/2/2019 at 7:16 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

It would be good if there would be some kind of organization in Thailand to enforce the laws.

I heard they do this with success in other countries all over the world. 

There's a law concerning minimum speed limits or not driving fast on highways in Thailand that could be enforced?

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, NokNokJoke said:

If the slow vehicles cause that much of a problem for you, you are not paying attention, and/or a very bad driver.

"If the slow vehicles cause that much of a problem for you, you are...a very bad driver".

 

No, that can't be right; Thaivisa farangs are all, without exception, the world's best drivers.  I know that because they tell us that here on a daily basis.

[NokNokJoke]

And they have the big rimz to prove it!

"If the slow vehicles cause that much of a problem for you, you are...a very bad driver".
 
No, that can't be right; Thaivisa farangs are all, without exception, the world's best drivers.  I know that because they tell us that here on a daily basis.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Matzzon]

On 10/2/2019 at 2:16 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

It would be good if there would be some kind of organization in Thailand to enforce the laws.

I heard they do this with success in other countries all over the world. 

It´s soon coming. Just wait another 75 years. That part is included in Thailand 12.8

Edited October 4, 2019 by Matzzon

[MJKT2014]

On 10/2/2019 at 6:52 PM, cyril sneer said:

All the near misses i've had

You need to ask yourself why you've been exposed to so many near misses and mitigate quickly before an accident happens.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, NokNokJoke said:

If the slow vehicles cause that much of a problem for you, you are not paying attention, and/or a very bad driver. (Excluding unlit slow vehicles at night). If you've driven at all here you should have learned to expect vehicles or beasts going in any direction, at any time, with no indication there might be anything else on the road.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

I guess I wasn't paying attention the other day, or rather, I thought I was but I still had a near miss. 

 

On the Expressway I was checking my mirror and doing a shoulder check (blind spot) to pull from the middle lane to the right most lane. The car in front was doing about 60km (not that slow), I knew my approach speed as I check my mirror and shoulder checked, but I couldn't change lanes due to the approaching car in the outside lane, which, regardless of my indication signal clearly showed no intension of slowing or checking his speed to allow me to change lanes in front of him.

 

The car in front suddenly slowed further (it was a battered, beaten up old pickup), it was probably doing 40kmh by this time - I had to emergency brake. 

 

 

In short: Any vehicle who's speed varies significantly from the surrounding traffic poses a danger. On the Expressway where the speed limits are 120kmh, everyone should be doing 110 to 120 kmh where traffic permits. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[canuckamuck]

Slow driving is quite save for the slow driver, but very dangerous for the faster drivers. Up here in Chiang Rai about 10% of the drivers drive at a speed where they should be required to have a slow moving vehicle sign or flashers on. And almost none of them will move to the shoulder so you can get past. They own the road. Up here straight roads are few, and so are the passing lanes. The worst is the slow driver who take the right lane when you finally get to a passing lanes. The majority of highway accidents up here are the result of unsafe overtaking due to a uncooperative slow driver and someone who just had to get around a slower vehicle.

[Vacuum]

21 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I couldn't change lanes due to the approaching car in the outside lane, which, regardless of my indication signal clearly showed no intension of slowing or checking his speed to allow me to change lanes in front of him.

Why the hell should he? You're the one who want to change lanes, wait until it'safe to do so.

[richard_smith237]

39 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Why the hell should he? You're the one who want to change lanes, wait until it'safe to do so.

Quite an apt name: Vaccum - someone who things they live in a vacuum. 

 

I'll explain it to you: In a civilized world its common to give way to someone who indicates, letting them out in front of you rather than continuing to accelerate and aggressively blocking them.. This is just an example of the difference between driving on the expressways in the UK and in Bangkok. 

 

Why the hell should he [give way]??? I guess you think why the hell should you hold the door open for another person passing through behind you, or why the hell should you say thank you when a waitress brings your food etc... 'Why they hell should.....'  You are the problem and people like you cause animosity in the modern world. 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, canuckamuck said:

Slow driving is quite save for the slow driver, but very dangerous for the faster drivers. Up here in Chiang Rai about 10% of the drivers drive at a speed where they should be required to have a slow moving vehicle sign or flashers on. And almost none of them will move to the shoulder so you can get past. They own the road. Up here straight roads are few, and so are the passing lanes. The worst is the slow driver who take the right lane when you finally get to a passing lanes. The majority of highway accidents up here are the result of unsafe overtaking due to a uncooperative slow driver and someone who just had to get around a slower vehicle.

A few years back I had a harrowing and sobering experience in a Taxi on the Chaeng Wattana expressway at about 3am - Middle lane driving at about 50kmh... 

 

At night that road becomes a raceway with cars passing easily at 160kmh...  I had to ask the driver to drive on the far left. I'm not sure of the quality of his sight, but I guess his vision was shot. 

 

A scary encounter. If we were rear ended by a speeding car the approaching speeding car is obviously legally in the wrong, however, the slow Taxi was the one posing a great danger. 

[Vacuum]

16 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

In a civilized world its common to give way to someone who indicates, letting them out in front of you

You're right, but we are not living in a "civilized world", perhaps you picked the wrong country to live in?

[GarryP]

19 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Quite an apt name: Vaccum - someone who things they live in a vacuum. 

 

I'll explain it to you: In a civilized world its common to give way to someone who indicates, letting them out in front of you rather than continuing to accelerate and aggressively blocking them.. This is just an example of the difference between driving on the expressways in the UK and in Bangkok. 

 

Why the hell should he [give way]??? I guess you think why the hell should you hold the door open for another person passing through behind you, or why the hell should you say thank you when a waitress brings your food etc... 'Why they hell should.....'  You are the problem and people like you cause animosity in the modern world. 

 

 

 

Took my driving test on Sunday (passed), and in the pre-tests this issue came up a few times. If someone ahead of you indicates to move into your lane, you should slow down and let them in provided that the distance between vehicles is sufficient to safely do so.