bad driving in thailand

[colin howard]

as an ex driving instructor of some 20 years ,i cannot believe how ANYBODY can live beyond the age of 40 years who drives a car or motorcycle in thailand ,it seems to me that everyone has a death wish ,you are supposed to drive on the left here ,oh yeah thats not until you go round a blind right hander , the overtaking proceedures leave a lot to be desired cos everyone and that includes the police drive in the middle of the road ,and if you want to overtake it HAS to be on the left ,the rear view mirrow of course is just for rearangeing your lipstick or hair ,just can,t wait for songkran when loads of drunken \\\ ///// all over thailand throw the leavings of a buffalo wallow directly into the face of a passing motorcyclists face while the cops stand by doing naff all ,first and foremost the cops have to be educated on safe driving practise ,then and only then will the endless carnage on the roads of thailand subside.

[thaimad]

Ha Ha ,, I commented on this several months ago,
The thai police could not control a runny nose let alone stupid drivers. I'm afraid lack of respect for the law and other road users is ingrained in thai's, take samui , where there is a helmet law, the last 3 times i went there 90% of riders were helmetless.
The police set up check points , most probably when their beer money is getting low. or before some fat council member decides to slink by.
I live in suratthani and too their credit the police do enforce the helmet law..it is the ignornant thais who disregard the law and think it is a joke to remove their helmets after passing these checkpoints.If they fell off there scooters they might have a big change of heart.
As long as the police , Govt and parents allow 8-14 year olds to ride motorcycles on the road then the problem will remain.

[a passerby]

7 days new years holidays, 475 people were dead. 80 % was involved by motorcycles.
small passenger cars accidents were merely 5 %.
However Thai government announced drunken drives were about 30% and 80% were between village to village road, not in highway.

Therefore, drunken driving on highway by passenger cars is trivial.

They spent immense government budget and policemen on the highway.

That was TRT's unimpressive performance and today liquor ad ban is still on topics.

Look at the hua hin train smashing that was caused by negligence on on-time swifting rails. Such unlaughable thing happen in Thailand. Be careful only you to protect you on road.

[colin howard]

yeah passerby a real sad story but oh so true ,but i think you omitted one small fact,and that is you should have said REPORTED accidents cos i reckon there must have been DOUBLE the amount ,cos after all do you honestly think a driver or motorcyclist drunk out of his or her skull ,no licence ,no insurance and miles away from nowhere would rush to the nearest police station at 2 am to report it!!,in closeing i am in no way condenming your excellent posting ,just thought i ,d bring it to everyone,s attention thats all ,regards ,colin

[colin howard]

yeah thaimad ,know what you mean about samui with the helmets ,its an absolute joke ain,t it , i see on BP forum they have a section on CHILD ABUSE ,to be quite candid i can think of no greater way to abuse a child than to buy him or her a motorcycle capable of 120 kilo,s an hour when the are only 10 years old and leave them to the tender mercy,s of all the other maniacs who use the roads here in thailand ,i don,t know what the legal age is ,but then again neither do the cops ,i,ve noticed that many young thais are bordering on obesity these days ,and i,m sure 10 kliks a day on a bycle would be far more benificial and less dangerous to all concerned .

[AD]

Thaimad ............i quickly learned on Samui that when you see locals with helmets on, it was time to put mine on . They know when the police are looking for extra pocket money !

[Cyril Chastanet]

II was really shocked to see someone writing about bad driving in Thailand, I lived in Pathumtani Thailand from 1990 to 2004 and found the bad driving was no different from other parts of the world as I went abroad on holiday during my stay, but after returning to UK in 2004 I found UK drivers very bombastic and aggressive always in a nasty mood.If you made a slight mistake while driving,

This was never so when I drove in Thailand, other drivers were always tolerant unless you were aggressive in your behaviour. In UK lots of road rage incidents take place over simple mistakes made by other drivers. While driving in Thailand people would sometimes cut in front of me, I did the same to them at times but never had anyone overtaken to threaten me. Road rage is common in the UK, If a traffic Light goes green and you do not move off straight away they have their hands on the horn like mad people behave. (khon baa)

If you drive in UK these days you have to be take lessons in self defence as there are \\\ ///// who will blow their horn non stop, or come and attack you if you stop to let an old lady in difficulty cross the road, that is how bad it is now.
I have now sold my car as lots of people in London drive without licence or Insurance, or drive when high on drugs. Some of those expats who come to Thailand and write rubbish should look at their own back yard before they condemn drivers in Thailand. The standards of driving world wide is in decline, people are very intolerant to others but this intolerance is not so prevalent in Thailand, as I drove virtually every day when I lived here, but if I made a mistake I never had a road rage incident.

[colin howard]

hi cyril ,a lot of what you say is quite true ,road rage is on the increase in the uk without a doubt ,but the big problem here in thailand is that no one knows who is driving like a complete maniac ,so theres no road rage ,its quite normal here to make a left hand turn to meet head on some smiling \\\ ///// turning right on YOUR side of the road ,i,ve seen first hand the thai driving test and believe me its an absolute joke , in the uk we don,t have 10 years olds riding 4 up on a honda 125 capable of 125 kliks an hour for a start ,we don,t have 20 school kids sat on the ROOF of a bus ,we have got speed camera,s everywhere ,and at traffic lights too ,also our police are almost unbribleable ,here it counts as part of there salary , and i,ve never in my 3 years here seen a driving school , also i suggest that you research how many thais are killed in accidents in comparision to the uk, you will find its ten fold ,in closeing because the uk is such a multiracial sociaty these days you will also find out that many acts of sensless driving are done by immigrants and asylum seekers .

[colin howard]

hi cyril ,just thought i,d draw a few things to your attention about the standard of driving here in thailand ,shortly song kran is upon us and all over thailand gangs of drunken morens throw the leavings of a buffalo wallow directly into the face of a passing motorcyclist ,of course the cops stand by and do naff all even though there are more than 500 killed over the holiday period ,do you honestly think a stupid practise like this would be allowed in the uk ?,and for sure the crash helmet law is an absolute joke , as far as i,m concerned the thais need outside assistance to stem the endless carnage on the roads in thailand .

[colin howard]

cyril ,i await your reply to my last 2 postings ,is what i say truth or fact ?.