#ThailandOnly: Koh Samui road safety campaign sends out the wrong message

[Maestro]

Removed an incomprehensible post.

[pennine]

9 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Four on a bike is pretty normal in Thailand....and a dog.....whilst on a phone....and riding without helmets or any other form of protective gear.

 

If they want to start a 'Road Safety Campaign' they need to start in Schools and drum into the kids the doo's and don't doo's of using the roads.  You never know; the kids may even then start to educate their parents when they get home !

A good idea, but I often think that children on motorbikes are just being trained in how to drive. So the next generation will be the same as this one.

[anon7867763]

If you had 15.000.000 motorbikes on the road with an average of 1.5 passengers each and 1.000.000 motorbike accidents per year that would be an accident rate of 4.44 % per motorbike. If however we could get an average of 4 people on every motorbike and still have 1.000.000 accidents per year then the accident rate would only be 1.66% per motorbike. I can see the way of thinking, it totally makes sense ! :)

[Enoon]

 

The land that made conjoined twins famous.........but never quite got the hang of "joined up" thinking.

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, Amusements said:

Definitely not the right impression. It is obvious that there should be a basket on the front of the bike for the dog.

Near my home I regularly see a family going off to school in the mornings... dad driving, mother & two young kids on the back, and the baby is in the basket.... I kid you not!!!! 

There's a traffic light crossing just up the road manned by police every morning... he doesn't say a word!!!!!

Ohhhh I should add dad wears a construction hat for protection.. so I guess their street legal?

[heybuz]

20 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A traffic safety campaign on Samui? That is about as oxymoronic as it gets. Nobody in a position of power, has ever shown the slightest bit of concern over what is by far, the highest fatality rate in the world, with regard to traffic on Samui. The number of foreigners who go home in wooden boxes, after vacationing on Samui is staggering. And those figures never see the light of day. I have a friend who worked for Samui Rescue for years, and he would tell me about it. And while living there, I saw countless accidents and deaths.

 

Just a few survival tips, especially if driving on Samui:

 

If driving, especially on a motorbike, treat the activity as an act of war, in a sense that you may be mowed down or killed at any moment. Maintain eyes in the back of your head. Watch everyone. Expect craziness, insanity, lack of reason, and a complete lack of courtesy and respect on the roads, at all times. Expect cars and trucks to be coming at you in the wrong lane. Expect people to overtake you with the slimmest of margins.
Expect trucks to be driving very slowly in the fast lane of a highway. If riding a motorbike, only do so if you have many years of experience. Especially on the southern islands, where huge numbers of foreigners leave Thailand in a wooden box. Wear the best helmet you can afford. And drive like a grandmother. This applies to ex-pats too. Bring along an international drivers license. This helps you to avoid being fleeced by the local police franchisee.

 

The police only show up after the accident takes place. There is nothing in the way of traffic safety on the roads, or on the highways. Those traffic stops are all about weapons, drugs and handouts. Nothing to do with safety. I suppose there is no money in traffic safety. However, if they levied real fines for speeding over 120kph, for reckless driving, making severely quick lane changes, etc, there would be some money to be made, and the highways would be safer.

 

And on the highways? 

Just a few days ago, I was driving along at about 110kph, on a good, straight stretch of highway. A safe speed. And some joker cuts in front of me with his pickup truck. Within two meters in front of me, then slams on his brakes. I guess he never stopped to look at the lane he was cutting into to see that there was no room for him! I slammed on my brakes to avoid the numnut, and barely missed him. Would have been a horrific crash. Why? What was the point of him changing lanes? Why didn't he look first? Who changes lanes without looking first, when they are doing over 100 kph? Why so little regard for his wife, and for others? Where does that mentality come from? Why do Thais seem so polite, yet when they get into a car, everything they have ever learned in life goes right out the window? Why so little in the way of common sense, reason, and the ability to be careful and maintain some vision? Why such idiocy? The apparent lack of skill and peripheral awareness on the road here is very scary.

 

walt disney made a cartoon about drivers who turn into lunatics once behind the wheel of a vehicle about 60 years ago the main proponent was goofy

[iamariva1957]

22 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A traffic safety campaign on Samui? That is about as oxymoronic as it gets. Nobody in a position of power, has ever shown the slightest bit of concern over what is by far, the highest fatality rate in the world, with regard to traffic on Samui. The number of foreigners who go home in wooden boxes, after vacationing on Samui is staggering. And those figures never see the light of day. I have a friend who worked for Samui Rescue for years, and he would tell me about it. And while living there, I saw countless accidents and deaths.

