Driving in Bangkok!

[pachangamac042]

Hmm, Sean, you say more cars and respect may be the solution! Well, I do not really agree with you on this one. I personally would like to see more drivers wearing safety bells and helmets. More checks for drinking and driving and serious periodical technical checks for vehicles.

An other important thing could be, to explain Thai people, that traffic laws are not just suggestions and Buddha amulets are not really life savers.

[Sean Moran]

Hmm, Sean, you say more cars and respect may be the solution! Well, I do not really agree with you on this one. I personally would like to see more drivers wearing safety bells and helmets. More checks for drinking and driving and serious periodical technical checks for vehicles.

An other important thing could be, to explain Thai people, that traffic laws are not just suggestions and Buddha amulets are not really life savers.

In the carparks at the shopping centres in Thailand, motorcycles are forced to park in enclosed spaces.

When you are on the road in a car, and there is a motorbike in your way, and you have to get around because the speed limit is too slow and you are late for your next whatever, imagine that the motorbike that you are just about to swipe with your side mirror is the size of a Toyota Corolla and swerve accordingly, and everybody will be happy.

Commuting in a big city is very dangerous and every possible safety measure that you can imagine should be enforced! We should have mandatory blood/alcohol testing at EVERY major highway to stop those drunks from driving and make them wear helmets and protective clothing to stop them from getting blood on the bonnets of our Mercedes that we have to clean off later, but above all that rat's arse basket nanny-state rhetoric, just RESPECT the other people that you share the roads with. Some of us are not as big as you Corolla drivers.

[villager]

Hmm, Sean, you say more cars and respect may be the solution! Well, I do not really agree with you on this one. I personally would like to see more drivers wearing safety bells and helmets. More checks for drinking and driving and serious periodical technical checks for vehicles.

An other important thing could be, to explain Thai people, that traffic laws are not just suggestions and Buddha amulets are not really life savers.

Hi Mac, the snaps were a gas!, another problem here is that the so called "driving" test is a joke, you are not tested for road sense of any sort simply because you are not tested on public roads but on something which resembles a Go Kart track which by any standards is highly unsatisfactory from a safety point of view, also there must be literally hundreds of thousands of kids as young as 10 , no tuition , no license , no safety helmet , no insurance, riding machine,s (many times 3 and 4 up) capable of over 100KPH completely unhindered on Thailand,s roads, , Sean Compares Thailand with OZZ , this is were any comparison come,s to a shuddering stop in my opinion , and as you rightly say a "serious " annual check on both Motorbikes and all vehicles at approved Govt testing centres similar to what we have in the west would be of immense help in the interests of road safety these centres would be of course self funding or could even be run at a profit through a fee being charged for the testing,s .

[Sean Moran]

Hmm, Sean, you say more cars and respect may be the solution! Well, I do not really agree with you on this one. I personally would like to see more drivers wearing safety bells and helmets. More checks for drinking and driving and serious periodical technical checks for vehicles.

An other important thing could be, to explain Thai people, that traffic laws are not just suggestions and Buddha amulets are not really life savers.

Hi Mac, the snaps were a gas!, another problem here is that the so called "driving" test is a joke, you are not tested for road sense of any sort simply because you are not tested on public roads but on something which resembles a Go Kart track which by any standards is highly unsatisfactory from a safety point of view, also there must be literally hundreds of thousands of kids as young as 10 , no tuition , no license , no safety helmet , no insurance, riding machine,s (many times 3 and 4 up) capable of over 100KPH completely unhindered on Thailand,s roads, ,

Thank you for mentioning this factual information once more. It is good that you make sure that everyone remembers this.

Sean Compares Thailand with OZZ , this is were any comparison come,s to a shuddering stop in my opinion , ...

Can you explain what you mean by a comparison coming to a shuddering stop. Do you mean that comparisons of the situation on the roads between two different countries are invalid? I can't quite work out where you expect to find any answers to these problems if you're not prepared to examine alternatives.

[villager]

Hi Sean, the shuddering stop in the comparisons is that in OZZ you do not have the situation of 100s of thousands of young kids riding motorcycles on a daily basis I would have thought that it was self evident, also the cops in OZZ are "on the ball" here they just could not care less one way or the other , the word "complacency" springs readily to mind. '

[Sean Moran]

Hi Sean, the shuddering stop in the comparisons is that in OZZ you do not have the situation of 100s of thousands of young kids riding motorcycles on a daily basis I would have thought that it was self evident,

I'm not sure quite how to work with that logic. You have just confirmed almost precisely what the comparison was intended to show. You have come to a shuddering stop at a green light.

also the cops in OZZ are "on the ball" here they just could not care less one way or the other , the word "complacency" springs readily to mind. '

Now you are just getting completely bizarre in your generalisations. Don't forget to tell us all about the ones who ride on the wrong side of the road around a corner near your house in the middle of the night, will you?

[pachangamac042]

that traffic laws are not just suggestions

villager, I at least got your message, but please do not repeat it every post. I guess that most in here agree that kids and bikes do not go together. There are laws telling you the minimum age to drive a bike LEGALY.

[Ian]

I think one problem is that some families could not function if they obeyed the law. Every morning I see an 8 year old boy go at 6.30am with his father to his father's workplace. 30 mins later he returns solo on this motorbike and takes his mum to work. He then returns again and takes himself and his two sisters to school. At the end of the day the process repeats in reverse.

[pachangamac042]

Exactly Ian, when I am in da village, I see almost every day, a young kid maybe aged 8 driving his drunk tuktuk driver dady home. Sometimes, when the dady is mao, then the son drives the tuktuk. Much more cool then school.

[villager]

Exactly Ian, when I am in da village, I see almost every day, a young kid maybe aged 8 driving his drunk tuktuk driver dady home. Sometimes, when the dady is mao, then the son drives the tuktuk. Much more cool then school.

Yeah Mac, one see,s similar incidents here on a regular basis, of course I stand corrected but I seem to remember Sean having a rather nasty accident here on his motor cycle which led him to be hospitalized for quite some time, here in Thailand it is extremely difficult to predict the unpredictable , Maybe Sean was one of the lucky one,s cos in the 5 years i,ve lived here I know of 4 farangs who have lost their lives , a German, a Norwegian , an Austrian and a young English guy , the old saying that you "never know what is around the corner" holds very true here , and I find it rather odd that some members should defend the "Thai" way of riding or driving , when statistics prove that Thailands roads are far from as safe as in the west both for road conditions and those who use them either by Car or Motorcycle.