Motorcycles In Bkk

[corkscrew]

The motorcycles are the killers! Over the Songkran Holiday 78% of all motor vehicle deaths in Thailand were chalked up to riders on motorcycles.

Sometimes they are just a real pain. I have been driving a car here for 5 years.

On the expressways and highways, when the infernal machines are fairly stretched out (distance-wise), they are not terribly noticeable or irritating. But in Bangkok (where most of them are 'garaged') they tend to clump together at intersections. Part of this is because the traffic lights in BKK stay 'red' for so long (up to 5 minutes); this allows the motorcycles lots of time to weave between the lanes and the paused cars...thus positioning themselves at the very front like a swarm of hornets all set to 'go' when the light turns 'green'.

Our new car has four motion-proximity sensors that beep whenever something is moving within dangerous striking distance of any of its four corners. On a normal day, at any Bangkok traffic light, all four of them are beeping like a monotonal quartet trying to eke out the most notes in the shortest amount of time.

Motorcycles frequently drive the wrong-way on one-way streets; and they are not shy about driving into oncoming traffic if their own lanes are running too slow; they even resort to using sidewalks when they only have a block or two to go and it is too much of a bother to take the bike up and down the curb.

All motorcycles feel comfortable passing cars either on the right or the left even when there is only one lane of traffic. By the way, like in England, traffic moves to the left of the center line...and the steering wheel is on the right.

Incidentally, it is common to see three riders on one motorcycle; on one occasion I saw five: the baby was in front of the father while the mother and two other kids were tucked onto the rear.

Single rider motorcycles frequently carry freight worthy of a tuk-tuk. Propane tanks are often delivered by motorcycles.

Bangkok has tens of thousands of motorcycle taxis. Only the driver is required to wear a helmet...though, as a courtesy, many of these two wheeled cabs carry a spare helmet (a dermatological risk that probably outweighs that of being maimed).

One plus: in the evening it is fun to see the 'working girls' arrive at work (Nana, Cowboy, Patpong) riding side-saddle. They are dressed for that moment.

[RDN]

Sorry, what was your point?

[natee1]

Our new car has four motion-proximity sensors that beep whenever something is moving within dangerous striking distance of any of its four corners. On a normal day, at any Bangkok traffic light, all four of them are beeping like a monotonal quartet trying to eke out the most notes in the shortest amount of time.

Why would anyone want a feature like this in their car?

Scare the motorbikes off?

[corkscrew]

Our new car has four motion-proximity sensors that beep whenever something is moving within dangerous striking distance of any of its four corners. On a normal day, at any Bangkok traffic light, all four of them are beeping like a monotonal quartet trying to eke out the most notes in the shortest amount of time.

Why would anyone want a feature like this in their car?

Scare the motorbikes off?

At first I didn't think it would be useful at all. But it is great for parking on a dark street. It came with the car.

[corkscrew]

Sorry, what was your point?

It's more dangerous to wear a taxi helmet than to ride on the machine....and they are fun to watch at the 'drop-off' points. Sorry my points waited until the last.

[tutsiwarrior]

when I lived in Venice, CA motorcycle jockeys were big baaaadass tattooed types with chopped up Harley Davidsons and one would only object to their anti-social antics at one's peril...

streets of Bangkok with honda 50s?...sheeeit. Sounds like the Beach Boys....

[corkscrew]

when I lived in Venice, CA motorcycle jockeys were big baaaadass tattooed types with chopped up Harley Davidsons and one would only object to their anti-social antics at one's peril...

streets of Bangkok with honda 50s?...sheeeit. Sounds like the Beach Boys....

Now they have beer guts, grey hair and use walkers.

[RDN]

Sorry, what was your point?

It's more dangerous to wear a taxi helmet than to ride on the machine....and they are fun to watch at the 'drop-off' points. Sorry my points waited until the last.

Hey, Corkscrew, if you think motorbikes in Bkk are a problem, you should come to Phuket (also known as "motorbike h e l l ").