 

Just a few survival tips, especially if driving on Samui:

 

If driving, especially on a motorbike, treat the activity as an act of war, in a sense that you may be mowed down or killed at any moment. Maintain eyes in the back of your head. Watch everyone. Expect craziness, insanity, lack of reason, and a complete lack of courtesy and respect on the roads, at all times. Expect cars and trucks to be coming at you in the wrong lane. Expect people to overtake you with the slimmest of margins.
Expect trucks to be driving very slowly in the fast lane of a highway. If riding a motorbike, only do so if you have many years of experience. Especially on the southern islands, where huge numbers of foreigners leave Thailand in a wooden box. Wear the best helmet you can afford. And drive like a grandmother. This applies to ex-pats too. Bring along an international drivers license. This helps you to avoid being fleeced by the local police franchisee.

 

The police only show up after the accident takes place. There is nothing in the way of traffic safety on the roads, or on the highways. Those traffic stops are all about weapons, drugs and handouts. Nothing to do with safety. I suppose there is no money in traffic safety. However, if they levied real fines for speeding over 120kph, for reckless driving, making severely quick lane changes, etc, there would be some money to be made, and the highways would be safer.

 

And on the highways? 

Just a few days ago, I was driving along at about 110kph, on a good, straight stretch of highway. A safe speed. And some joker cuts in front of me with his pickup truck. Within two meters in front of me, then slams on his brakes. I guess he never stopped to look at the lane he was cutting into to see that there was no room for him! I slammed on my brakes to avoid the numnut, and barely missed him. Would have been a horrific crash. Why? What was the point of him changing lanes? Why didn't he look first? Who changes lanes without looking first, when they are doing over 100 kph? Why so little regard for his wife, and for others? Where does that mentality come from? Why do Thais seem so polite, yet when they get into a car, everything they have ever learned in life goes right out the window? Why so little in the way of common sense, reason, and the ability to be careful and maintain some vision? Why such idiocy? The apparent lack of skill and peripheral awareness on the road here is very scary.

 

The idiocy comes from a lack of not only common sense but also logic. Both are things that the folks here seem have never heard of or use. Combine that with their insistence that we (everyone else) have to accept the assumptions that Thais seem to be all too ready to make of us. It is all of these factors as well as their total disregard for traffic laws (even their own). I once said here the following:

Thais ride Bicycles like they are walking.

Thais ride Motorbikes like they are riding bicycles.

Thais drive cars like they are riding motorbike.

Thais drive pickups like they are driving sport cars.

Thais drive Trucks like they are driving cars (both types).

Oh... and the yellow line down the middle of the road is simply there ass a suggestion!

 

Helmet wearing is the law. Speeding is against the law.  Not following posted road signs is also against the law. One must have a driver's licence also a law here. But the Traffic Police and the local Plod have no time to enforce the laws as their Facebook or Line apps attention! 

[overherebc]

On 5/13/2018 at 5:06 AM, Amusements said:

Definitely not the right impression. It is obvious that there should be a basket on the front of the bike for the dog.

The dog basket on the front of these things serves a couple of purposes. One of the most important being to completely block the headlamp, when full of dog or shopping, making sure that the rider can't see at night and other people can't see the bike approaching.

[Russell17au]

Education in road safety!!!!!!

Well you can forget about trying to teach the young ones about road safety at school because of Thai culture, dear little son gets home from school and tries to tell dad how to drive his pick up so dear little son gets a quick smack under the ear from dad and is quickly told to respect his father and that father knows best and son will learn to drive from father.

It is father that needs to be educated in road safety but first you must get father to learn to drive and get a license and to also fix his pick up so it is safe on the road and get the bloody thing registered and insured.

What an impossible task.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 11:35 AM, spidermike007 said:

Expect craziness, insanity, lack of reason, and a complete lack of courtesy and respect on the roads, at all times

I have always used a similar strategy when I have been driving in Thailand.  

[Oziex1]

On 13/05/2018 at 12:06 PM, Amusements said:

Definitely not the right impression. It is obvious that there should be a basket on the front of the bike for the dog.

For the dog?

No a basket is for the helmets when the Police are not watching.

[tryasimight]

On 13/05/2018 at 5:19 PM, Xaos said:

Idiots.

Why? 

[TheLobster]

On 5/13/2018 at 10:24 AM, rooster59 said:

File this one under ‘you couldn’t make it up’.

That is correct, I have never ever, ever seen 4 people on a bike, each wearing a helmet!

 

A lot of the families I see riding on bikes on Samui have helmets for the adults but not the children, what sort of parents are they?

[arithai12]

On 5/13/2018 at 7:18 PM, 55Jay said:

OP Photo quite normal as most here know already. 

 

Wearing a helmet all the time is a good idea.

 

With the increased risk of crash and/or mechanical breakage caused by riding 4 deep on a bloody Scoopy.... you'd be even more stupid not to.

Those 4 have a combined weight less than 2 typical farangs.

 

 

[Xaos]

Someone should drive checkpoint 4 with helmets then in case of fine show them poster