16 hours ago, longtom said:

You are right, definitely improved a lot on Samui the last 2/3 years!

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Sorry I was in an emergency on Samui about 2 yrs ago and the ambulance was DREADFUL!

1 hour ago, seajae said:

I have seen this happen a few times locally, thai drivers have the attitude that they have the right to do as they please and refuse to move for anyone or give way when required to by law. Problem is how do you stop this sort of thing when the police refuse to go out on the roads to patrol, then of course there is the fact that most thai drivers are not aware of the road laws or simply ignore them because they think that they are nor important than everyone else, the arrogance displayed is pretty bad. A day doesnt go by when I see thai drivers/riders completely ignoring the road rules and doing what ever they want, total ignorance is no excuse, those blocking any emergency vehicles need to have their cars seized and lose their licences if they actually have one

Spend a little time in Pattaya and you will see many farangs acting similarly.  No helmet on, ghost riding etc etc

If there's no self advantage, the Thai ain't doing it.

38 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

Absolutely, if not it may be empty and simply going home, in case of emergency every ambulance in the world uses the siren.

Rubbish.  Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way. The siren can be used in addition if required. 

My wife said ok to block emergency vehicles if they do not have their sirens on.  Thai logic?
 

It is global logic just follow traffic regulations.


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6 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Rubbish.  Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way. The siren can be used in addition if required. 

"Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way"

If it works and cars are given way,  yesss but if not the siren should be use lets say a few second from time to time. So no rubbish at all

  .

Just now, Tchooptip said:

"Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way"

If it works and cars are given way,  yesss but if not the siren should be use lets say a few second from time to time. So no rubbish at all

  .

Reread you original post. 

'Thainess' and 'Thainess' means think of self only then explain that as 'cultural'  and 'farang not understand Thais'

36 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Rubbish.  Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way. The siren can be used in addition if required. 

You think Thais will LOOK?  I mean from their mobiles?  or you think Thais LOOK in their mirror?   that's extraordinary and a siren does make sense.

Omg, the list that needs to be adressed to fix this problem is....a lot. Nevermind the priority of said list, thai's not giving a <deleted> to move out of the way is merely a point in that list and certainly isn't the sole/biggest solution to it.

If the cops bothered to enforce traffic laws, they could make a pile of money.  Ambulance dash cams would help.

19 hours ago, maxpower said:

Lack of common sense lack of common courtesy.

Bang On,Mate...

1 hour ago, tryasimight said:

Rubbish.  Emergency lights are all that is required to signify you should give way. The siren can be used in addition if required. 

You got a link to that traffic regulation?

All links i can find have not translated title 7 (section 76 and 77) which covers emergency vehicles.

4 minutes ago, Bob12345 said:

You got a link to that traffic regulation?

All links i can find have not translated title 7 (section 76 and 77) which covers emergency vehicles.

Reread the post I was responding to.  It was not Thai specific

 

42 minutes ago, PattayaAngel said:

You think Thais will LOOK?  I mean from their mobiles?  or you think Thais LOOK in their mirror?   that's extraordinary and a siren does make sense.

I guess the Thais I see giving way to emergency services vehicles do look. 

That vidoeo is not all teue  its the aame in america with room to move over its easy, but in the cities with traffic its not easy the you tibe video i qatched ahowed the same rhing in every city and it didnt matter what country

90% of the time westerners move .over but when your stuck in traffic not to much a driver can do. 

19 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

250 baht, if you offer a wai !

I am sure the word "deterrent" does not exist in Thai law.

In 7 years ive seen one person pulled over by a cop when both were on motorcycles , both were also driving down the sidewalk.

 

 

It's not just in Thailand,  I spent 25 years driving a fire engine in England,  people don't want to get out of the way,  and if they did they would often tailgate the appliance to beat the  traffic 

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Its difficult not to 'Thai Bash' when commenting on this thread....  

 

It could be said that the 'true measure of society is in the behavior of its traffic'...  Thailand is left sorely wanting and this level of selfishness is readily apparent - it really is such a shame. 

 

A start at least would be placing educational measures on TV at peak times. Teach people that its antisocial not to pull over for emergency vehicles.... so much more can be done and very easily so if only those in positions of decision making power cared enough.....

How on earth do you teach someone the basic human decency not to impede the helping of someone who’s life may well be on the line? All that’s left is to condemn a cultural trait that doesn’t instinctively do that. 

