Bristolian wrote:...... Approx 250,000 stopped and charged for DUI!!! WT.....F.
I hope someone, somewhere is studying this. Are the majority of these DUI's long term Bangkok residents, migrant to Bangkok for work, Issan residents, South, North etc. There's much to be learned from understanding offenders economic background and if the sense of hopelessness due to economic or social conditions that prevails here with many Thais is a factor. You need to know and address these things if you're going to develop any long term solutions. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
I learned my Thai wife to drive and I feel very safe when she drives around,how can you be a good driver if you never have learn to drive and how the car react in different condition or situation ?
I drove down from Kanchanaburi earlier today. Traffic was heavy in places, but moving steadily. As usual, there was the idiot faction, but what I've never seen before was every idiot was driving a Ford Ranger (and I'm not including myself in that ). Some of them were actually trying to bully other drivers out of the way. It was if they were trying to say my car is bigger than your car - get out of the way. I simply kept my distance, and watched the idiot element.
This behavior is normally reserved for Fortuner drivers, but it was well and truly the Ford Rangers that took the award today.
Deadly consequences of doing things the 'Thai way' ..........................
The Thai word for this is mak ngai. It may be translated roughly to English as the predisposition to take an easy way out without regard to consequences or others (and often to oneself as well).
Simply put, it's a "me first and me only" attitude.
And I wish I had a dollar for every time the following has caused an argument!(Bangkok Post letters)
Khun Wasant's April 22 article on the root causes of Thailand's motor accidents is right on. I wanted to add the observation that the "me first and me only" attitude begins very early when children are taught, or allowed, to leave their sandals, or shoes, directly in front of doors.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Over a decade ago a friend of mine published an interesting book (Siam Smile/s) which was released with a very silly cover and which wasn't taken very seriously. He spoke constantly about the Me First/Me Only attributes of Thai psyche and how they influence almost every aspect of Thai behavior. Once you become conscious of this you begin to see it everywhere, from driving to pushing your cart down an aisle at Tesco. The shoes, mentioned above, are another interesting example.
Keep those concepts in mind as you navigate every days' WTF moments.
Today my wife received her second traffic-cam citation in the mail. The first, a few months back, was for going through a red light here in Korat. The second was for going 111 in a 90 zone in Saraburi on our way to Cha Am.
This is the sort of enforcement that you rarely see out on the road, perhaps because everyone knows it wouldn't work if it were face-to-face, cop and driver. The impersonality of the traffic camera goes a ways toward eliminating the possibility of hanky-panky. The fine is a bit steep (1000 baht) and requires a police-station visit; both of which, I hope, are deterrents. We'll see.
If the cameras are to be believed! I recently received a ticket from a drive through Samut Sakhon claiming a speed that my car is unable to do and being followed by a Tuk-tuk just a couple of feet from my exhaust pipe. The fine is so low that it's not worth the trouble challenging it.
Friday, late afternoon, I drove to HH as usual from Bangkok. The traffic was heavier than usual with delays and traffic jams all the way.
A little way past Samut Sakhon the traffic was much heavier than normal. There were a lot of high end sports cars and modified saloons zig zagging through the contested traffic, at very high speed with their hazard lights flashing and some with cameras mounted from the passenger side window.
In the distance I could see lots of flashing lights and ahead of the flashing lights the road was clear. Trucks and cars had taken to the hard shoulder and it was chaos, an accident if not many were in the making
After many kilometres I got close enough to the flashing lights to identify the issue. In the middle lane was a large van towing a sports car on a short tow rod. I film crew were strapped in the back of the van filming the car in tow and various other high performance cars as they zig zagged past. The film crew had a car stationed in both the outside and inside lanes to hold up the traffic. The only way past was on the hard shoulder.
There of course were no police cars present and no signs or warning vehicles indicating the hazard ahead.
I assume that film crews need permits to film in public places........I wonder what bl**dy idiot issued their permit, if indeed they had one. I passed at least one patrol car parked on the hard shoulder but they as usual did not react.
I have seldom experienced such a potentially dangerous situation
"'The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain
curlybaggie wrote:Some of the stunts that some English drivers pull off are beyond belief as well, there are bad drivers all over the world.
Absolutely agree. However, there's no disputing that Thailand is the 2nd worst in the world behind Namibia. Is this just a horrible distortion of the facts or are Thais really bad drivers. I go for the second option.
Many Thais drive without licences with absolutely no training. No problem. A small fine sorts that. Even common sense seems be missing in the average Thai driver. If the traffic is heavy then fill up the road by using the hard shoulder, bicycle lanes, narrowing 2 lanes into 3. Not a thought for access for emergency vehicles hence accidents in heavy traffic gets no help because of the stupid and inconsiderate drivers on the roads here.
Yes, there are bad drivers in every country but if you want to compare them you will find Thailand claims the majority of bad drivers.
I wonder which is the definitive list of most dangerous countries to drive in. In the attached the Dominican republic is worst followed by Thailand. I had previously read Libya is the worst.
Interestingly Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that performs no mandatory safety audit/inspections for new or existing road. Source WHO
I also can't believe Tajikistan is one of the safest, maybe in the cities but not in the countryside
"Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right." Muhammad Ali
ste860 wrote:to be honest ive tought about this and its not only the driving ,in the uk its like a nanny state and one of the reason i liked it enough to move here was its alot easier to drive and infact do most things here without being told what to do and when to do it
can anyone who drives here alot and i do , i cover 1000,s kms every year here say they have always worn a helmet ,never drove after a beer or 4 ,done a illegal u turn,speeding
etc etc
done it and thought its only a 200-400 baht fine so stuff it ,compared with the uk its great here
Yeah that's great that you don't drink and drive, wear your helmet, don't turn illegally. It's not what YOU do is it. It's what everyone else is doing. Lets see how quick your reactions are when a lorry is driving right at you and doesn't see you at the intersection and plow's right into you.
Is your helmet going to help you then, and the fact that you were not drinking ??
"If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." - Albert Einstein, 1936
). Some of them were actually trying to bully other drivers out of the way. It was if they were trying to say my car is bigger than your car - get out of the way. I simply kept my distance, and watched the idiot element.
