17 minutes ago, bangkokbonecollector said:

Wow this forum really is just one big Thai bash; pathetic and so very sad.

Got to agree. But on public forums it was ever so.

Mirror of real life actually. The privileged - overwhelming white - looking down their noses with derision and utter contempt for what citizens of another country do.

big·ot·ry

1. obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.

Forgetting the main point - this is THEIR country

30 minutes ago, gejohesch said:

All equally annoying anyway. And zooming out, lots of Thai drivers (including on 2 wheels) are extremely annoying (and dangerous) on the road. Overtaking when there is zero visibility and then insisting staying on the wrong side of the road while speeding up, with cars coming the other way - one of the worst situations. Years back, when I started driving a car and riding a bike in Thailand, the little admiration I had left for that country evaporated all of a sudden. One wonders if there is even 1 gram of brain cells with the morons let loose on the road in Thailand. Mental age = 4 years old.

I impressed by the standard of driving here considering there is no proper training from the off. 

Your remarks are a very intolerant westerner view which is what this thread is IMO.

Who cares? Life’s too short. Some silly People indicate to come back in when overtaking in my country too. I actually prefer driving in Thailand. 

1 minute ago, Kwasaki said:

I impressed by the standard of driving here considering there is no proper training from the off. 

Your remarks are a very ignorant westerner view which is what this thread is IMO.

The truth is often unpleasant, right? Put your head in the sand, typical attitude....

Everyone drives too close to the car in front of them, in every country. If you are good indicators are not even needed, although sure they are always helpful

1 minute ago, gejohesch said:

The truth is often unpleasant, right? Put your head in the sand, typical attitude....

I knew you would say that. 

Pathetic comes to mind what you doing here. 

I think it's important to just remind all the flag wavers on this thread. That pre covid ( more people on the roads)

about 65-70 people a day die on the roads of Thailand, every day. and at least 14 of them are children.

i find that very unacceptable, and am happy to point this out to all people in Thailand, forums or in the street.

a Nation that thinks 14 dead kids a day is ok

has some serious issues. and it needs to be addressed.

Not just swept under the carpet,  as its, there country or 

you just rich white man looking down your nose at Thailand.

How far removed some people are to the real issues with driving and riding in Thailand.

you should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

On 12/8/2021 at 2:47 PM, fdsa said:

My favourite is flashing the left signal and turning right

that's exactly what some kid did in front of me today.... I'm stopped at a 4 way intersection waiting to turn right, kid approaches from the left, puts on his left indicator, then turns right across in front of me just as I was about to move off.

I don't know if Thai law requires signaling before changing lanes. I grew up and learned to drive in a time when cars didn't have signal lights, so drivers were expected to pay attention and anticipate what other drivers were likely to do. The driver ahead of you changing lanes shouldn't be a big deal.

 

I don't know if the law has been changed, but one of the things that appalled me when I still drove was that the law did not require drivers to pull over to the side of the road when they heard an emergency vehicle. I have seen one story about a person who was arrested for purposely blocking an ambulance, but that seems to have been deliberate obstruction, not just ignoring it. When I had driver's training in Germany while stationed there, the law was the same, and we were warned the Polizei were very strict about all traffic rules.

Many posters seem hell-bent on following "the rules" and disregard the golden rule of self preservation.  I do what it takes to stay alive and will break all and any rules or accepted practices to do so.

 

And I'm not just talking about road rules.

 

 

14 hours ago, Orinoco said:

you should be ashamed of yourselves.

And how are you trying to remedy the situation ?

And what should we do to remedy this 'shame' ?

Just now, seedy said:

And how are you trying to remedy the situation ?

And what should we do to remedy this 'shame' ?

Jog on mate.

Just now, Orinoco said:

Jog on mate.

Ah - jogging. That is why I am of no help in bringing down the stats

Thanks

Wow, i had no idea there are so many twits on this forum.

Funny they all seam to be the so could big bikers.

TIT.

 

Ps That ignore list is growing well today. LOL.

 

23 hours ago, MartinL said:

Page 27 of this attachment ...........

Road Traffic Act (English) BE 2522 (1979).pdf 1.58 MB · 2 downloads

So, the same rule as we use in Australia - give way to traffic already on the rounabout. I wonder if any questions on this are in the licence test here. I wouls say at least half of the drivers treat it like an intersection.

1 hour ago, Orinoco said:

Wow, i had no idea there are so many twits on this forum.

In that case refrain from posting while looking in the mirror 555

Humor is important - on public forums as in life in general

3 hours ago, Acharn said:

I grew up and learned to drive in a time when cars didn't have signal lights,

Ah yes. The good old days of hand signals. Sticking your hand out the window and flapping it up and down to indicate slowing down ect.

My granddad used to tell me about that. ????

If you see a woman Thai driver doing hand signals there is only one thing you can be certain off. 

 

The window is open

Every Thai knows that  indicator lights are to be used, a lot,   at New Year, Songkran  and Kings Birthdays,  to celebrate the happy events , and show their fellow man   how happy they are. and same are to be left on  all the time one is   on the road,  , just like  rear view mirrors are   placed in   vehicles and motor bikes for the express purpose  of picking pimples,  applying makeup or combing ones hair.

Sometimes the bad driving observation is a random one or two incidents a day. On rare occasions, typically when I don't leave the house, everyone seems to be comparatively sane and sensible.

