I wonder why in Thailand traffic does not stop for Zebra crossing

[Coremouse]

Daily commute Bang Kunthian - Wangwian Yai - Yaowarat and vice versa, my opinion the traffic's wacky but most drivers & bikers are sane enough to not rude and cause a scene. now me never been to developed countries, but Thailand is quite better than nearby China, Vietnam, still needs improve though.

 

I'd say in my experience 2 out 4 Thai drivers are friendly enough to gently slow down to give way to pedestrians, many also OK to give way car cuts in row, 

1 out of 4 don't stop because safer to clear awared pedestrian, but too danger to sudden brake in front of tons bikers. usually give a hand gesture apologie

Still there're many is total sturbon jerk, no argue with that. 

 

 

[watcharacters]

42 minutes ago, Brer said:

My wife says “don’t stop you not in Áustralia now, you cause accident and you pay”

She says “let me drive, you danger”, She drives in the middle of the road at 100kms and overtakes on crests and corners and can’t reverse and says many accidents she see are many Falang not know how to drive.

 

As a public service, before  she goes anywhere you should post her route online to warn others.????????????

 

 

[luk AJ]

They do not care, they will happily run you over.
 
I am currently in a 1st world country where they actually obey zebra crossings .
They stop for pedestrians.
Plus no motorbikes on pavements.

Can you send picture?


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[Vacuum]

6 hours ago, seasia said:

They do not care, they will happily run you over.

 

I am currently in a 1st world country where they actually obey zebra crossings .

They stop for pedestrians.

Plus no motorbikes on pavements.

I'll bet you're a non smoker...

[Vacuum]

47 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Crossing a road in Thailand seems to bring out the true a-hole in some drivers....

IMO it's the pedestrians (99% tourists) that cause the mayhem.

[Mavideol]

have you been to any Thai driving school or did you get any Thai driving lessons, they don't cover that

[wgdanson]

11 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Baffles me as it's in the Thai highway code believe it or not. 

Yeh, but has any Thai read it?   LOL

[taken]

Just now, Mavideol said:

have you been to any Thai driving school or did you get any Thai driving lessons, they don't cover that

I am sure you must be knowing Thai driving rules. Then you must be aware of the fact why we see Zebra crossings everywhere in Thailand.

[Mavideol]

7 minutes ago, taken said:

I am sure you must be knowing Thai driving rules. Then you must be aware of the fact why we see Zebra crossings everywhere in Thailand.

like many things here in Thailand, they are cover by their law, unfortunately nobody or the majority don't follow the law, zebra crossings (as explained above by daveaustin post) is covered by their code

[Kwasaki]

38 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Section 32 and section 70 may help but as for stopping at a pedestrian crossing there appears to be no specific reference.

 

 

Thai driving rules.pdf 259.4 kB · 0 downloads

Exactly no specific reference.

It's no big deal like OP makes it out be, what I understand from DLT vids is you only stop if a pedestrian is physically on what's the Thai Pedestrian crossing, crosswalk (what westerners refer to wrongly as a Zebra crossing) they a white spaced strip only on the road surface, some I've seen are yellow from the road edge to opposite road edge.

A pedestrian is not suppose to assume that a car approaching is gonna stop they are supposed to wait until the road is clear to cross.

[manarak]

13 hours ago, taken said:

 I am learning from guys like you. It takes some time to acclimatize. Thankyou. 

the reason is no enforcement.

next.

[thequietman]

19 minutes ago, taken said:

I am sure you must be knowing Thai driving rules. Then you must be aware of the fact why we see Zebra crossings everywhere in Thailand.

U no und stand Thailand. Thailand number 1. Brack and white paint on road look soooo nice, jing jing, and make Thai road look sooo handsome. Rook velly bruteiful.

Why I wanna stop for you, in big hurry, need to go 7/11 before closed. Why you wanna cross road, stay one side all the time. Good for you. Better for me. Welcome Thailand, prease stay loooong time. Thank you. Take care you loooong time. ????

Edited June 27, 2019 by thequietman

[KhunKenAP]

In Thailand these pedestrian are target zones.

 

In Australia if you see someone who is possibly think of using a pedestrian crossing you better stop!

[thequietman]

7 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Exactly no specific reference.

