A traveller from Europe recently took to the social site Reddit to share their experience of driving in Malaysia during their two weeks here.
Posting to the r/Malaysia subreddit, the tourist, Reddit user u/sfmclaughlin had some really kind words for the roads in our country and also praised Malaysian drivers as being very patient and friendly.
The tourist was impressed by Malaysian drivers
For illustration purposes
In the post titled “Some observations on Malaysia driving habits (from a European)”, u/sfmclaughlin shared that they recently visited Johor Bahru and Melaka and rented a car to get around.
Throughout the 2 weeks, they noticed that Malaysians are “so patient behind the wheel”. u/sfmclaughlin further elaborated,
“Although it seems you get way more traffic jams than we have back home and the lights stay on red for a lot longer here, I never saw any road rage or dickhead driving.”
For illustration purposes
Furthermore, the UK traveller added that Malaysians are so generous about letting people onto the main road or merging on the motorway.
u/sfmclaughlin lauded how pleasant this is, as they never had to “fight” their way into a road or lane as Malaysians just others in with a friendly wave.
For illustration purposes
Besides that, they also praised the roads in Malaysia as being well-designed, saying,
“If you want to turn left, there’s almost a separate lane for that so you don’t have to wait at the main traffic lights. Also if you want to turn right, there’s usually a dedicated lane so the people who want to go straight on aren’t stuck behind you.”
In the comments of the post, u/sfmclaughlin revealed that they’re from the United Kingdom and that it’s their second time in Malaysia, with the traveller also having driven in Penang before.
“This is not the Malaysia I know”
Speaking of the comments section, many Malaysians were sceptical of u/sfmclaughlin‘s experience as for most r/Malaysia visitors, what the traveller shared was far from what they experience on Malaysian roads daily.
In fact, one Redditor was so dumbfounded by the sharing that they asked, “Are you sure this is Malaysia?”
u/sfmclaughlin then replied that this was indeed their experience driving in Malaysia, asserting,
“Haha yes! You guys are underselling yourselves. It was a pleasure driving here (except the jams).
On the same comment thread, one commenter asked u/sfmclaughlin to come to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, saying that these two places are the complete opposite of what they experienced, with people constantly cutting in, not indicating when changing or exiting all the time.
The same sentiment was echoed by another Redditor in the comments, who also jokingly asked u/sfmclaughlin to come to Penang to experience the driving there.
However, u/sfmclaughlin said that they had in fact driven in Penang and while it was a “hot mess” with a big traffic jam taking hours to get anywhere, they claimed that drivers in Penang drove well.
Malaysian drivers seem to be allergic to using the indicator
With that in mind, u/sfmclaughlin did share instances of driving in Malaysia not being so nice during their time here.
In one comment, they said that a “twat” driver zoomed up right behind them and tailgated them while furiously switching on his right indicator. This was when u/sfmclaughlin was in the right-hand lane overtaking while driving at 120km/h, with the UK traveller lamenting how the driver couldn’t just wait for them to get past the row of cars in the left lane first.
Speaking of indicators, u/sfmclaughlin also shared how they noticed Malaysian drivers seem to be allergic to using their indicators throughout their 2 weeks in our country.
The traveller had also driven in 4 other countries
In a previous Reddit post on r/drivingUK, u/sfmclaughlin shared that they’ve driven in 4 separate countries outside of the United Kingdom. These include France, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Out of the 4, they shared that Taiwan was the most different as they drove on the right, with many scooters zipping in and out of lanes everywhere. They also shared that Taiwan’s car driving test was just a course in the car park.
u/sfmclaughlin further elaborated that Malaysia and Brunei are very easy for Brits since both countries have the same setup as the United Kingdom, including similar roundabouts and road markings.
So, what do you guys think of the sharing by the traveller about driving in Malaysia? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Also read: “Been here for 20 years” – English Uncle Speaks Fluent BM When Visiting Penang Nasi Kandar Outlet
