Anon999

It doesn't solve the real problem. According to statististics, 70% to 80% of accidents in Thailand involve motorcycles.

Beside, it's not a problem that drivers don't know the rules but that they don't respect them because most of the time they are not enforced anyway. More speed checks and more cameras that automatically catch offenders and send fine will be a more efficient solution. Next to my place there is an intersection where it is forbidden to make a u-turn. Until they installed such a camera nobody cared. Now that the carmera is installed and widely advertised, I haven't seen a single driver make a u-turn there, it really works.

Up here in Isaan the habit of cutting corners when turning right from a side road is prevalent. A motorcyclist recently ran into the rear offside wheel of my car after I had already crossed into the road. He and his mother claimed they did not know you were supposed to stay to the left of the centre line when turning right!

The test I took here in Pattaya to get my license took about 2 min. The first part was I had to identify the color the Thai administrator pointed (green, blue, etc) and then sit in an office chair and press the wooden brake pedal attached to the floor when the monitor showed a red color. That's it. Done and I'm good for 5 years.

My wife who has never driven has a Thai license so yea they could use some standards here.

There are 100's of thousands of Thai drivers with a licence for life that have never taken a test. My wife is one of them, however, she has had some gentle tuition and I no longer want to jump out of the car when she is driving.

Your problem could be Japanese Beetle grubs. I've been inundated with them this year. If you can see long bumps on the earth with cracks across them then they are the cause. This year the very hot weather since late February has exacerbated the problem.

cant think of a stupider choice of car to do it in

Try thinking. The reason they have chosen the Prius Hybrid is because they do not have to install a gas tank in the luggage area and therefore it's an uninterrupted space for luggage. Additionally it runs on electric power in traffic jams.

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I have no problem paying a little more for a bigger taxi if I have a lot of luggage. However, I will not let them screw me, to charge 600 to 700 baht. That is BS.

Agree. Maybe:

If bigger vehicle is needed, then kilometer rate perhaps 5% more (just a wild guess about %), but only if bigger vehicle is ordered.

Maybe the taxi desk clerks inside the terminal should ask every customer: how many people? , how many bags? , and then tell the passenger they should use a large SUV / CRV or a standard vehicle. Get agreement from customer then desk clerk proceeds to assign the job to a standard or a large vehicle.

For bags again I agree. Maybe:

- 1 cabin bag / computer bag and ladies handbag, and 1 plastic shopping bag, and 1 suitcase - no charge.

- Every extra small bag +10Baht

- Every extra suitcase + 15Baht

But only if there is a regulation that the taxi driver must help get the bags in and out of the vehicle.

What I strongly object to is the situation I saw at Don Muang about 2 months ago. Passenger gets automatically allocated a taxi number at the taxi assignment desks inside the terminal. (The passenger is a Thai female, alone, has one standard size computer bag - no other bags, she's from my flight from Chiang Mai, she's a pleasant university professor who I have met and worked with several times previously, speaks excellent English.)

Passenger proceeds to the taxi and discovers it's a large SUV / CRV vehicle.

Passenger doesn't get into the vehicle, she asks driver if he uses meter. Driver says ' no, bigger engine uses more fuel' then goes on to demand flat rate to go to Landmark hotel area of 400Baht plus tollway fees.

Passenger says no, because she did not ask for this special large vehicle, she just wants a standard taxi using meter. She goes back inside and asks to speak to the supervisor of the taxi allocation desks. Desk staff respond 'he's too busy'.

Passenger asks one of the desk clerks to assign her another taxi, standard size. Nothing happens, desk clerks refuse to speak to her.

Passenger is now talking with numerous other Thai passengers (in Thai language) and farang passengers (in English) all waiting for taxis explaining what's just transpired.

Passenger goes to the police office next to the taxi queue line inside the terminal. She comes out and she spots me, she says a police vehicle will take her to her hotel.

After she leaves the area some Thai passengers now spot the queue supervisor who has mysteriously reappeared. When asked (attacked) about the whole situation he just repeats 'mai ru' / 'mai saab' (basically I don't know / I'm not aware).

Many passengers before disclosing their final destination to the desk clerk now insisting to know if the taxi card the desk clerk is holding is a standard or large taxi. Supervisor attacks one Thai lady and tells her she cannot do that and tells her she's rude. Mob boos the supervisor and he runs for cover.

Surely there is no need for any of the above issues, problems, etc. Specific regulations should have been promulgated years ago to cover all of these which are fair to all parties.

But, the chaos continues.

The taxi desk inside the terminal at KL ask for the destination, how many people and how many bags then look at your bags. You then pay the fare as indicated on the display, not the taxi driver. Is that difficult?

Had this happen to me Friday night, got in the Taxi at Swampy, told the driver name of hotel, located on the Suk near Phra Khanong, told me no meter, 500B all in, after travelling for over 18 hours and little sleep you do not was to argue.