It's no big deal like OP makes it out be, what I understand from DLT vids is you only stop if a pedestrian is physically on what's the Thai Pedestrian crossing, crosswalk (what westerners refer to wrongly as a Zebra crossing) they a white spaced strip only on the road surface, some I've seen are yellow from the road edge to opposite road edge.

A pedestrian is not suppose to assume that a car approaching is gonna stop they are supposed to wait until the road is clear to cross.

Then, why paint them on the road in the first place? If a pedestrian must wait until the road is clear, then it is a normal part of the road that doesn't need to be painted black and white. So, again, why the black and white paint?  Look sanook, look pretty , look handsome, makes the road look nice, What? ????

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, jonwilly said:

The OP will be from Britain.

In UK the law is that Pedestrian Crossing belong to Pedestrians.

Once a pedestrian places a Foot on a "Zebra" crossing he owns it and is in the right in event of a traffic accident.

Thailand is different.

john

Once before I was a twinkle in my father's eye they were known as Belisher Crossings after the UK transport minister who introduced them in the 1930's.

That was because of the " belisher beacon " at the kerb.

 

Also it was only to be taken in humour in England and my Jamaican friends as well because the Zebra crossing were Black & White so whatever person it was on the crossing while approaching in a car you would say repeating  " Now I see ya now I don't ".  ????  

[Kwasaki]

14 minutes ago, thequietman said:

Then, why paint them on the road in the first place? If a pedestrian must wait until the road is clear, then it is a normal part of the road that doesn't need to be painted black and white. So, again, why the black and white paint?  Look sanook, look pretty , look handsome, makes the road look nice, What? ????

You miss the point there white or yellow marking on road no black paint where I live and are there for people to cross on because as posted already:- 

 " you only stop if a pedestrian is physically on what's the Thai Pedestrian crossing, crosswalk "

 

[Kwasaki]

50 minutes ago, taken said:

I am sure you must be knowing Thai driving rules. Then you must be aware of the fact why we see Zebra crossings everywhere in Thailand.

There lies the misunderstanding in Thailand there not Zebra crossings only falangies refer to them as that.

This is a Zebra crossing :-

 

 

[smo]

7 hours ago, seasia said:

They do not care, they will happily run you over.

 

I am currently in a 1st world country where they actually obey zebra crossings .

They stop for pedestrians.

Plus no motorbikes on pavements.

"They do not care, they will happily run you over" as well in another 1st world country. Here's my experience as a pedestrian during a home visit to the US a few years back:

 

"....I remember several instances I had to do that with (mostly) VNmese (car)drivers when crossing the streets in Little Saigon, California. Their eye contact means something else, an acknowledgement that you, the one on foot, realize the impact of metal upon flesh, therefore that tactic of a second is the time allotted to you to literally jump out of the path of a coming car, no matter if you were stepping inside the zebra markings of a pedestrian crosswalk. Then I started noticing something else, the local papers would post one or two pedestrian fatalities every other day. Usually it involved a senior, probably someone who was too slow or too weak to save themselves."

 

"End of the day this is not my country."  Ok OP, we hear your existential threat cry.  But you're not in Kansas anymore. This is Thailand, doing 10k daily run "on the pavements" is 100% suicidal. I just hope my spending a few minutes writing this post will possibly save a life (that of probably a newbie expat), that's all.

Edited June 27, 2019 by smo

[Andrew Dwyer]

The video in post #11 sums it up nicely !!

In Chiang Mai a few months ago we called in to Black Canyon at Thapae Gate. Sitting looking out the window there is a “ zebra “ crossing right there in front of you.
Was very entertaining to watch the tourists puzzled expressions when the light goes to red yet the traffic continues to flow like it doesn’t exist.

Saw a few near misses and one irate Chinese tourist who chased a car down the road for a good 200 metres after being nearly hit !!, his wife and kids stood on the pavement watching him disappear into the distance [emoji23][emoji23]


I guess you had to be there [emoji853]

[Moonlover]

14 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Please be careful. In the unlikely event that someone stops to let you cross, you can almost guarantee that the cars and/or motorcycles behind him will overtake (or undertake) and run you down as you step onto the crossing.

 

When I first started to drive here I treated zebra crossings as I would back home. I saw a few very close misses when I stopped. Now I drive like the locals (except that I do ease off the "go" pedal and cover the brake pedal when I see folks waiting to cross).

This is just about the best advice I've read regarding driving here in many months.

