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Which lane to use as motorcyclist


Opossum

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25 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Whether this is the case in Pattaya

Motor Cyclists seem to go in whatever lane they want at traffic lights here. Where there is no barrier even the incoming lane to beat the others away from the light.......

 

That is when they bother to stop for the light in the first place.......

Edited by topt
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Thank you for all your replies. I was unsure, if Thai law consider the lane Nbr. 1 as lane in the picture. Therefore I asked my thai teacher and my colleague at school if Nbr. 1 is a shoulder = "emergency lane" and my teacher told me, that in Thailand emergency lanes do not exist. From Thai style point of view, she is probably correct because everyone is using it as lane and I was thinking about if I'm breaking any rules/ laws until now. It's completely insane driving on it - extremely dangerous in every aspect.

 

 

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I see a lot of Thai people using lane 1 to park their cars while they go and buy something which is illegal. 

 

It's for emergency parking and not for lazy people who don't want to park further away in proper parking bays.

 

Lane 1 is supposed to be for emergency but is informally used for motorcycles due to heavy traffic on lane 2 and 3.

 

If there is light traffic, then use lane 2. If there is medium to heavy traffic, use lane 1 which is normal in peak hours.

 

Never ever park your car in lane 1(like what some Thais do) except in an emergency breakdown.

Edited by EricTh
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Why I came up with this question is: Driving on almost empty roads like in the picture on lane Nbr. 2, some cars came very close on my side and are on my lane while  Nbr. 3 is completely empty like in the picture, as if they want to tell me, it's their lane and I should use the shoulder. This happens at least once a week. For a moment I was unsure about my sanity if signs and rules in Thailand are so much different to the rest of the world.

 

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1 hour ago, transam said:

I thought the "hard shoulder" was for m/bikes, our in town roads have them too for bikes, bikes overtake using them.

Can't remember the last time a m/bike overtook me on the right....????

yes... that would be an out of left field move eh wot 

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14 hours ago, Opossum said:

Thanks for any answers

My practical point of view.

Lane 1 in pix is a hard shoulder area use by people walking, bicycles, vehicle breakdowns and scooters/ Waves etc that want to stay to the left as far as possible out of the way of following traffic. 

 

Lane 2 in pix is the left inside lane of the dual carriageway road which most people should use and scooters/small motorbikes should kept to the inside left of the lane.

 

Lane 3 in pix is the outside lane which is supposed to be used for overtaking or moved into if wanting to exit the road at a junction for turning right.

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1 hour ago, jackdd said:

The problem is that some municipalities have no clue about the law and set up signs as shown below.

One sign says "use the hard shoulder", the other "ride on the hard shoulder". Obviously they are blue colored, which means it's just a recommendation, nothing you have to do.

The problem with this recommendation is, that if you follow it and ride on the hard shoulder (as a motorcycle), you are still breaking the law, these signs don't overrule it.

Many people do of course not know that these signs make no sense and are just wrong, but might believe that motorcycles should ride on the hard shoulder after seeing them.

 

s2.jpg.5ba41fbe260e3ec07c91b7c9ed036d10.jpg

Just shooting the breeze about traffic safety here...

 

The above road is single lane and undivided (no median barrier between oncoming traffic) which happens to be, statistically, the most dangerous highway there is. I suspect they've put up the "motorcycles use shoulder" signs in order to reduce the need for passing into oncoming traffic. The stretch of road also looks like it might have a fair amount of side streets, and maybe has times of day when sun reduces visibility which would further increase the passing danger, so having slower traffic use shoulder is trade-off for reducing the need for passing into oncoming traffic. I was not aware that blue signs were "advisory only."

 

Edited by Gecko123
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Good, interesting and varied debate so far. I do, and will continue to, ride in whatever lane I feel appropriate to avoid being killed by some maniac road user here. I rarely ever ride on the hard shoulder - what is referred to as "Lane 1" above as that's almost suicidal with people pulling out without looking, turning in front of you at the last minute with no indication or riding/driving wrong way against you! If it costs me a fine from the boys in brown then so be it.

 

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20 hours ago, Opossum said:

Thank you for all your replies. I was unsure, if Thai law consider the lane Nbr. 1 as lane in the picture. Therefore I asked my thai teacher and my colleague at school if Nbr. 1 is a shoulder = "emergency lane" and my teacher told me, that in Thailand emergency lanes do not exist. From Thai style point of view, she is probably correct because everyone is using it as lane and I was thinking about if I'm breaking any rules/ laws until now. It's completely insane driving on it - extremely dangerous in every aspect.

 

 

As long as you always stick to the proper outer lane you’re golden in terms of being fined. Having said that, in my opinion the outer lane is the most dangerous because the sois go off it, vehicles come in and out, busses, taxis and motorcycles taxis stop on them so you have to weave around them and swerve into the second lane with traffic coming from behind. I always used the second lane and every now and then I got caught and forked out a little something and that was it. More often than not, they even let me go without a fine when I told them I didn’t know, but that doesn’t work in touristy places like Pattaya or when it’s a proper police checkpoint with lots of cops at hand. 

Edited by pacovl46
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