Because we are poor. Because we are in a rush. Because other people also cut corners. Because these people are our brothers and sisters, or friends.
Excuses are many when people don't want to do the right thing. When exceptions can be made, shortcuts are built. When enough shortcuts are there in the system, who would want to waste their time going through a main, legitimate thoroughfare?
That is why we see people driving recklessly and violating the traffic law every day. Why would they have to bother with the rules when a hundred baht or so could get them out of trouble? If the trouble is serious enough, they could also flee -- run away from the scene or out of the country and wait for the case to expire if they are rich and powerful enough.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist, Bangkok Post.
Is that also why Thailand's roads are ranked as the second deadliest in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, with 24,000 estimated to die each year? Only Libya is worse. We do have a traffic law, a rather strict one, in fact, with a speed limit and clear indication of when to turn your headlights on, but most drivers might feel they are on their own once they hit Bangkok's roads.
Is it also why we have failed badly in terms of the corruption perceptions index? Thailand scored 37 out of 100 when it comes to perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to Transparency International. It's slightly better than last year, when the country was given a score of 35, but it's failing all the same.
The reality could be even more depressing when it's common knowledge that tea money, bribery and the use of personal connections may be involved in virtually every stage of a Thai person's life from enrolling in kindergarten, having a house built or securing a licence of any kind. And of course, there must be reasons why the most "watched" deputy prime minister can stay in his prestigious position despite a roaring scandal over his high-priced watches.
Because we are rich and educated thus entitled to "better'' things. Because the end justifies the means. Because it's a free market out there. Whoever has more resources, is smarter or knows which strings to pull, will win. It's not a perfect world out there. Everyone has to fend for themselves.
The "axe aunties'' case in which two women, Ratanachat and Boonsri Saengyoktrakarn used an axe and a shovel to bash a pickup truck that blocked the entrance to their home has cracked open Thai society and let loads of maladies pour out.
Because it's never clear whether we can park on a street side -- sometimes you can do so by paying a fee of 20 baht to someone with a torchlight, and what about those taxis and tuk-tuks that always occupy one lane of the heavily jammed Ratchadamri Road in front of CentralWorld? -- we often resort to using our own judgement.
After a while, the line became blurred and some people felt they could park everywhere, with their handbrake left on to avoid other people pushing their vehicles away from their chosen spots just like the pickup driver at the centre of the parking rage fracas.
Because the bureaucracy is so big and faceless. Because it's easy to let something slip away or hide what may appear a little unusual in such a labyrinth. Because it's impossible to enforce the law squarely, so double-standards are the standard. Because it's easy to follow orders.
So it should come as no surprise that three out of five markets surrounding the axe ladies' residence near Rama IX public park are operating illegally, have done so for years actually. It's only after the axe women's desperate act became a social media sensation that Prawet district ordered the closure of these markets.
The power of the amazing bureaucracy does not stop there. A survey conducted after the axe ladies' case came to light revealed that more than half of the 1,000 or so markets in Bangkok are running illegally. So what is going on? Is it a state of anarchy?
Because politicians are corrupt, we wrote more laws to keep them on their toes. Because activists are unruly, they must be suppressed and kept with their heads bowed. Because it's convenient to cite peace and security to maintain one's power. Because it's easy to look the other way while ensnaring a population with nationalistic ideals, insipid songs and ever-moving roadmap.
The misery that drove the two ladies to attack the illegally parked pickup is one that is shared by a majority of the population. Excuses are evidently many but there is only one question: When will the next axe fall?