Hazard Ahead

[aletta]

In this neck of the woods,Nong Khai,the locals use their hazard lights to indicate they wish to proceed straight ahead.Now is there a signal i don't know about for warning of a hazard in the road ahead?

[Dragonman]

In this neck of the woods,Nong Khai,the locals use their hazard lights to indicate they wish to proceed straight ahead.Now is there a signal i don't know about for warning of a hazard in the road ahead?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same around here in Sattahip. When I tell people that's the hazard warning indicator, they give me that "another stupid farang" look, even my wife does They seem to put a large tree branch on the road as a hazard warning sign.

[aletta]

They seem to put a large tree branch on the road

Yes and normally right across the motorcycle lane.

[dereklev]

They seem to put a large tree branch on the road

Yes and normally right across the motorcycle lane.

Or park a Tuk Tuk Truck in the middle of the road, either just round a bend or just over the brow of a hill! !

[aletta]

Sometimes i am sure the driver ahead is doing some kind of semaphore with his indicators but i'm not up on the code.Is the left indicator flashing a sign not to overtake?

[Gazza]

They seem to put a large tree branch on the road

Yes and normally right across the motorcycle lane.

And when the obstacle is cleared the branch/oil can/large rock always remains.

Sometimes i am sure the driver ahead is doing some kind of semaphore with his indicators but i'm not up on the code.Is the left indicator flashing a sign not to overtake?

The vehicle in front may indicate left if they think someone behind them wishes to overtake. It tells you that the way ahead is clear of immediate oncoming traffic.

If you are edging out all the time trying to overtake the vehicle in front and they indicate right, it normally means that it's not safe to do so because of oncoming traffic.

Beware though, it's not always a case of telling you that it's ok to overtake or not. Sometimes they indicate when they themselves want to turn or overtake.

Edited August 7, 2005 by Gazza

[Thetyim]

I agree with Gazza's explaination of the code but can you tell me what it means when they flash once to the left and once to the right.

I still haven't worked that on out.

[Crossy]

I agree with Gazza's explaination of the code but can you tell me what it means when they flash once to the left and once to the right.

I still haven't worked that on out.

Heaven only knows, a left-right flash in the UK is a trucker 'thanks' usually in response to a headlight flash that they can return to the nearside lane after passing a slower truck.

I treat all signals as my driving instuctor taught me 'the only thing an indicator tells you is that it works'.

[justsignedin]

In this neck of the woods,Nong Khai,the locals use their hazard lights to indicate they wish to proceed straight ahead.Now is there a signal i don't know about for warning of a hazard in the road ahead?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Normally it is a policeman in the road telling you that the person in front using his hazard lights to go straight on, has since had a major problem and decided to indicate left( purely because he is left handed ) and then made a swift right turn. Into the smallest oncoming vehicle he can see.

[aletta]

Nice to know what the semaphore means but i certainly would not trust the message.By the time the truck has got to Nong Khai from Bangkok the driver is probably on his second yar bar.

[simon43]

I never understand why they put the tree only about 1 metre behind the vehicle that has broken down. By the time you see the tree you have hit the vehicle...

[Jai Dee]

I agree with Gazza's explaination of the code but can you tell me what it means when they flash once to the left and once to the right.

I still haven't worked that on out.

I see this a lot, as I work in a portside industrial estate where there is a lot of heavy truck traffic...

As far as I've been able to determine, if you're approaching from behind, it means that the vehicle in front has spotted you and is not going to change lanes for you to overtake just yet... he may be in the process of overtaking another slower moving vehicle or may have spotted a vehicle pulling out onto the road in front of him and he doesn't want to change lanes yet... either way, it is a courteous act of acknowledgement that you are behind him.

I think...

[Gazza]

I agree with Gazza's explaination of the code but can you tell me what it means when they flash once to the left and once to the right.

I still haven't worked that on out.

The left and right flash code I've only seen while driving around Norway and Sweden. Usually after I had pulled over slightly to allow someone behind overtake me.

Here, I've seen a few times (always women surprisingly enough) flashing left and right or vice versa while trying to park. I assumed the driver simply didn't know their left from right.

[p_brownstone]

A common signal up-country is for trucks in the opposite, oncoming, lane (on the Highways) to flash their lights - this is a warning to cars on your side of the road that there is a police checkpoint up ahead.

Patrick

[aletta]

A common signal up-country is for trucks in the opposite, oncoming, lane (on the Highways) to flash their lights - this is a warning to cars on your side of the road that there is a police checkpoint up ahead.

Yep,they use that in Udon and Nong Khai to warn of speed traps.

[Diggerbasher]

Thais are great at letting you know of police traps but you try crossing a zebra crossing without fear of being mowed down.

[corkscrew]

In this neck of the woods,Nong Khai,the locals use their hazard lights to indicate they wish to proceed straight ahead.Now is there a signal i don't know about for warning of a hazard in the road ahead?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My wife tells me that this is how it is done in Ayutthay too.

[loong]

In this neck of the woods,Nong Khai,the locals use their hazard lights to indicate they wish to proceed straight ahead.Now is there a signal i don't know about for warning of a hazard in the road ahead?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why do you need a signal.

You are driving in Thailand

Anytime you can be 99.99% certain that there is a hazard in the road ahead.

[aletta]

You are so.so not wrong.