MichelBangkok

My point was that if one compare cars vs bikes, the car drivers are in general more lazy than bikers. I give that there are MANY people on the road that should never be there, and yes, it sucks that they leave souvenirs on your car, deepest appologies on behalf of those little f...ers. A tip for you might be to create a larger space around your car (i know that is not always possible)...

You say bikes are flying around like flies- change your perspective- what do you think bikers feel about clowns that think they own the road in their SUV? Do bikers not have thesame rights on the road as cars? Being tailgated while you are in your cage is not nice, but think i you are tailgated while you are on a honda wave by a drugged out powerhungry drunk flyswatter (sp)... Believe me, the attentiong goes to what is happening behind you, not the road.

It is easy to blame all bikers if you dont ride yourself, but please, you treat us as flies, why should we treat you differently???

We do agree about the scratches on you car- no excuse there- but i am sure not everyone hits you...

When I learned to ride a bike my instructor said something line this; "It iseasy to be lazy in your cage, automatic gear- point and step on pedal, talk, eat,drink, argue, sleep- comes easily because you just sit sown and point your car, you are not in touch winh thed traffic- vs on your bike, you have to work- openings in the traffic, avoid cars that dont check their blind spot or rear view mirror, you are one with the bike." Or close to that. I would also add sms to his speech... Yes i have seen people texting while riding (darwins law will catch up).

You claim that this is for the big cities but have you thought about the people driving cars? Maybe you dont treat bikers nice, let them filter in traffic, be polite and keep distance to the bikes as you would with cars.

All I say is that you need to look at it from both sides- as everyone should.

Ps. If you do hea south I would ofcourse not greet you with a cement truck, maybe a glass or two would better?

Snowflake first things first : excellent idea these two glasses, as long as there is no cement inside... More seriously, thank's for the offer, it is kind indeed. If you come to the metropolis, same offer from this side of the driving divide.

As for your added comments, it is certainly, as SometCycle also mentioned, a question of perspective. Admit that the last time I drove a bike in this country it was 24 years ago, just before establishing myself permanently in the region; but once you drove a two-wheeler, you remember the feeling for life... It seems that a great many drivers, whatsoever the locomotion device they use, are careless and sometimes very dangerous to others, especially in the large cities. It seems that the issue with security and prevention is not understood by the Thai psyche, the same as for most foreigners do, coming from countries where regulations are enforced and where no one would dream about bribing a policeman for 100 bahts. One living here long enough usually adapt to the local circumstances or quit. You can say that, as a driver, I have "adapted", translation : sadly enough I became a little bit more "local", and not necessarily in the good sense of it. This being stated, I would certainly consider myself way more careful than the average "local" driver, irrelevant of the numbers of wheels under me. Understand that this forum is for "Bikes in Thailand", so maybe I should have refrained from intervening. Apologies if considered out of topic ! Any time for the two glasses... Cheers !

Tell me if you go south so I can park my bike and bring out a cement truck, then we can crash and you will be the fly!!!

Bike riders (the ones that know what they are doing) are always calculating and judging angles, lines, speed, dangers, and anything else that you might think off. Ok so the local somchai don't but people who has been riding for years ARE!!!

So you sit in a car, lazy and bored, listening to music, texting, talking to your GIG, do you really pay attention to the road at the same level as the biker? NOPE, so let us just hope that you are lucky enough to not hit a biker, but start paying attention to the road and try to understand what bikers are doing...

Hello Snowflake; please note that this perspective is from the greater Bangkok area driving, as my name implies. Bikes in the metropolis are a real pain for themselves and for car-truck-bus drivers as well, although they are a money-making machine for the police enjoying to check them way more regularly than they do for us, car drivers - could there be a reason? Especially dangerous are the taxi-bikes in green, or red or yellow attires, trying to deliver their clients the fastest possible way irrelevant of traffic rules or security. In country, the situation is different and the feeling is much better toward the two wheelers sharing the road. As for your assumption that car drivers are 'lazy and bored and do not pay attention to the road' you are entitled to your opinion, although I do not concur, especially when one has to watch for all the flies around trying to slide between your car and the next one with a 5 millimeters gap on each side or pass on either side whatsoever the circumstances... How many times I was hit this way for the bike - and biker - to disappear only leaving a scratch as a souvenir ? It is then very difficult to discriminate the, how do you say ? 'the ones that know what they are doing'... Finally as for your invitation to the South, I would kindly decline, not in the mood to meet you at the wheel of a cement truck, given your seemingly hot temper responding to a very moderate comment !

