Bangkok Taxi Drivers are shit.
Can anyone shed light on why it is that so many Bangkok taxi drivers make their foot go up and down on the pedals almost as though they are pumping? I believe its well over 50% of drivers. It cannot be explained by traffic jam alone. We all know for best fuel economy we should keep foot steady, avoiding sudden accelerations and decelerations. I usually cannot see the feet at night but sometimes in daytime can actually see the foot go up and down frequently on accerelator and brakes.
The result of accelerate, decelerate, so jerkily and so frequently is a very poor ride for the passenger, being thrown forward and backward in the seat due to change of momentum. So taxi is continually lurching. Not only do they change level of acceleration, but they do it too quickly causing very jerky movement. It is less noticeable to a driver as his unconscious brain control is doing it.
I can only guess its a bad habit caused by trying to ensure that there is no gap from the car in front so that another car cannot encroach into the gap. However drivers are still doing it even when there is a very large gap to the car in front. At first I thought might be something to do with gas fuel used.
Even in my home country was on a freeway with low traffic and had a Vietnamese driver. He wore white socks, so could easily see his foot on accelerator going up and down every few seconds. He was driving a petrol engine Toyota Prius Hybrid drive. For fule economy its best to drive smoothly without sudden changes in acceleration.
I reckon most of the drivers would fail a driving license test in my country, because they just drive so badly and don't seem to know they are doing it.