If it had been a Thai rider he would probably just have pulled out and forced the car driver to slow down, that’s if it even made the news. Does anyone know the speed limit on that road?

On 12/12/2025 at 8:06 AM, Gottfrid said:

And what is that for a lame excuse? Does that make it right?

No...but it does show a bias.

Almost every time I'm out driving I see locals doing u turns on central reservations. In fact, if there's a short cut to be had the Thais will use it. It's almost as if it's a loss of face if they don't. Same goes for cutting corners.

On 12/12/2025 at 8:06 AM, Gottfrid said:

And what is that for a lame excuse? Does that make it right?

No it definitely doesn't make it right. But in all honesty when people say act like a local, Thai driving is terrible! when foreigners act like a local and drive like local, locals should not complain. You want foreigners to drive better everyone should drive better.

3 hours ago, kevden said:

His U turn on median strip was illegal, dangerous and not clever, but not uncommon. Car driver could have acted more carefully, however it's not unusual for drivers to use the horn and flashing headlights to set their 'right off way' and 'I'm not stopping'. The standard of driving here is not high and reminds us to drive defensively. 

Flashing your lights is in the Thai highway code. To be used when overtaking or in similar situations.

It pretty well means get out of the way.

5 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Whats the issue ?

 

He did not have a wife and two kids on the bike.

 

His lights worked,

 

He did not indicate left and then turn right.

 

He was not using his mobile phone at the time.

 

He was therefore not a Thai and thus has to be reported in a news item. 😆

1 hour ago, BexMan said:

If it had been a Thai rider he would probably just have pulled out and forced the car driver to slow down, that’s if it even made the news. Does anyone know the speed limit on that road?

 

It is whatever you feel like as it is never enforced. 

On 12/12/2025 at 11:13 AM, petedk said:

 

Never!

And they never do u-turns on Zebra crossings nearly hitting the pedestrians as they cross

 

They can do U-turns on zebra crossings where you live, most zebra crossings I have seen in Phuket are used as parking spaces. 😄

2 hours ago, BexMan said:

If it had been a Thai rider he would probably just have pulled out and forced the car driver to slow down, that’s if it even made the news. Does anyone know the speed limit on that road?

The Thai rider, in all probability, would have become another statistic.

I recall seeing two bodies covered in white sheets on the road a couple of years ago, one big and one small. Guessing Mum and her child. Dual carriageway with no U turn facility. Also guessing Mum decided to make a U turn over the median strip and paid with her and her child's life. 

Saw a young Thai lady losing it in her car as we drove past. Guess she hit the motorbike.

A lot of guesses there, but if I was a betting man....

 

This was near Surin in Isaan.

5 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Hypocrites.......I see this every day I drive here. There is an old saying I remember........something about glass houses and stones.

 

...and "when in Rome"

What makes it illegal? Didn't look like it was just the grass. Plus he wasn't the only one there at the time. 

The Thai driver should be used to that kind of manoeuvre

10 hours ago, Vlada Floric said:

I've just driven my usual 20km to the supermarket and in those twenty minutes I have had 7 near misses from idiots that are clueless on the roads, not to mention the anal retentives that sit in the outside lane for 15KM as they prepare to U turn ......eventually, or just sit there admiring the view. Besides, only fools would design a road where you perform a U turn in the outside lane and have to cross another two lanes in the opposite direction. The biker made a mistake, but these idiots are here 24/7.

Right the driving in the right had lane. With my ex one day she chipped in why did I always move the left hand lane after overtaking somebody. Obviously looking for an excuse to start an argument. I said why not. Why do you stay in the right hand lane, because the left hand lane is more bumpy. So there you have the Thai mentality.

15 hours ago, DarthChuckler said:

No it definitely doesn't make it right. But in all honesty when people say act like a local, Thai driving is terrible! when foreigners act like a local and drive like local, locals should not complain. You want foreigners to drive better everyone should drive better.

Yeah, or just maybe the loudmouthed foreigner who say he drive so much better and that Thai drivers suck, should lead the way.

What you just posted, was same as if you see a person kill someone, then you can do the same.

Just following a well worn motorcycle trail across the island.

On 12/12/2025 at 7:25 AM, JoePai said:

And Thais never do that...   😉

No never, and they never wear helmets, stop for pedestrians or give way on a traffic island, and they never ride the wrong way down the road without lighting at nights. 

I've probably missed heaps. 

 

Every day at school closing at the school next door to Boat Lagoon on Thepkassattri road where you can see a hundred bikes with 5 people on them traversing the wrong way, around parked cars and against 60+KM traffic that they expect the traffic to “move over” for them and make space just so they don’t have to go around the official u-turn that is only there for the rest of us to use. 
 

If the police did their job, they’d make a killing in fines and penalties but instead, they prefer  of the killing of whole families on the roads. 

7 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

No never, and they never wear helmets, stop for pedestrians or give way on a traffic island, and they never ride the wrong way down the road without lighting at nights. 

I've probably missed heaps. 

 

I now see that very occasionally a Thai will pull over to allow an ambulance to pass. But still very rare I know.

 

On 12/14/2025 at 5:03 PM, Geoff914 said:

I now see that very occasionally a Thai will pull over to allow an ambulance to pass. But still very rare I know.

 

Yes it's sad that many Thais will not pull over for ambulances, but some do, even a very small amount of Thais give way on traffic islands. 

I never proceed until it's clear as they will smash into you, how do they pass licence tests?? 

On 12/13/2025 at 5:54 PM, NanLaew said:

 

...and "when in Rome"

Yes, I guess so. After so many years here you probably do lower your standards or you would go loopy. Maybe tourists just see others do it, and copy. One thing is certain, in general, driving standards here are abyssmal, and they have no room to comment or be outraged at anything a foreigner does.

 

6 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Yes, I guess so. After so many years here you probably do lower your standards or you would go loopy. Maybe tourists just see others do it, and copy. One thing is certain, in general, driving standards here are abyssmal, and they have no room to comment or be outraged at anything a foreigner does.

 

What I hate the most, apart from the driving way to fast, way to close, driving while paralytically drunk, is when on a dual carriageway up a hill and the traffic forms an orderly queue in the outside lane to overtake a slow lorry is the f***wits that come racing up the inside then cut in at the last second.