Here, there are 12 lanes of traffic:

1. the bikes in the motorbike lane

2. the bikes in the motobike lane overtaking other bikes in the motorbike lane

3. the bikes in the motorbike lane coming in the wrong direction

4. cars in the car lane

5. bikes in the car lane overtaking cars

6. bikes in the car lane, stationary, waiting to turn right

Then you have the same 6 on the other side of the road.

You also get bikes in the bike lane, stationary, waiting to turn right or waiting to do a U-turn because they missed their right turn.

All this means that there is b**g*r all space for cars.

I would like to see all motorbike riders taught:

1. a right turn should be executed by turning 90 degrees,

2. the signs (displayed in English - how stupid is that?) that state "Please remember to drive on the left" also apply to motorbikes,

3. cars really hurt when they run over you,

4. I don't care if I AM a farang, I will not pay any of your hospital bills.

I, too, have regularly seen 5 on a bike. 4 is common, 3 or 2 normal, and 1 is often a motorbike taxi driving at 5 kph looking for a customer, causing all other bikes to move out into the car lane and giving everyone a problem.

I have also seen the bloody aftermath of many accidents. I have never seen this in my home country - England - but have seen and have had to drive through the blood trickling across the road - too many times here. I don't know what it will take for Thailand to reach normal farang standards of driving, but I guess while corruption is rife, licenses to drive are just about money and not skill or safety. Pity.

All I can suggest is: drive at the same speed as the bikes around you. That way, nobody should get seriously hurt if there is any contact.

One last thing, I don't believe Thai eyesight is any better or worse than farang eyesight, but I rarely see a Thai motorbike rider (or car driver) wearing glasses. And the way some car drivers slow down at night when another car approaches them makes me believe that about 50% of Thai car drivers would fail a rudimentary eyesight test.

[RDN]

when I lived in Venice, CA motorcycle jockeys were big baaaadass tattooed types with chopped up Harley Davidsons and one would only object to their anti-social antics at one's peril...

streets of Bangkok with honda 50s?...sheeeit. Sounds like the Beach Boys....

Now they have beer guts, grey hair and use walkers.

Actually they are often totally bald and think they look like something out of the film "Easy Rider". Hmm, I remember how that film finishes.... if only I had a shotgun.....

If you want to see a load of old men riding very noisy choppers, being very anti-social and looking stupid, go to Patong. Why the police don't arrest them for having no silencers on their bikes I don't know. Oh, yes I do! A few hundred Baht will do nicely...

[KevinN]

TUTSI; Boy you got that right, a lot of the Thai car drivers and motorcycle riders could learn a lesson in road manners from a few of the Bros. from the citys of Calif. some of the things that go on here amazes me,I think a few 45.cal holes in some of the machines would teach em a lesson or a chain layed across the windshield or their heads wouldn't hurt any either.

A car was crowding me the other day when my wife and I were in town on my scoot and I kicked a big dent in the side of the sled and he got over and left me alone and she thought I was outta my mind.Had to kick him as I didn't have a chain.

[tutsiwarrior]

right on kev...pull up in front, stomp his fenders and piss on his windshield

tusiwarrior, Oakland Chapter...

[ajahnlau]

CS you don't like the mcs' going between the lanes at red lights as you sit in your car with ac turned down to 25.Try sitting in the sun when it's near 40 and you will adapt to Thai style and cheat a little also. It is also law that passengers wear helmets. Just recently they have been enforcing this upcountry as well. RDN the Phuket police will pull you up if they think you have a modified exhaust and none like to pay every time you get on the bike. The normal mufflers may offend some with sensitive ears, but this part of the HD culture and loud mufflers save lives!

[maerim]

from a few of the Bros. from the citys of Calif.

my wife and I were in town on my scoot and I kicked a big dent in the side of the sled and he got over and left me alone and she thought I was outta my mind.Had to kick him as I didn't have a chain. 

For people such as me who are hard of reading I wonder if you could possibly translate this gibberish into some form of English I and others could understand?

So kind, thanking you in anticipation.