Greetings to you all bike drivers ! I only drive cars (own two) since the 22 years I lived here and the perspective from a car driver (foreign or native) is that all bike drivers look like flies running around your car all the time without attention to the fact that a car is way bigger than the fly, sorry...the bike. And what do you want to do with flies ? So, back to the original question : my driving habits have evolved over that long period, from very "defensive-polite" to "sometimes-aggressive-native" ('native' meaning in this case not-so-polite); especially against the line cutters and jumpers, but trying to remember that road rage here could prove mortal, as we have monitored in so many instances.

As for the Canadian Press I doubt it made a ripple. The girls come from Quebeck where they think the world revolves around the French Canadian and in all liklly hood they would have made it a huge deal.

Your statement is profoundly ignorant and racist.

The story received significant media attention throughout Canada. I subscribe to multiple news feeds and I received stories from a diverse range of media sources including Sun Media, CBC, Thompson-Reuters, RDI, Bell Media and The Globe & Mail. The stories received prominent attention in key english media markets, with several of the largest english media outlets providing special reports. Why wouldn't the stories have received attention in the local Quebec market? The two women came from a close knit rural community where a tragedy of this nature cuts to the bone. I listened to one french radio interview on the internet, where they were interviewing an Australian journalist and he was describing other situations involving Australian and New Zealand nationals.

At this time, the media attention has calmed down because the journalists know that preliminary results from the Quebec Coroner's office would not be available for a minimum 30 days. On an expedited case, it can take 90 days for the most test results to be released. This is due in large part because of the time needed to isolate chemicals or to grow cultures and then analyze them.

I strongly suggest that you think before typing or at least wait until the condition that caused you to write in such a hateful, ignorant manner passes. Quebec does not include a k. The only people that have historically used a k were those that sought to denigrate and belittle one of Canada's founding peoples.

From the same upset French Canadian - thank you geriatrickid - well articulated indeed !

As for the Canadian Press I doubt it made a ripple. The girls come from Quebeck where they think the world revolves around the French Canadian and in all liklly hood they would have made it a huge deal.

Thanks a lot for your kind words from a French Canadian; and please at least, spell "Quebec" properly if you cannot say something positive about it... These types of useless comments shall be purged...

90-day notification of staying longer than 90 days

Every 90 days a person has to register his/her address at Immigration if he/she is an ''alien'' residing in the kingdom. Over the years we have not seen a single thorough analysis published demonstrating that this regulation is helping the authorities in tracking criminals. This rule could have been implemented cleverly - like registering once in person and updating via the Immigration website; or registering once a year, given that all ''aliens'' need to renew/extend their visas on a regular basis.

The criminals know quite well how to circumvent this rule, while law-abiding ''aliens'' like myself - no matter how fluently one speaks the vernacular, and who have lived at the same address for years, with a valid visa and work permit, who pay more tax than many Thais, who employ locals and support a Thai family - still have to report to Immigration every 90 days ! This makes 5 visits per year as the 90 days rarely coincides with the visa extensions/renewals.

In most developed countries you would only have to do this if you were a registered sex offender, and only when you moved to a different location.

Think about all the potential savings, like less personnel at Immigration, less traffic, saving on transport costs and added productive time for both immigration personnel and ''aliens''. Please publish the studies that demonstrate that this policy is beneficial to the law enforcement agencies or get rid of it.

Maybe for most « don’t like Thailand » individuals, but who are still remaining in the country, they like quite a bit of it but are dismayed by other aspects of the indigenous ways experienced here (corruption, dual pricing, land ownership, etc. versus weather, food, cost of living, smiles, etc.), a kind of love/hate relationship, not enough to trigger a departure, but sufficient to express openly their overall displeasure.

A little bit like Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket, where most – not all – expats are concentrated, may not like these cities but are still selecting living in one for other aspects of urban life than the ones they despise. In my case, my wife was born a Bangkokian and has never accepted (during the 22 years we have been together) considering living “in country”, although I really dislike the traffic, the pollution, etc. So we live in the greater Bangkok area, but we escape to the beach or the mountain on a very regular basis, but I keep complaining, although now she does not even listen...

There could also be health issues, security issues, family constraints, financial situation or simply the fear of discovering that it is worse with the target alternative country (home or else).

Finally there may be more of a “complain first, act later” syndrome involved, because if one is really fed up with the Thai ways, one has also the opportunity to at least get back to his/her home country (unless a fugitive) and stop the complaints.