Bus Nearly Hit Me

[crewcut]

I was driving along the 30 km stretch of road between Phan Korn and Wanoni Wat in Sakon Nakhon and nearly had a major accident with a bus. As the bus approached us he viered off the road slightly on to the dirt track and must of hit a pot hole because all we heard was bang! The bus driver lost control and swerved off the dirt track back onto the road coming straight for us on our side of the road. I was doing about 70kmph and he must have been doing between 80-90kmph. I had my wife in the front next to me and our 2 children in the back. I slammed on the brakes as the bus approached us and steered the car off the road I thought "he's going to hit us", the bus driver turned his wheel in the opposite direction and swerved again to narrowly miss us. As he passed we could see him clearly and he was smileing. We sat in a daze for a few minutes and couldn't belive how lucky we had just been. As we sat there rims of the wheel hub rolled by us and when I looked in my mirror the bus driver kept on going with a flat tyre for about another 200-300m.

When I had thought that the bus was going to hit us I wasn't scared, I didn't shout to warn my family (not that they weren't aware of what was going on), I just saw the bus coming straight at us and thought 'he's gonna hit us'. After the event I must admit my heart was thumping but at the time I was quite matter of fact about the whole thing.

Has anyone else had a similar experience where they thought they would have reacted differently to what they did?

CC.

[PadThaiGuy]

Not suprised. I took my first and last bus ride in 1990.

[piker]

When I had thought that the bus was going to hit us I wasn't scared, I didn't shout to warn my family (not that they weren't aware of what was going on), I just saw the bus coming straight at us and thought 'he's gonna hit us'. After the event I must admit my heart was thumping but at the time I was quite matter of fact about the whole thing.

Has anyone else had a similar experience where they thought they would have reacted differently to what they did?

CC.

'he's gonna hit us'.

I think that happens about every 2-3 minutes in Pattaya. Not necessarily only when driving either.

[seonai]

I learned to drive on Phuket ... say no more

[chiang mai]

One of the more bizarre sights I have seen in Thailand is that of a bus whilst heading South from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. The rear end of the bus was misaligned some 15% with the front end and it gave the appearance of the bus continually going into a slide. I presume the chassis had been broken and mis repaired at some point and that a six inches of it on one side had been left out.

[toptuan]

Since buses are some of the biggest vehicles on the highways, the drivers generally have no regard for anyone else. This is mostly true of inter-city and inter-provincial bus drivers. They constantly intimidate other drivers and pedestrians with their horns, bluffing, near-misses, and tailgating while flashing their lights. As my friend says, the only two qualifications for driving a bus in Thailand is to be a... 1) ya ba user, and 2) ex-convict.

All smaller entities (cars, motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians) are definitely seen as the bottom of the ladder of human worth. In Thailand, size does matter.

A couple years ago, I was in Sisaket province riding a songtheaw on a reasonably straight stretch of country road at a fairly fast clip. A bus began to pass us from the rear, got alongside of us, and then cut into us, forcing us to the shoulder. We soon saw the reason for the aggressive behavior: another bus was in the process of passing THAT bus. So you get the picture? All three vehicles going the same direction, with two buses in the act of passing ("overtaking" for you Brits).

But that's not near the excitement of the whole story. I looked ahead, and a large dump truck was approaching we three vehicles at a high rate of speed from the opposite direction. All I could do was close my eyes and wait for the screeching of brakes, the impact, ripping of metal, and bodies flying all directions (my carcass, one of them).

Nothing of the kind. When I heard or felt no such catastrophe, I opened my eyes, and everyone had successfully negotiated the "dance of death," and were speeding on their way to the next near-disaster. Sometimes we just get lucky.

Edited November 5, 2007 by toptuan

[Mosha]

We were down in Nakhon Sri Thammerat recently. My wife has family down there both in Muang NST and Pak Phanang. Between these 2 places is a stretch of road about 28K long with very few corners. On coming traffic regularly use these stretches for crazy overtaking manoeuvers. On our way back to Ranong, I was forced to a complete standstill with 2 wheels on the grass verge. The alternative would have been to be splattered on the on coming trucks windshield. I really hate that stretch, but it's the best route to highway 41.

[ronz28]

I always look out for and give buses the right of way. I think the driver is usually doing his best to keep about 30 people on schedule and I am one who can make up the few seconds I may lose in giving them the right of way even though they may not legally have the right of way. However, busses should stay on their own side of the road and congratulations for dodging a bullet.

[toptuan]

I always look out for and give buses the right of way. I think the driver is usually doing his best to keep about 30 people on schedule and I am one who can make up the few seconds I may lose in giving them the right of way even though they may not legally have the right of way. However, busses should stay on their own side of the road and congratulations for dodging a bullet.

Bold font above: Definitely looking through Western-colored glasses! It's more likely he's trying to get in as many runs in the day as possible to make that Almighty Baht, and then get home early enough for a cold one and the wife's som-tam.

Edited November 5, 2007 by toptuan

[chownah]

In the US there is a saying, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

[Briggsy]

I have had many sphincter-twitching moments on my motorbike, slammed on the brakes, swerved, etc. but the fear of being splatted reverberates around my nervous system for a good half an hour.

But as with you, when a car pulled out directly in my path, my thoughts were "There's no avoiding that, so I can't take any effective evasive action so no point freaking out." The best phrase I can come up is a feeling of being resigned to crashing/dying in the split second before the crash. BANG

So in your reaction you are not alone. I know what you are talking about.

Obviously didn't die as I'm writing this.

Edited November 5, 2007 by Briggsy

[Scott]

Soooo many close calls, I can't count them. If all the TV members who drive anything respond to this thread, it might just set a new record for length!

