A new way to turn right at the intersection, Thai style?

[lordgrinz]

5 minutes ago, seajae said:

mate I am aware of this but this is Thailand and road rules mean nothing to most thai drivers/riders, most dont even know the road rules and drive in a way that suits them only, no indicators, wrong side of the road, overtake and flash light and expect you to drive off the road for them, they are way to arrogant and would not get a licence in any western country. The fact police refuse to do anything about it doesnt help

 

 

One thing I learned though, is when we've gone to the police after an accident, they do indeed follow the law when it comes to responsibility. They just refuse to go out an enforce compliance on a daily basis, thus we have a society of drivers who are ignorant of the laws and rules of their own country.

[PB172111]

3 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

 

Just noticed your screen name, most ironic name I have seen on here yet. I want change, I want police to enforce THAI LAWS! I want a safe place to drive, walk, and use a Zebra crossing. Driving styles? You mean the like the idiot in my video driving on the wrong side of the road? He should have his licensed taken away, along with anyone else driving recklessly.

So you want your own country rules.

keep dreaming and relax

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Now you are calling me names. I'm not delusional, I've adjusted.

 

I agree that some Thai's drive differently to us westerners but you must understand that's the way they were driving before you arrived. 

 

I can give you daily videos of some of the foreigners here driving dangerously. 

 

Lets face it... there are both foreigners and Thai's who drive like selfish idiots with complete disregard for their own safety, the safety of those around them and have no respect for road rules. 

 

Fortunately Thailand is far better than many other places I've been to - but the ineffective policing here enables a level of selfishness on the road that could easily be eradicated. 

 

Dealing with the outright dangerous idiots is harder.

 

As road users we see both, the selfish ayholes and the outright dangerous idiots - but I do believe it is a minority of users, otherwise we'd be in a lot more accidents. 

 

I think driving here requires a certain degree of adoptation, but that does not mean adopting to breaking the rules in the same manner some of the dangerous fools do - but it does mean adapting to a certain degree of assertiveness on the road and this was exampled by the video posted above - Lordgrinz didnt fold or give way to someone trying to force their way though the traffic in such an antisocial manner. 

 

But... there are also plenty of other 'passively idiotic' traits that cause so much issue on the road. 

-  the inability to give way, when two cars are approaching and there is an obstacle, one car should slow and allow the other to pass, instead, neither gives way and its actually slower for both cars to squeeze through the tiny gap. 

This highlights a lack of thinking towards the 'greater good'.

 

Another is the manner in which people park, or rather abandon their vehicles - they leave just enough space for a vehicle to pass, but that vehicle has to slow right down to walking pace... This happens at a market on our soi, the bikes all park outside, and leave 'just enough space'... Its quite a skill, leaving just enough CM's for a car to squeeze through so the bike is not fully blocking the road, but it forces all traffic to come to a near standstill - such selfishness turns a 3-5m journey up the road into a 15m journey sometimes, just because someone can't be bothered to park their bike properly, and the police do nothing. 

 

Thus: Selfishness and stupidity - the biggest causes of traffic here, obviously combined with poor road planning.

What we see in the video is decent road planning - just a combination of both selfishness and stupidity of the Songthaew driver and when this is multiplied  to 1% of the traffic it has significant impact on the remaining road users.

 

[Paul52]

12 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

If they were able to fix the way Thais drive, little by little it would become just like the country you left behind.

Or a much better version of the one I moved to…

[richard_smith237]

21 minutes ago, PB172111 said:

So you want your own country rules.

keep dreaming and relax

 

No.... he wants Thailands road rules... .

 

Thailand has always had perfectly decent road regulations and rules - the issue is they are not followed, then people like you come along without any idea and accuse someone of wanting to change the rules - thats rather dim.

 

Additionally - people who care about Thailand want to see improvements here, because the impact of such road behavior and the additional traffic it causes has a significant impact on Thailands economy to the tune of 11 Billion Baht per year (US$320 per year)...  

... on top of which is the increase in costs of around 5.9 Billion Baht (US$172 million) per year due to additional fuel use while stalled in congestion.

 

Its 'big picture thinking' so some will struggle to understand this impact and argue at a dumbed down simplistic level - "stop trying to change Thailand, it was like this before we got here".... 

 

 

 

A study by the Kasikorn Research Center estimated that in 2016, Bangkok's traffic jams resulted in an annual opportunity cost of approximately 11 billion baht, or about 60 million baht per day.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1082948/study-bangkok-traffic-jams-cost-b11bn?utm_source=chatgpt.com