Raff72

It has been a while since I last drove or rode in the LOS. Amongst many close calls, I remember a wee sphincter tightener in Chang Mai. I was on a step through and riding through a curve on the road that was banked in a similar way to a bicycle velodrome. There was someone on the outside of me, indeed in a pickup and thanks to the curve his truck wandered across into my lane and pushed me off the road. Before I was finally knocked off my bike, I reckon I had punched his car, including his windows a good number of times but none of this made any difference. He didn't try to run away, maybe because there were witnesses who saw what happened and stopped to lend a hand afterwards. I wasn't hurt very badly, though I did lose a heap of skin, but as for getting his rego number??? Fraid not. I have never been great with written Thai so I didn't have the skills to copy his rego number down. I wanted to call the police, but no one at the scene would help me with this, plus of course he didn't happen to have any ID on him, let alone an actual license... Basically, he gave me a phone number that was fake and it seemed to me that all those at the scene sided with him and basically did their best to let him drive away without any chance of me having any way to report him. This did at least make me realize that riding without protective gear, even in the usual temperatures and humidity in LOS was just silly and I've made sure (more often than not) to at least wear a helmet, gloves long pants and a jacket ever since. The scooter wasn't heavily damaged and it only took a visit to the market, then swapping a few pieces of fairing to get my full deposit back. The lesson to take from this? When riding a two wheeler, whether at home or anywhere else in the world (particularly Thailand), you should ride as if EVERYONE else on the road is actually trying to kill you. Do not EVER take for granted that others on the road are riding/driving in a way that is safe and/or vigilant. While it may seem a little unfair, you need to ride/drive in a way with the understanding that you are entirely responsible for your own safety. We all know that the roads in Thailand are FAR from being safe, OR logical and that often the skills of other users leave a touch to be desired. So if you decide you want to be an active road user, then you need to take this into account. Oh and while the roads in Thailand can be a handful, just be thankful you're not riding or driving in India...