JPJ reminds drivers how to correctly use hazard lights

Jonathan James Tan · July 1 2026 Link copiedShare×Link copied!

Here goes the road transport department (JPJ) again with another public reminder, this time to do with hazard lights. Colloquially known in Malaysia as ‘danger lights’, ’emergency lights’ and ‘double signals’, this feature, activated usually by pushing a button with a white double triangle on a bright red background, still sees its fair share of misuse among drivers.

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The primary job of hazard lights is to warn other motorists of, well, hazards. Like a stationary vehicle. If your vehicle has broken down, is stranded by the roadside or is involved in an accident that renders it immovable, you turn the hazard lights on to draw attention and make yourself more visible. This lowers the risk of you getting hit by other vehicles inadvertently.

Hazard lights are to be used only when the vehicle is stationary. They may not be used when the vehicle is moving (we’re looking at you, wedding convoys), including when driving in the rain. This is because when the hazard lights are on, your directional indicators (turn signals) do not work, so other motorists will know nothing about your intentions. The increased danger as a result of this far outweighs the perceived higher visibility that comes from using hazard lights in the rain.

JPJ also says hazard lights are not to be used when “berhenti seketika untuk mengambil atau menurunkan penumpang” (stopping briefly to pick up or drop off passengers), which has us scratching our heads a bit, but perhaps the “di tempat yang tidak dibenarkan” (where it is not allowed) proviso that follows suggests that one should not be doing that in the first place, hazard lights or not. And obviously, the Japanese gesture of flashing one’s hazards twice to say thank you is not officially in the Malaysian highway code.

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Filed under:
Local News, Safety