I was wondering, do their meters show a full audit trail so any driver picking up at swampy could be randomly checked to see if the used their meters???

Had another on last night at Asok, taxis parked up wanted 200B, got in one that that was moving, me and "Thai Friend" the meter was on, said to friend in Thai "100B" by the time she translated to me he had switched off the meter.

On the rare occasions that it's happened to me at the airport if they refuse to turn the meter on I shout 'STOP', open the window and grab the gear knob/handbrake, however, haven't had it happen for quite a long time. On principle I'll walk back to the taxi queue with my bags because no taxi driver is dictating to me about meter use.

Confucius said it a long time ago "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand"

There are number of variations on the Chinese Proverb;

Tell me, I'll forget.

Show me, I may remember.

But involve me, and I'll understand.

Driving license and online banking are more readily available

Have never noticed any difference. Got both within weeks.

Yet the Thai Baht grows stronger every day making Exporting harder and with a strong baht surely tourism must drop as well but what do i know .................................

Taking the same starting point of July 2014 the exchange rates as of today of the baht against the US$ it is unchanged while the GBP is down 12.6% and the Euro is down 21.3%. That does not make it particularly easy to weaken the baht with anywhere near even results. If the BOT are watching the $/baht exchange rate as their main guide then the US$ needs a to weaken by a significant amount. It would therefore appear the US$ is the main cause of everyone else having to suffer.However, the euro is affecting the GBP, causing it to weaken and that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

Seriously,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, From the local Pu Yi Bann to the top job in BKK, and 100 names is the best they can do??? Someone's taking the P*ss,

Really guy's if ya want the country and the world to take you seriously then you need to do a lot better than this pathetic token offering.

Now have a real crack at the thieving corrupt scumbags and get a little of that much desired respect, but that will only come once justice is seen to be done and not the old inactive post or transferred gig again.

Waiting for costas, djjamie, and hollaween, to come along singing and dancing and praising their bro-mance again. makes me laugh

If you had read previous and related posts you may have noticed the number is not a round 100 and it is the first list the second one is larger I believe. They have to somewhere and whatever the number was it would still not satisfy you!

Not a Benz, dear me ,more power to the Lefty Brits again...If it was Nop in a Shagged Truck its hardly worth a mention. Unplated Bike ridden by Drunk Cop most likely.

Your assumption is like the rest of the TVF Thai knockers.

The problem is 'U' turns, they are very dangerous, however, was it on a single carriageway road?

From my understanding of the Thai 'law' you do not need to have number plates if remaining within the boundaries of the 'city'. Cars and bikes without plates are not uncommon in the city I live in. New ones waiting for their registration are common.

. . . until they reach age 30 then downhill at an incredible rate.

Double that age and you'll be near it.

So it costs more to repair a Mitsu or Subaru in the UK than it does a Benz? That tells me the major component for Benz repairs is labour, not parts

The Mitsu is probably an Evo!

"The new charter must be accepted by the international community"

If they don't accept it and tow the Junta's line, what are you going to do. Prayuth can't treat the International community like he treats the suppressed Thais. The international community are still allowed to think, analyse and form thier own opinions. The compulsory brainwashing and propoganda doesn't work and never will on the free.

Do you think it is possible that there could have been something lost in the translation? I doubt that he said, 'must accept it', in Thai.

This polling organization cannot possibly be professional.

It is misleading and ridiculous to report poll results as numbers like 81.22 percent.

For a poll of this magnitude, a margin of error should be calculated and reported, and would most likely be on the order of plus/minus 3 points.

Somebody should give these guys a clue. Every time they report poll results like this, they are opening themselves, and their poll results, to derision.

And that's just one fatal defect in this polling farce. There are others.

Well at least the quoted %ages are near to whole figures of the 1,278 respondents to within 0.1%. Far better than some polls that give you half people, top, bottom, left, right or front, back, who knows?

A friend of mine took a bum gun back to the Netherlands.

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Odd. They're on every kitchen sink in America.

Glazed pork and other items that are requested by friends and relatives.

I'd be surprised if Bangkok or Pattaya doesn't win it.

Issan will win for the sheer amount of Europeans married to the naive farm girls of that area and also the naive europeans who are supporting whole families there.

And many have wives/g/f's that work for the government (Hospitals, teaching, civil servants), and in the service industries etc, that may outnumber those from the farms. Personally in my experience few are married to farm girls. Perhaps that is because I live on the outskirts of a city and the majority of expats appear to live in the cities too.

Don't surprise me as there are much less people traveling for Songkran when economy sucks and money tight.

If you read the OP properly it says not less accidents but LESS ACCIDENTS REPORTED---------There is a difference

What are you suggesting comparing apples with pears and not apples with apples?

ShadyChris. In principle, I do agree mostly with what your saying, but no matter what country you are living in, you are entitled to be safe, and if those retards who ride their bikes up the pavement risking injury to myself, or riding their bikes on the wrong side of the road does not annoy you, maybe you would not think the same way if one of your children or family were injured or killed by them.

