rattlesnake

Big hopes that RFK and Trump admin 2.0 will dismantle the pharmaceutical cartel and expose why there are so many kids who have debilitating diseases in the current era.

Maybe because the Overton window is moving?

You and Sheryl would greatly benefit from stopping once in a while and asking yourselves "could I be wrong?"

I agree with you, I said nobody regrets not taking it. But the list of people I know who deeply regret it is getting increasingly longer.

Indeed. Nobody regrets not taking it.

Impaired drivers. Impaired by what is the million baht question.

Me neither, in fact as I usually do large shopping at Makro, I find it interesting to watch them go through the ticket at then your trolley, in a 10-15 second time frame. I guess you could call it a skill…

About 12 years ago, a young 18 year-old in my family-in-law died in a car accident because his friend was driving recklessly and none of them were wearing seatbelts. It was a terrible ordeal for everyone, especially his parents, and I thought they would never recover from it (especially his mum). All these years later, they are now doing "okay" and have moved on, to the extent possible. However: Do they now wear seatbelts when they travel by car? No. Do they raise awareness in the community so that what happened to them doesn't happen to someone else? No. Do they wear helmets on their bikes? No. To me, the fundamental factor seems to be Buddhism and the inherent belief that if your time has come, then that is the way it is and it is not in your hands.

Vinnie and Gascoigne reenacted that iconic pic in 2019.

Yeah, it's always interesting to read other people's comments/impressions, it also depends on your driving style, your environment etc. The Volkswagen T-roc looks good, 20 years ago I was really not impressed by the Touareg on snow (in France), but it was great on asphalt, though a bit on the heavy side.

Interesting, I guess "your mileage may vary" is a suitable phrase here… What year is your model from? Mine was from 2018 and they had just introduced a new technology which made the auto transmission so much better than any automatic I'd driven before. I was impressed by every aspect of this car (and I have driven a lot of vehicles since 1996).

Or at least a Wise account + card.

They can't help it, they have the Syndrome.

They often get depressed when they live in Europe. I don't blame them.

Isuzu MU-X is great, I had one for several years.

Yeah definitely, we do it all the time in France. I was surprised by @richard_smith237's account that they do in the UK too, I though it was essentially a South-European thing. I would be interested in knowing whether Germans do it (I would think not).

Yeah, I would posit that it's riskier asking them (and bringing attention to you) than saying nothing at all.

"Or they would have hit the pedestrian." The pedestrian would not have crossed if the car hadn't stopped. Stopping and letting them go has a curious psychological effect where they just drop theirguard down for a few seconds, often distracted by them nodding and thanking you as they did not expect you to stop… and that's when disaster strikes. If nobody stops they just wait until the road is clear. But I agree the underlying issue is awareness-rasising and enforcement, of course.

The safest way to handle a pedestrian crossing as a driver in Thailand is to slow down a lot, check the mirrors and if there are vehicles coming behind you, do not stop. If the cars in this incident had not stopped, the accident would not have happened.

Great reflex!

What I often tell people who are new to Thailand is that the rule on the road is "they do what they want to do and others adapt to it". What's amazing about that system is that it actually works most of the time…

Squeeze both brakes simulateously is the way to do it. Last year, a car cut in front of me as I was slowing down before a red light, and the ABS on my PCX worked great, I went from approx. 30 km/h to a full stop almost immediately.

If you had a choice between Trump and a donkey, who would you choose?

Yeah, lots of people overreacting. I will worry about it when I am shown an official bill with my name on it.