bad driving in thailand

[colin howard]

cyril ,after your initial outburst of pure BS about the quality of driving here in thailand and the lack of it in the uk ,you have fell strangely silent on my follow up mails ,so could please grace us all with your undoubted knowledge about the subject ,cos i for one can,t wait ,of course silence only confirms what 99.99% of us farangs think about thai driving ,over to you ,regards ,colin .

[Farang Noi]

Yip, sorry Cyril, but I have to agree with Mr Howard on this.

You cannot use road rage as a basis of comparison. Road rage is caused in the UK because the vast majority of drivers can actually drive, granted they should not get so incensed when they witness an act of lunacy, but such is life.

The problem with Thailand is that random acts of lunacy are the norm, not the exception.

Why?

One reason is the mai pben rai attitude, which in most parts of Thai life isn't a problem, but when applied to driving, someone will die.

Secondly is the inability of most Thais to think beyond the immediate. I don't think the Thai language has the equivalent of "What if"....... i.e. "there wasn't a car coming the other way yesterday, but what if there is today" is a thought process completely unknown here.

Thirdly. Every vehicle has been blessed at the local Wat, therefore the chance of it being involved in an accident is impossible....... go see any car scrap heap, make a note of the symbols, make sure you don't get the same ones.

And lastly, the Boys in Brown, bless them. Not only are their driving skillss no better than the publics, but they have no incentive to enforce the law, other than to line their own pockets.

So what is the solution?

Well you are not going to fix things overnight for a start and it is unlikely that you will ever remove the unshakeable belief in the mystic runes or the mai pben rai attitude.

But here is a start. Pay the Police a descent salary, a salary good enough to make the bribes unnecessary.

Get them some real driver education and make them enforce that, and the traffic laws, on the public.

Offer a reward if they can prove that a fellow officer is 'fiddling the till'

If an officer is found to be skimming a bit off the top. SACK THEM, don't just move them to an inactive post on full salary.

If all traffic offences were penalised correctly it would generate enough income to pay a real police force.

T.I.T ..... it'll never happen.

Regards

Farang Noi

[Claude]

Hi Cyril,

You're perfectly right: the thai drive much better than anyone else in the world.

That's why they've been teach "never overtake when you see see a car coming in front of you".

Results: they will overtake short before a 90 degree ou 180 degree bend or just before reaching the top of the hill. That's safe because you cannot see anybody coming in front of you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They will never use the brakes (sure brakes are expensive in Thailand). So they will basically cut your way when coming from a side road, even if they drive a big truck doing less than 10 kph and you're driving at 80 kph !!!!!!!!!!!!!

They will never switch on the lights of their car before it's really night. The lights are only to see not to be seen or maybe they think that they will get an extra charge on the next electricity bill !!!!!!!!

Cheers

Claude

[colin howard]

well well thaimad ,passerby ,farang noi,and claude, our friend cyril has gone strangely silent on the subject at which he had so much to say about ,i can only conclude that he do,s not want to appear more brain dead than he did before ,cos after all 14 years on the road with these lunatics must have impaired his judgement somewhat.

[a.b]

The other day i sat on beach road and watched the police stop all farangs for not wearing helmets on motorbikes, of course thai riders were waved on, typical attitude of thai police and thai people...farang BIG MONEY

[CC KING]

Hi all , I live out in the country, lots of dirt roads. My 11yo son drives our bike very well, and we dont wear helmets driving near the house. It's wrong I know. Since Im a nurse and have many years working the emergency dept I know first hand, I stop at all accidents and have cared for many. I have seen up to 5 on a bike, the baby is in the basket.
I took my sister inlaw to the DMV. It was a very intresting day I must say. Did she pass? NO! not even close. But I have to admit they do have a good driving class that should prepare them for driving but aftter awhile and wacthing everybody else on the road with bad driving habits they pick up the same habits. My brother inlaw drives down the middle of the road, It makes me nuts. But so does the bus drive down the middle of the road.
So what is the big fix???? The Police need to be paid better and worry about thier good paying jobs when they dont do thier jobs.
SIMPLE HUH?

[CC KING]

As for giving Thai fokes a ticket, most of them will not or can not pay the ticket so why bother, unless they are driving a new car.

[colin howard]

hi ////// ,i think whats needed here in thailand is public information adds on tv on safe driving practises cos as we are both aware most thai,s are too poor to afford driving lessons thats if they can find a non existant driving school , problem is of course is that bad driving is passed from father to son as you remarked in your posting ,i don,t know what the answer is but a good start would be to educate the police ,and maybe do something at school by watching video,s etc,regards ,colin .

[IAMSAM]

Driving here is thrilling and I enjoy the fact that police barely enforce the rules and break them likewise. I can drive fast yet safe, get no ticket and feel the rush of the moment. If I wanted to drive safe and slow I could always drive down to Singapore.....

You crusty old farts need to let your upcountry 'partners' do your driving for you. Until you learn to live-and-let-live, you will never appreciate that which is Thai.

[colin howard]

hi ////// ,i can only speak personally but i,ve been fined{on the spot} twice ,once for so called speeding when the cop was in plain view for at least a km before he stopped me ! it cost me 200 baht which went into his top pocket rapido, the next time was when i had just bought my new car which had red plates fitted ,he made some weak excuse that my paperwork was not correct and fined me 100 baht that too disapeared into his pocket ,both times i did not receive a ticket ,ah well this is thailand ain,t it ,regards ,colin .