I don't know if this has been pointed out already, but I think a sometimes, maybe even often, there is nobody in need of quick medical attention in the ambulance, maybe no patient at all. The body snatcher pick up services are worst for this. I've often seen them drive straight past hospitals lights flashing. There's one in our area that is going past at a similar time of day always with sirens on, then returning a few hrs later with sirens going.

 

Don't get me wrong, I always pull over, it's second nature. I'm just saying there's a flip side to this. I assisted at a roadside accident, the ambulance arrived very quickly, the staff jumped straight out and took photos for the media, asking name, age etc., before asking about injuries. She found it quite distressing. A pick up hit a bike (bike's fault), the ambulance staff spent a lot of time trying to help the driver get money for minor damage. The woman was in the back of the ambulance with a head wound, but the ambulance staff wouldn't leave until the car owner was satisfied he'd get his money.

 

Safety and valuing human life have a long way to go here.

Mini buses.

I travel the Sukhumvit from Pattaya to Sattahip regularly.

I find the mini buses are selfish and disgraceful; they use the breakdown lanes at speed. Once in the break down lane and the light changes to Red no one can pass to turn left.

They seem to think they have priority on our roads.

Unfortunately this epitomizes the Thai driver,,,,, ME, ME, ME.

In regard to flashing lights the problem is that they all have them on which if not should 

be illegal except for emergency vehicles (The school mini vans are a classic example of this

21 hours ago, maxpower said:

Lack of common sense lack of common courtesy.

Lack of Intelligence , over in Philippines  right , Now, What a pleasant society, this lil poor kid begging, I had a stack of Lumpia on my plate so I wrapped some up for him, bcuz god knows what he eats or where, his answer to me, Thank You, Sir, So Refreshing...

On 1/18/2018 at 4:57 PM, Dario said:

When I hear or see an ambulance coming, I immediately merge away, so the ambulance can pass. I always imagine that I myself, my daughter or my wife could be in distress in that ambulance. I have escorted an ambulance in Pattaya several times to Samitivej Sri Racha and once from Pattaya to Bangkok to Bumrungrad Hospital, each time with my mother inside.

Moving out of the way when an ambulance is coming is PARAMOUNT. Why the Thai drivers don't understand this is simply beyond me ...

 

When I hear or see and ambulance I let it pass to follow it and reach my destination faster ! Very useful !

 

 

only solution :

So, why aren't the license plates forwarded to the BIB, and the BIB make a public display of fining these morons large amounts of money for fines?

Why?  <laughs>  That's exactly why nobody gets out of the way of ambulances.  And never will.  Get real!

Deliberately getting in the way and refusing to give way is the style of driving here!

Blocking up a junction when there is no way out is a frequent occurrence, sadly.

Bus lanes, bicycle lanes and the like are ignored too.

Heck even parking is marked by selfishness!

 

It is what it is.

19 hours ago, Smithson said:

I don't know if this has been pointed out already, but I think a sometimes, maybe even often, there is nobody in need of quick medical attention in the ambulance, maybe no patient at all.

If someone points a gun at me, I will always assume it's loaded whether it is or isn't!

 

Locals seem unable to weigh up the consequences of not giving way.  In heavy traffic they will make 5 lanes out of 3 and use the 'hard shoulder' therefore blocking access for emergency vehicles to get to the scene of an accident.  If you have an accident or a medical emergency in heavy traffic then you're not going to get help anytime soon.

13 minutes ago, HHTel said:

If someone points a gun at me, I will always assume it's loaded whether it is or isn't!

 

Locals seem unable to weigh up the consequences of not giving way.  In heavy traffic they will make 5 lanes out of 3 and use the 'hard shoulder' therefore blocking access for emergency vehicles to get to the scene of an accident.  If you have an accident or a medical emergency in heavy traffic then you're not going to get help anytime soon.

Unfortunately familiarity breeds ccontempt. There are so many vehicles with flashing lights in Thailand that the general perception of the public doesn't differentiate between emergency, VIP or simply pretty.

Thailand is not unique in this; Italy was the first example I came across, where an act of parliament insisted that all police etc used their lights when moving... so no one knew if it was an emergency or not.

In Thailand they don't even seem to have uniform colorized lights and even non emergency vehicles carry, legally or not, banks of colorful flashing lights.

Edited January 20, 20188 yr by Airbagwill

40 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Locals seem unable to weigh up the consequences of not giving way.  

The problem is that there are no consequences. No fines, no driving license revoked, not your loved ones dying.

 

The risk you run is losing a spot in traffic resulting in a few seconds delay.