[Up2U]

I first came to Thailand in 1978 and the motor cycle was king.

Prosperity has brought the car, but the motorbike is still the only mode of independent transport open to most Thais. Go to Cambodia or Vietnam for a nostalgic reminder of what Thailand was like thirty years ago.

Europe and US have had generations grow up with the motor car. Thailand has yet to adapt to this privilege.

[RDN]

RDN the Phuket police will pull you up if they think you have a modified exhaust and none like to pay every time you get on the bike. The normal mufflers may offend some with sensitive ears, but this part of the HD culture and loud mufflers save lives!

ajahnlau, it's the non-existant silencers ("mufflers" in US language) that I object to. These big bikes have straight-through steel pipes from their engines to the back of the bikes - no attempt at silencing is made at all. They sound like a dragster and wake up every within a 300 yard radius when driven during the night. Totally inconsiderate and anti-social. But I've also seen some big bikes with perfectly normal, working silencers. So the noisy ones are deliberately made that way because the riders like to show-off. Now, where's my shotgun...

[natee1]

....I borrowed it tu use on some posters without mufflers.

[davethailand]

RDN the Phuket police will pull you up if they think you have a modified exhaust and none like to pay every time you get on the bike. The normal mufflers may offend some with sensitive ears, but this part of the HD culture and loud mufflers save lives!

ajahnlau, it's the non-existant silencers ("mufflers" in US language) that I object to. These big bikes have straight-through steel pipes from their engines to the back of the bikes - no attempt at silencing is made at all. They sound like a dragster and wake up every within a 300 yard radius when driven during the night. Totally inconsiderate and anti-social. But I've also seen some big bikes with perfectly normal, working silencers. So the noisy ones are deliberately made that way because the riders like to show-off. Now, where's my shotgun...

lucky you don't live near my house then

1400cc with a very big un-muffled pipe

(Sets off car alarms also)

whats wrong with big bikes, i never use it a night (small bike only) i'm also not like the tourists here who drive around trying to blow the engine up by revving the crap out of it.

we mainly go on longer runs, bangkok, koh chang, rayong etc. does'nt hurt anybody,

[natee1]

Pimps, boyfriends and husbands of Thai ladies like this kind of bike.

Yeh,yeh, please don't dip my ear in the hot end of the exhaust, Dave, I didn't mean to imply anything...

[RDN]

RDN the Phuket police will pull you up if they think you have a modified exhaust and none like to pay every time you get on the bike. The normal mufflers may offend some with sensitive ears, but this part of the HD culture and loud mufflers save lives!

ajahnlau, it's the non-existant silencers ("mufflers" in US language) that I object to. These big bikes have straight-through steel pipes from their engines to the back of the bikes - no attempt at silencing is made at all. They sound like a dragster and wake up every within a 300 yard radius when driven during the night. Totally inconsiderate and anti-social. But I've also seen some big bikes with perfectly normal, working silencers. So the noisy ones are deliberately made that way because the riders like to show-off. Now, where's my shotgun...

lucky you don't live near my house then

1400cc with a very big un-muffled pipe

(Sets off car alarms also)

whats wrong with big bikes, i never use it a night (small bike only) i'm also not like the tourists here who drive around trying to blow the engine up by revving the crap out of it.

we mainly go on longer runs, bangkok, koh chang, rayong etc. does'nt hurt anybody,

Dave, you sound like a responsible sort of guy. But I used to live in Patong (won't say where 'cause they still owe me money) and the b*st*rd downstairs used to go out at 12 midnight, come back at 2:30 am (not alone), go out again at 5 am (no doubt after finishing his business) and then come back again at 5:15. Each time with a bike that could be heard half a kilometer away and which was so loud the walls would shake. This balding, fat, long-haired moron I would love like to do an "Easy Rider" to...

[natee1]

....here is yout shotgun back.