 

Then sometimes, like yesterday, it seems that every muppet is out there doing their best to be unorthodox, difficult or downright dangerous. I muted the microphone on my dashcam year ago but the last one yesterday took the biscuit.

 

Black Toyota sedan with the tinted windows making a pigs <deleted> at 5-point reverse parking job into three adjacent empty parking spots at Big C. It's only when I lit up my floodbar that I saw the flash from the case of the iPhone or whatever she was yacking on, held against her right ear with her left hand while her right hand did the reverse steering bit. Then, when she needed to go forward, the phone changed to her right hand, so her left hand could change gear... change hands again as she appeared to be only able to steer with her right hand, repeat, ...

wouldn't trust seeing an indicator flashing on a car being driven by a thai.... knocked on by accident for sure...never going to change habits Thais can't drive ..just sayin  

Must have been bedlam in Thailand if these were ever on the roads.

 

On 12/8/2021 at 2:24 PM, Crossy said:

Long, long ago, my UK driving instructor told me that "the only thing an indicator tells you is that it works".

I figured out long ago that when my wife says no, she means yes, and vice versa. I just apply the same logic to indicators and driving. In both cases it's kept me alive so far.

6 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Ah yes. The good old days of hand signals. Sticking your hand out the window and flapping it up and down to indicate slowing down ect.

My granddad used to tell me about that. ????

We mostly just didn't do signals. Figured it was more an aspirational thing. I never heard about anybody getting in trouble for not signalling, but in those days we didn't ticket or arrest people for the money. Rich people paid 90% on the top segment of their income, so government worked.

On 12/9/2021 at 7:44 AM, jackdd said:

You are not supposed to drive in the middle lane if the left lane is free.

If a car undertakes you it's nearly always because you are in the wrong lane.

Haha ... I could see that one coming .. as you say 'nearly always' ...  I would agree with you 100% if it was in the West .. Here however I think you need to have a bit more of a flexible approach in this place ...  I go up and down on Route 7 - BKK to Ryong ...  The left lane is nearly always occupied by trucks.  So in my experience cars tend to stay in the 2nd lane ... Not keep pulling in and out of the 1nd to 2nd ...  Then you have lane 3 and 4 for overtaking ... unless .. the traffic is very heavy and you have one of the 'boy racers' in his sticker covered pick up ... Doing heavy lane jumping as he will weave troughs the traffic... Truck in the left lane .. tend to do 60 to 80 .. the next lane is then 90 to 120 .. and 'wherever you want' .. tend to be from 130 to 200 and up !!  ???? kph ...

 

Actually I found the hardest part to get to grips with here ... is the lack if eye contact with drivers due to the very strong tinting - With no eye contact ..  Its the vehicle that you now need to judge ..is is slowing down .. How does it move ..small change in speed will indicate if 'it' will let you pass in front .. or you should hold back and let the other car pass ... Took me a few weeks to  get used to that ...

 

Another observation I made here compared to other places ... people here tend to not mind you using the space in front of them ..as long as you do not hit them ... pulling in front of someone ... I found people in Northern Europe much more 'oh .. why you do that ... I will accelerate to stop you doing that ' ....  Here its ... if its space .. use it ... as long as it does not interfere with my driving ... i.e. do not pull in front of me and brake !  

 

Yes .. all in all driving here is no big deal once you learn to go with the flow and adapt ... 

Had another one yesterday, one of them Honda Rollerskates wandering all over the road and ended up straddling lanes before I nipped past on the right. At the traffic lights, it slowly rolled up behind me and yes, looking in my rear-view mirror, it was another woman with her mobile phone having a major selfie-attack.

Been driving here 8 years now and completely used to all of these listed. It's just the way it is. But my one Big pet hate about Thai drivers that still infuriates me is the use of slip roads to join main roads.

 

Thai's who are on the main road (and can clearly see cars on the slip road joining the main road) will not slow down or move over a lane to allow you to join safely. In fact many times they will accelerate to stop you joining the main road in front of them. Even though the car on the slip road has nowhere to go and even though by not allowing them in they are causing a serious potential accident this is usually their preferred choice of action. I just don't understand what is so hard about letting someone in. Crazy crazy and the one thing after 8 years of driving that still makes me angry.

 

8 minutes ago, greenmonkey said:

I just don't understand what is so hard about letting someone in.

8 years here and you don't see the Thais as generally being selfish? You never been to a supermarket weight  checkout and had Thais lean past/over you to put their goods ahead of yours?

22 hours ago, HAPPYNUFF said:

Every Thai knows that  indicator lights are to be used, a lot,   at New Year, Songkran  and Kings Birthdays,  to celebrate the happy events , and show their fellow man   how happy they are. and same are to be left on  all the time one is   on the road,  , just like  rear view mirrors are   placed in   vehicles and motor bikes for the express purpose  of picking pimples,  applying makeup or combing ones hair.

mirrors on motorbikes ARE OPTIONAL EXTRAS HERE !!!!!

6 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

8 years here and you don't see the Thais as generally being selfish? You never been to a supermarket weight  checkout and had Thais lean past/over you to put their goods ahead of yours?

As I said, I seen it plenty... but to risk another person's life because you don't want to let them in is taking it to another level I'll never be able to comprehend.