[game4shame]

I was decked by a motorbike on samui (I was on foot). I had been drinking that night and iirc stumbling about a bit but the guy was going way too fast down chaweng beach road. by the time I'd came to my senses, he was gone.

needed a few stitches but tbh could have been alot worse.

Edited November 5, 2007 by game4shame

[TheDon]

Well not in Thailand, in Sydney I was actually hit by a bus about 10 years ago. I was driving in the middle lane of a 3 lane road, it was raining and the bus pulled out from the left lane and hit me very hard on to the meddle concrete strip and slammed me into a pole. I was only doing about 60km/h but the impact of my head on the steering wheel was pretty hard, lucky i got a hard head.

But that pole I hit is what actually saved my life because there was a truck comming down the other side of the road and it didnt even slow down.

[qualtrough]

Has anyone else had a similar experience where they thought they would have reacted differently to what they did?

CC.

Definitely. Through my own foolishness I launched my old Land Rover on two wheels and continued to drive on two wheels in a slow motion roll over process which was arrested by the unwitting kindness of a Toyota driver who positioned her car in such a way that it acted to prevent my tipping over. Unfortunately the Toyota suffered greatly for the favor. Very fortunate that nobody was hurt. Back to the point, during the entire process I was very calm, thinking to myself "This is not good" and weighing my options. It is a cliche, but time slowed down while I mulled over my options. I may have been able to ride it out but the Toyota eliminated any possibility of that as I could not avoid it. It was only later when I thought of all the possibilities that my heart beat was slightly elevated. I was not so much concerned about my well-being as the fact that I could have hurt someone else.

[TheDon]

Ive also done some pretty stupid things behind the wheel when i was a teen and early 20's.

Drink driving.

Drag racing on speed.

At the lights turning right i would pretend i was going to drive into the car opposite then turning sharply at the last minute.

Pulling people over with a red and blue light and laughing so hard while driving past them.

Thrown fire crackers out of a moving car at predestrians (so funny at the time)

Drive by eggings

Get everyone to run around the car at the traffic lights then when the lights turn green everyone jumps in and have a random driver.

Driving down streets with a mate laying on the bonnet and going fast to scare the sh1t out of him.

[TAWP]

I always look out for and give buses the right of way. I think the driver is usually doing his best to keep about 30 people on schedule and I am one who can make up the few seconds I may lose in giving them the right of way even though they may not legally have the right of way. However, busses should stay on their own side of the road and congratulations for dodging a bullet.

Bold font above: Definitely looking through Western-colored glasses! It's more likely he's trying to get in as many runs in the day as possible to make that Almighty Baht, and then get home early enough for a cold one and the wife's som-tam.

Indeed, was just about to reply regarding that. Busses and schedules...he must be joking.

[richard_smith237]

I had a smaller sportier car and loved it. However most other cars on the road were either the slightly larger saloon / sedan type, or much larger 4x4 Fortuners, or pick up etc... and no one gives way.

I bought a much bigger car (Not a Hummer and not a Fortuner !) about a year ago and for a year I had both cars and drove which ever one I preferred to on that day (while at the same time reluctantly trying to sell the smaller one as I had no need for 2 cars). I noticed the difference of driving the two different cars immediately. While driving the larger car a lot more people gave way without my having to be forceful. However, returning to the smaller car was sometimes potentially dangerous, after getting used to people giving way, no other car would (the exception to the observation here was young girls in a Yaris / Jazz / Vios; while on mobile phone, they never give way to anyone !)

My simple conclusion, as someone who has had a large car and a smaller car at the same time, driving regularly around town (Bkk), is that the bigger your car the more trouble free the driving is and the more polite more of other road users seem to appear.

My guess at the reasoning for this is that at a subconscious level people may associate the size with say a greater impeding doom if in the event of a collision and hence initially give way on some subconscious level … The flip side of this of course is the bus drivers who dangerously refuse to give way to anything. I’m bigger they’ll have to stop for me !… (and Fortuner drivers, as another post in the motoring section has suggested… sorry Fortuner drivers)

[toptuan]

My guess at the reasoning for this is that at a subconscious level people may associate the size with say a greater impeding doom if in the event of a collision and hence initially give way on some subconscious level … The flip side of this of course is the bus drivers who dangerously refuse to give way to anything. I’m bigger they’ll have to stop for me !… (and Fortuner drivers, as another post in the motoring section has suggested… sorry Fortuner drivers)

That may be part of it, but I'd say it's more that you now live in a society which is vertically-related. Those on the higher rungs (power, money, and the things that these two provide) lord it over the less-powerful and less-moneyed, in many aspects of life. Traffic is just another arena in which this societal relationship plays out. Notice that the Mercedes driver gets just as much deference from other drivers as the Toyota Fortuner.

Returning from work on my motorcycle today, I had two vehicles pass me and brush dangerously close to my leg. I define dangerous as anything less than a one-third to one-half meter at more than 40kmh. Both were the 4x4 SUV types--expensive big rigs. This is consistent behavior for these drivers. The humble Honda sedans gave me wide berth. Simply a case of the richer/more powerful intimidating the less worthy in society (defined by a cheap, humble 2-wheel vehicle).

So what do I do? Run all the bicycles off the road, of course!!! Muahahaha!!!

[Tony Clifton]

That dumb f#%^ smile every time I see a close call, makes me want to slap them twice.

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

Has anyone else had a similar experience where they thought they would have reacted differently to what they did?

That you're reading this means that I reacted in a similar manner.

Welcome to Thailand. Now keep this in mind next time 'safety' is the topic. Just being in Thailand at all means you're taking a risk with your own life and that of your family.

[jayjayjayjay]

Not suprised. I took my first and last bus ride in 1990.

Same year also, snap!! 555