[CMNightRider]

Pedestrians in Thailand, do not have the right away in traffic.  To compound the problem, law enforcement are poorly trained and the many who move up through the police ranks, buy their way up with their incompetence level increasing with their new rank.

[kkerry]

At some Thai shopping centres the security staff will wave a flag or a small strobe light to alert drivers to stop and give way to pedestrians... even they nearly get hit by cars driving through regardless.

[DuiDui48]

13 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Because that would require, road safety and driver training, neither  of which are mandatory or evident here.

..and we know already to well that break failure or no breaks at all is the way Thais like it,right.

[Toosetinmyways]

This is a story regarding a Zebra crossing in Thailand. But remember this is from 30 years ago.

A Farang was crossing the road in Bangkok on a zebra crossing when he was knocked down and killed by a BMTA bus. The wheels of justice move slowly in Thailand but it was reported that the BTMA were being sued for around 2 million dollars. We all had a good laugh with the comments of throwing money away.

Will cut a long story short. It turns out that the deceased carried 2 million dollars in accident insurance and the insurance company were doing the suing. The BMTA settled for 1 million dollars as there is a law regarding knocking someone over while they are on clearly marked crossing. I personally would not tempt fate to prove this law.

 

[30la]

The Thays even don't now what is it!

[arithai12]

16 hours ago, taken said:

My humble request to all the drivers to please slow down and give way for pedestrians to cross road especially on the Zebra crossing.

If you are running 10km every day (wow), you are taking huge risks in doing it along/across traffic. It's only a matter of time, you will be run over. Better move to a location where you have a safe running path nearby.

 

Facts you should/will know very soon (seriously):

- Many Thai drivers cannot operate their vehicles beyond the on/off switch and aircon, do not know the rules of the road and when they drive they are looking mainly at their phones.

- The signs painted on the asphalt or posted by the road are invisible to most, and ignored by all.

- The perceived priorities on the road follow size/money: a Mercedes has right of way over a Toyota compact, the Toyota over a motorcycle, the motosai over a bycicle. The pedestrian has the same rights of a garbage bag, to be avoided only because it might soil the car.

 

[klauskunkel]

Zebra crossings here have no function, they are ornamental. 

Some minister a while back went on a trip abroad and must have seen one and decided Thailand needs to have them to look international.

Or maybe he had financial interest in a road sign painting business.

Or maybe both.

[natway09]

You just do not understand do you ?

Once a Thai has reached a stage in life that they can afford a car then they automatically become a cut above any pedestrian       Ko Chai Khrup ?

[MartiniMan]

Although many claim to be buddhist - when asked many do not know about the 5 precepts or the 8 truths and never apply them in their lives

There is also no fine or penalty for dangerous driving like in the developed world - here is still uncivilized in the sense that the consciousness has yet to mature to adulthood and see the value of human life

There is almost a adolescent pre-puberty like mindset of many behind the wheel, who have not ever taken a driving test and would not be legal to drive in any other country - they are not yet conscious of the fact they may cause a murder and also no one will penalise them for it because mai pen rai

This is a huge systemic issue in the country - look how many deaths are caused needlessly - no jail time - no punishment

If i was able to have any voice in the matter I would advocate for completely changing the road system to make it safe as it is the most unsafe roads in the world with approx 30 deaths per day!!!!! SHOCKING

The problem is there is no literally no care - no punishment at all

I would take their licenses and give out 2 year bans to all drunk driver, repeat offender 1000 hours community service and 8 year driving ban custodial sentence if found driving under ban

Anyone speeding near a school 8 year ban

Anyone with previous accidents 200% insurance premium or more

Anyone who pulls out into the road without looking - not insured total driving ban

Anyone who drives a unroadworthy vehicle (no tax, no license, no brakes, no lights) perminant ban and community service cleaning the roads

For all dangerous driving you should have a phone number you can call and submit video evidence and if reviewed by a public panel of local council members and business owners who volunteer to be on the road safety panel they can give out a fine or ban based on how serious the offence was

All police should be equiped with the tools to properly facilitate the bans on sight of an offense and hand out a first warning of 5,000 - 100,000 baht for the offense depending on severity - that can be paid in cash or by community service cleaning the gutters and planting trees to stop this god aweful pollution

I got these ideas from other developed countries who have a tiny fatality rate compared to thailand and need to be checked out

moan over 
 

[RJRS1301]

They only stop if there is a Zebra on the crossing