Farang pedestrians..Grrr

[usual suspect]

Time after time when driving or riding my honda I have to stop for Farangs crossing the roads with blatantly no regard for on-coming traffic..they stroll down the middle of the Poolsuk Rd, exercise no caution when crossing, just carry on talking and walk straight out in front of you as if THEY own the road here...
OK..is there one country in Europe where this is the norm??
Is this just a 'Skandi-on-holiday' action..?
Do these folk do it in their own towns/cities back 'home'..?? (somehow I think not).
Are the Farangs doing the same in Pattaya & Patong..??
Is it just me that as a youngster was taught to wait on the pavement till there was nothing
coming..then proceed.
(If you hear of an irrate motorcyclist blowing his horn & shouting 'get out of the f***in' road
it may be my good self.. )
OK, another rant over with..

[H2ODunc]

They are exactly the same here on Samui. They stroll down the road 2-3 abreast and simply ignore you. I now toot the horn early and if they don't move I simply ride into them slowly.
It must be a holiday thing. A bit like you see them riding round in the p@ssing rain with just a pair of flip flops and some shades. Fcuking idiots.

[Roel]

Are the Farangs doing the same in Pattaya & Patong..??

yes

[PeteC]

In Pattaya they spent a fortune putting in crosswalks with controlled pedestrian lights on Beach Road and I think second road. The problem there is that the drivers don't stop when the pedestrian has the green walking light and they have the red. Per reports there seems to have been more accidents since they put them in than before. I've noticed on a few recent trips that they are now turned off. $$$ up the blow hole yet again for something that could have been really good if drivers had any sense of responsibility and safety. Pete

[dtaai-maai]

..they stroll down the middle of the Poolsuk Rd,

Yes, they really should stick to the pavement.

[Big Boy]

Surely, this just re-enforces the need to pedestrianise that area to make it safer all around. Of course, pedestrianisation wouldn't include motorcycles, who are a law unto themselves anyway, and probably amongst the most dangerous road users in the world.

[samman]

If there is room on the pavement between food stalls / tuk tuk shops, bar girls, motorcycles, street signs, trees and other farangs! Pedestrianise it and it becomes another market!!

[hhfarang]

I can understand Americans doing this, but is Europe the same? In America, pedestrians always have the right of way. If they step off the curb (in most states) you have to stop. My father got a ticket in California when I was a kid and we were there on vacation for passing a pedestrian that had one foot on the road.

[Big Boy]

If there is room on the pavement between food stalls / tuk tuk shops, bar girls, motorcycles, street signs, trees and other farangs! Pedestrianise it and it becomes another market!!

No, pedestrianise it and it becomes a safer market - the function does not change. You will never stop the ignorant motorcycle riders though.

[Big Boy]

I can understand Americans doing this, but is Europe the same? In America, pedestrians always have the right of way. If they step off the curb (in most states) you have to stop.

Maybe the OP could not see the stars and stripes tattoo on the foreheads of the 'Skandis-on-holiday' - I'm not sure how you determine a person's nationality while you are maneuvering your motorcycle through a road heavily congested by pedestrians.

[hhfarang]

I guess it just depends on what the driving rules were where you grew up. I stop for pedestrians.

[Lung Per]

In Scandinavia pedestrians have the right of way (or at least they think so and act accordingly). They are not used to the reckless drivers in Thailand. Thai traffic rules (or lack of same) come as a big surprise to first-time visitors.
If the pavements were fit for walking people would use them.

[STEVE G]

The thing is HH, in Europe now many city centre areas are pedestrianised to some degree and for the average tourist walking into the centre of town that's exactly what it looks like once you get onto Poonsuk, particularly as the narrow streets around that part of town discourage anything bigger than a tuk-tuk or motorbike. The street restaurants on the left soon block that pavement when busy and once a few people start walking in the street I think people just assume it's a pedestrian area as that is what it looks like.

[H2ODunc]

I can understand Americans doing this, but is Europe the same? In America, pedestrians always have the right of way. If they step off the curb (in most states) you have to stop. My father got a ticket in California when I was a kid and we were there on vacation for passing a pedestrian that had one foot on the road.

Are you sure you have that right ? if he was on a pedestrian crossing I can understand but I was under the impression that crossing the road anywhere other than an official crossing was jaywalking in the USA and you can be fined for it ?

[hhfarang]

^ Depends on the state laws.