I get what you are saying - but you are applying the culture and ethos of the society that you were brought up in, to life in Thailand. That is never going work out well for anyone, People from the West have been brought up on a culture of 'my rights' and 'I'm entitled to', which is completely at odds with the way things are in Thailand - and plenty of other countries too.

It really takes very little time to realise that personal safety in general Thailand is really not a high priority - so as I said earlier if road safety is such a big concern to a person then they are making a pretty silly choice to move to Thailand in the first place.

Living in Thailand, whilst not as fraught with danger as some scaremongers on here would have you believe, does certainly involve a higher risk factor than living in leafy Western suburbia. If that bothers you then don't come, because once you are here you can kiss your 'rights' and your 'entitlements' goodbye, and trying to change things or even compare with the West will only make you deeply unpopular with the Thais.

Despite your assertions the Thais are getting the message, slowly, and will eventually get there. It's certainly improved in Isaan over the last 15-20 years. Beware of their riding and driving habits but don't copy them and take care. Part of the problem is they learn from their parents and only find out how dangerous it can be by experience. Hence the very high death rate.

And the good deeds and decisions are pouring in every day.

Does any of the TVF members listen to what is happening or the needle has stuck on.......we want democracy, we want democracy......................

Wake up, fellow members, democracy will come when this country is ready to accept it.

For the moment is a lot to be done and this government is dealing with it and delivering.

"delivering"?

call us when you see truly poor farmers on the land working it, living there, making money with all the correct paperwork.

i would say they have delivered less than 5% of all the "talk" they've spouted, which is good and a start

but

try to be sensible and realistic in your praise

Suggest you try to be sensible and realistic in your assumption of <5% particularly as many of the projects are WIP.

talking is fine but its the actions we need before we can say well done. Lets see these corrupt owners have all their assets seized, compensation in the millions taken from it and then thrown in jail, until then it is simply spin

You are just forgetting, that without the original holders of this land illegally selling the land, no crime would ever have been committed.

The present owners actually paid money (peanuts) for the land, they didn't steal it!!

So the guys who should be headed for jail here, are those who sold the Kings land.

And now they are going to repeat it all over again, giving land to landless farmers(!!) and in 10 years time it will all belong to big landlords again. Only this time they will be wearing yellow shirts!!

For sure it is no coincidence that the crackdowns are only taking place in the North and North East, while Mr Suthep & Co are left alone!!

It would be fair to assume that the same criteria will apply to this land as that recently allocated to poor farmers. THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO SELL IT. Therefore your assertion is worthless.

I assume most know that most law firms or visa service offices will send a "runner" in your place for about 1000 baht; for those with more money than time. For me I would pay a lot to avoid 8 hours of sitting in a Thai government office.

Ever thought of using EMS??

. . . few of the rich people who buy the luxury goods pay much tax, if any at all. They contribute as little as they can to society and prefer to spend their not-so-hard-earned money on Dior dresses rather than helping society move forward and increasing the quality for all involved

Pure BS from yet another clueless farang talking on matters he knows nothing about from the best vantage point he knows . . . his reclining armchair

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-16260782

In terms of percentage of population, Thailand was the most generous, with 85% of Thais making regular charitable contributions.

I wonder if all those who give are poor.

Poor people in Thailand are known to donate a lot relative to their available funds. A rich person making millions or more who donates a percent or two of his enormous, untaxed income to the local temple doesn't impress me much. Or do you think those 85% of Thais are all rich people?

As for clueless farang... oh well...

It appears that according to your post there are only the rich and poor in Thailand. That's very strange as from personal knowledge over many years I keep stumbling across the middle classes. Maybe you have eliminated them in your neck of the woods?

Wo is me.. I have uk pension

Me too - and it's not a "sudden drop" £ has been declining against the baht for the last 12 months - see

www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=GBP&to=THB

Today is up slightly at 48.398

The GBP started dropping after 4th July when it was 55.5 baht/£ (TT rate 54.3775 at BKK Bank). However, the real figure of interest is the TT rate and currently the BKK Bank TT rate is 48.0375. It jumped up from 47.865 at the close on Thursday. Remember although the currency markets never sleep the Easter weekend meant there was no change for 4 days as far as the public were concerned.

The forthcoming General Election on 7th May and the associated TV shows with the parties leaders. That's coupled to the 'selective' audience selection by the various pollsters who have an interest in stirring the pot for their own benefit, 4 different winners from the last 'show' according to them! Unfortunately we'll have to wait until the final outcome is known and if it will be another coalition. Voters quite often make up their minds in the voting booth!

The GBP could fall further across the board until then and at our expense of course. It could be a rough ride for a few more weeks or even longer if the outcome doesn't result in a stable government. However, should the next one leave the 'kitty empty' like the previous lot we're be in dead trouble.