NorthernRyland

The reason Thailand is not now or ever probably going to be an England or Japan is because the people are not "engaged" properly in society, to put it broadly. Notice how they behave with each other at an intersection with no light. Do these look like people who could work together and be productive? Watch how people dodge soi dogs that the owner won't keep in their yard. Not only are the owners oblivious to their fellow citizen but the people are indifferent and uninterested in fixing the problem. The list goes on and on. Adults talk out their problems and find solutions but I all too often see them pushing and shoving their way through things without fully engaging. Not communicating, cutting corners (figuratively and literally), ignore problems instead of confronting them etc.. etc... Until they can sort those cultural issues out it won't matter how many fancy iPhone they import or how big and shiny their malls are because they're all window dressing over the real nature of the people. (respect for building the malls though even if they were taught by foreigners initially)

That was a quote from a repair man in South Carolina for one year when I had a job there. The accent is priceless and I'm very fond of it and remember it always. This was in regards to cycling in South Carolina and how terrible their drivers are. Lo and behold 12 months after I left, my boss (a professor at the university) was involved in a hit and run and badly injured, broken hip, shoulder etc.... I rode my bike to work every day (never had a car even) and did all my errands with the bike plus some rides around the city area and survived. Honestly I'm more at ease in Thailand since the drivers expect you. In S.C I was always the only guy out and could tell people were uneasy with what to do about me.

yeah the scooter was just the typical aloof person not taking driving seriously but the truck was purely malicious. He saw them in the road and though "<deleted> these injured guys blocking my way, get out of the road" and decided to plow right through. He would have totally ran over the injured guy and killed him if he didn't hit the other guy first.

No excuses for them and it's actually worse because they should know better. what happened there? did they go over the median and hit the car in the other lane?

useless police could be telling them but they go home at 5! Many probably don't even know.

When you're not dealing the obvious problems, Thailand is actually an amazing place to ride a bike. Why? because all drivers are accustomed to motorbikes so you can ride on virtually any road. Try that in America and you'll have a much more stressful and less fun experience. MOST Thai's do actually pass safely and yield, it' just the sizable minority which is allowed to completely run wild and bring down the rest of us. Again, Thai police are scum for not doing their jobs. All of this could be solved by harsh punishment for traffic violations but we all know that will never happen.

I know it sucks, I feel bad, I really do. But as usual if she would have just waited 10 seconds to clear the curve there was plenty of space to pass.

They're importing technology and business structures which makes them appear to be more advanced than they are. Motor vehicles are too advanced for their current state of emotional development even. Without strict supervision and enforcement driving safely is simply beyond them.

but they showed you!

Sorry I don't want to get in to a fight over this guy because it's not really about him. I posted my first and only rant against Thai drivers yesterday because I had a particularly bad day with them and this was after the forum member died so it was a salient topic. It's a good time to reflect back on how serious the situation is here and what Thai people are really like on the road.

It wouldn't matter if it was his fault, not likely though. Many Thai people behave like uncivilized savages on the road. I don't care if that's racist because it's the truth. Just in case you forgot here's an example. The truck driver had zero intention of stopping because he has no respect for others. These are the people that inhabit Thai roads and you need to deal with them on a daily basis. Savages.

and it gets worse every year. I'm in Mae Jo and the roads continue to get more crowded every year. No parking, dangerous, stressful etc... not nice. I have a house in Samoeng and I'm gonna start staying up there more often and let my wife hang out alone in the city during the work week more. Long term I'd like to move out entirely and not see the city more than once a month. If I could get my wife away I'd try to any of the smaller northern cities like Mae Hong Son, Phayao, Nan etc...

that's the real rule of the road here. I'm bigger and I got here first. If your traffic law is "rule of the jungle" you're not yet a civilized people.

notice how they pass you going around blind curves? So many of these people are absolutely willing to put it all on the line and kill themselves, their family, you, your family etc... if it means they save some time on the drive. They don't have control over their emotions and they're too simple to know any better. Sad truth of the matter it is.

That's 100% correct. I badly want to move out of CM but I need to figure out what to do with my wife who has a career here. At least one thing you can do is live in an area where there are as few cars as possible. These days it's damn near impossible to go anywhere in CM without entering on to some busy roads. Not saying it's safe anywhere but less cars = less chances.

the look they give you just kills me. In that guys mind he thinks he should be able to do anything he wants and have the world revolve around him. I really struggle to see Thai people as my equal after I have these experiences. That's what racism feels like I don't like it at all.

The one thing you can't defend against is a car going the wrong way on the road down a blind curve where you can't seem them until it's too late. The amount of times this happens in the mountains here blows my mind. In fact, the hill tribe that transport vegetables are the #1 most dangerous fools on the road in Thailand. I see these people come off the road so many times but they never learn. It's such a shame because the mountains here are beautiful and my favorite place to ride.

I should't be calling people names, sorry about that. Nonetheless I'm being serious, not here to bash Thai's for the fun of it.

to be fair it's much safer than it looks and the stats include the idiots that are weaving in an out of traffic and people that pull into roads without looking etc.... that's not saying much though.

this goes all ways in Thailand. Unless you're in a tank you will get abused. Having said that the number of cyclists that are dicks is astounding. The only defense I have is that the feeling of almost getting hit when you're on a bike is visceral so people tend to lash out easier.

I've seen appalling behavior from foreigners also. They know better but for some reason they feel like "when in Rome".

I hate Thai police so much I can't tell you. About 5 years ago up from where I live a 16 year old kid on a motorbike got decapitated by a tractor trailer. Any thinking person could tell you it's not safe to have massive trucks driving 90k/hour past markets but apparently there is no one smart enough in Thailand to figure this out. The police are the only ones who have the authority to do anything about this madness yet they do literal nothing. If the villagers decided to take the matters in to their own hands and punish the dangerous drivers then the police would intervene and put THEM in jail. Worse than useless.

I felt the need to rant after the sad story of the forum member being killed on his bike today and it was not appropriate to post it there. I'm a road cyclists and motorcyclist in Chiang Mai with over 15 years experience riding the roads here so I've seen just about everything. It's nigh impossible to have a single day where you don't see or experience something shocking and appalling in regards to how the locals drive. Just today I had a guy decide he couldn't wait 2 seconds for me to go by and decided to turn into the road anyways, nearly resulting in a collision (I had to unclip my shoes even in case I had to dismount). Yelled at the guy and he starred back at me with a brain dead look. After that I'm biking up a mountain road and some women decides as a truck is passing in the other lane that this is the best time to pass me and gets with inches of me while we're both going at very slow speeds up a 12% grade. I easily could have swerved 10 inches and that would have been enough to cause a collision. The experience of driving in Thailand (removed) Watching them navigate an intersection without a light is another really sad display <remmoved> It shouldn't feel like a jungle survival game doing something so simple but here we are. I like to joke that I wasn't a racist... until I moved to Thailand. You may know how I feel. Anyways the point I wanted to get off my chest is that these <removed>will absolutely get you killed out of sheer stupidity and selfishness and the sad part is they're <removed>to even understand what they're doing. I love riding in Thailand and ironically it's the best part of the country for me but eventually if you're on the road long enough they will ******* kill you.

They can't tell a Russian from a German but if you pry around enough you'll find they don't care much for Indians, Arabs or anyone else that's browner than they are.