[davethailand]

i agree there are some very annoying idiots on bikes.

i live in pattaya and have to put up with halfwitted arabs (and farangs normally from the uk) racing about on racing bikes.

of course we also have the honda steed gang darting about everywhere.

as mentioned i've a big chopper (i wish) which i've just rebuilt, but as said it's only really used in the daytime for longish journeys only, it's too big for everyday traffic.

there are of course people that go out at night and get pissed and use their bigger bikes, this in my opinion is stupid.

i have a friend who is the main harley davidson rental/custom rebuild shop in pattaya and he built a custom bike which was bought for 800000bht, it is used to come to walking st etc everynight and the result is that the 30000bht plus front wheel is buckled to siht and i dare say its scratched a bit now.

i use my truck more now in the daytime as pattaya has a dangerous clan of farang men (in their 50s and 60s) and they seem to all come from spain/france and italy, they make the thai driving look superb, completely unaware of other road users and traffic lights.

[ajahnlau]

halfwitted arabs (and farangs normally from the uk) Dave, thought this was about loud pipes and bikes. Surely not about one's racist views.

[corkscrew]

TUTSI; Boy you got that right, a lot of the Thai car drivers and motorcycle riders could learn a lesson in road manners from a few of the Bros. from the citys of Calif. some of the things that go on here amazes me,I think a few 45.cal holes in some of the machines would teach em a lesson or a chain layed across the windshield or their heads wouldn't hurt any either.

A car was crowding me the other day when my wife and I were in town on my scoot and I kicked a big dent in the side of the sled and he got over and left me alone and she thought I was outta my mind.Had to kick him as I didn't have a chain.

Is this an American teaching method?

[Up2U]

halfwitted arabs (and farangs normally from the uk) Dave, thought this was about loud pipes and bikes. Surely not about one's racist views.

Dave's not being racist. It's the people who congregate in the square behind his club, 99% arab (male part, that is) and the singlet-and-nazi-helmet guys who drive around Pattayaland 2, who are all Brits, judging from their speech.

This is just one facet of the fascinating life one can enjoy in Party City.

[RDN]

halfwitted arabs (and farangs normally from the uk) Dave, thought this was about loud pipes and bikes. Surely not about one's racist views.

Dave's not being racist. It's the people who congregate in the square behind his club, 99% arab (male part, that is) and the singlet-and-nazi-helmet guys who drive around Pattayaland 2, who are all Brits, judging from their speech.

This is just one facet of the fascinating life one can enjoy in Party City.

OK, I didn't want to mention it, 'cos I didn't want to start any racial stereotyping, but now that you mention it, the b*st*rd downstairs and his mates are all Krouts with only half a helmet on their head. They look like something out of an old World War 2 film.

[Up2U]

OK, I didn't want to mention it, 'cos I didn't want to start any racial stereotyping, but now that you mention it, the b*st*rd downstairs and his mates are all Krouts with only half a helmet on their head. They look like something out of an old World War 2 film.

This is a problem that seems to be unique to Thailand - fifty-year-old fatties who want to be Hells Angels, or Nomads, or whichever gang takes your fancy.

Rent a big hog, without a licence or any other sense, get down to singlet and shave off what is left of their hair, clap on a coal scuttle and roar down the street 'til they hit a truck.

Whhhheeeeeeee - that's 400 posts

[davethailand]

halfwitted arabs (and farangs normally from the uk) Dave, thought this was about loud pipes and bikes. Surely not about one's racist views.

if you live in pattaya you would know that i'm not being racist, i'm stating a fact.

i'm english myself, so i'm being racist about myself?

[Crash999]

Totally inconsiderate and anti-social. But I've also seen some big bikes with perfectly normal, working silencers. So the noisy ones are deliberately made that way because the riders like to show-off. Now, where's my shotgun...

At least big bikes have a nice sound to them- I do like hearing a sportbike at full tilt.

What really annoys me is all the scooters and messenger motorbikes run in Bangkok without mufflers. The din on major roads, especially underneath skytrain stations, can be deafeningly load. And it's not as if it those 125cc engines sound cool either- to me it sounds like a bee farting into a tin can, amplified 10000x.

Cheers!