'why Blame Other Drivers'

[Etrigan]

Thanh-BKK - Don't be baited by these non-biker fools. Riding a bike is an experience which one must undergo first in order to understand and appreciate the lifestyle. It's like talking to a non-parent about kids, they just can not relate nor understand as well as a parent could.

Plus - No offence intended so don't get all excited and set your targets on me! You don't know much about bikes, and you know nothing of driver etiquette. Your insuation that bikers deserve a bloody death on par with a questionable evolutuionary theory is a prime example of your humanity which equals nil.

You constantly moan about driving conditions created by "right lane" bikers, so this begs the question: Why do you drive here? Wouldn't you be better off being chauffer driven? It won't cost much, you know.

Also, where do you get 13 hp measurement? From the chain? The rear wheel? Or do you have to check with Wikipedia again?

[Mosha]

Yes especially going down an unlit country road at night with out any motorbike lights on. I find that stressful, no I'm not on the bike I'm in the car looking out for them. Ten of them last night on the 30km drive home fron Ranong to La-Un, one of them pissed as a fart swerving all over the road.

[Plus]

Etrigan, you can enjoy your motorcycling experience all you want, I have no objections, I have no interest in it whatsoever.

Just don't encourage people to go to the fast lane and claim a rightful spot there. It's not a game, you WILL die if anything happens.

On most roads there are no policemen to enforce speed limits or prevent motorcycles from riding on the right, it's something they do naturally - cars speed past 120 and motorcycles are scared shitless to join them. Why would anyone edge small bikers towards death is beyond me. Where is humanity in that? Guys on really fast bikes go all over the road because they feel safe, guys on small bikes stay on the left because they don't. What's so difficult to comprehend?

>>>

I've learned a great deal from motorbike riders in this thread - that no one knows if small bikes can reach 140km/h, that at 120 they feel scared already, and that Sonic has 13 hp and weighs 200 kg (you can edit that article if you think it's wrong, btw).

If one wants to talk numbers, Honda Jazz weighs only five times more but has eight times more power, and if you put two riders on Sonic it's weigh would shoot up to 350kg and power to weigh ratio would become even worse.

Nothing in the above suggests that motorcycles should feel safe in the right lane on the big roads where any newish pickup truck has plenty of extra power to accelerate from tight spots at 140. This is not a place to wonder if you have the "right sprockets" and discover that maybe you don't.

[Etrigan]

I give up. Really got better things to do.

Enjoy yourself Plus, and chill out a bit.

Maybe see you in my rearview one day!

[wilko]

Driving is different in Thailand...any driver worth his or her salt should be able to adapt with impunity....blaming others for your "accidents" and near misses is pointless...that's how they drive here - it may change gradually ...but not tomorrow.

In my experience most drivers in Thailand (and elsewhere) who complain only have themselves to blame.

[snowflake]

Of all the mine is better than yours conversations, this is stupid...

I used to drive a ZX12r (look it up). Every morning I hit 250 kmph on my way to work. All the cars are slow then.

Then I bought a honda wave 100 (that can do 200 kmph, free fall from a plane, or shot out of a rocket).

Today I drive a BMW 318(borrowed), feels slow but ok...

I have a Vigo and a Yaris, both are slow but I still keep on passing other cars...

What is the point of this topic? complain about bikes? They are more nimble and usually faster than cars in traffic. A person on a motorbike is always trying to get from point a to b as fast as possible. Sometimes one scratch a car, who cares?

Cars should move out of the way for motorbikes when stuck in traffic, stay to the right or left side and let the bikes have enough room to pass.

Bikes should let cars that moves faster than them by since they should not slow down traffic.

ALL BIKES TODAY CAN HIT 100KMPH... ALL CARS TODAY CAN GO FASTER...

BTW I want a Fortuner...

[asiaworld]

Driving is different in Thailand...any driver worth his or her salt should be able to adapt with impunity....blaming others for your "accidents" and near misses is pointless...that's how they drive here - it may change gradually ...but not tomorrow.

In my experience most drivers in Thailand (and elsewhere) who complain only have themselves to blame.

And the best thing is on the road thais are generally more forgiving & accomodating to most sort of drivers, slow or fast ..

[Thanh-BKK]

This "Plus" guy not only is stupid like heck and ignorant like nobody else - he also can't read

So dear Plus, the Sonic's weight is ONE HUNDRED TWO KILOGRAMMES in the version WITH electric starter. Add two Thai guys on it and you're talking 220 kilos. So, as the initial speed is masured with one person already ON the bike (the bike all by itself would stand there dumb as a rock and won't go 140) you can BET that with two people on it it will go a little slower, but probably not that much - it would just take longer to get to the top speed. See mine - 160 when alone, 130 with passenger, no problem. But mine is a two-stroke, those behave slightly different from four-strokes (i bet you don't even know the difference between them).

Then pretty much EVERYONE here knows how fast small bikes can go - except you who conveniently overlook all the facts stated in the thread so far, of course because you can't be bothered with facts... your fantasies sound better to you, correct?

I repeat once more - YOU should be banned from Thailand's roads - ANY lane for that matter. If you want to get from A to B, take a bus. That way you'll have no problems with the heart because of all the "scared, slow motorbikes" anymore and will get no headaches for worrying about the precious sides of your Maybach or Rolls Royce (or Jazz) if you are unable to keep enough distance from other cars to let motorbikes thru without scratching you (the point of riding one such dangerous, two-wheeled thing in Bangkok is being able to quickly pass all those people who have only one hobby - forming huge, super-slowly moving lines of cars along all major roads at any time of day and then blame it on the others. I personally estimate that Bangkok's car-fanatics combined waste more petrol on a single DAY standing in traffic jams with running engines than the rest of the entire country uses up in one MONTH. I guess petrol needs to have European prices for them to learn...)

Best regards.....

Thanh

Edited December 3, 2007 by Thanh-BKK

[Plus]

OK, Sonic weighs over 200kg with a driver and a passenger, my bad, still not enough judging by numbers alone.

The guy who said he is scared to go over 120 was pretty honest, and so is Wikipedia when it is not sure if Sonic can reach 140 or not. YOU said that you yourseld, on your own bike, can go only 130 with a passenger.

That is not enough to venture in the right lane on a big road, something you encouraged people to do on the first page of this thread. Just stick to the left lane for your own's life's sake, or get a real bike.

[asiaworld]

yeah over 200 kg .. whatever mostly blood, flesh & bones ... do you guys sign any disclose like .. incase of accident blame us only .. or how .. i've seen a couple of those under SUV's/pickups .. no need to wonder how they slipped down there at the first place right ..

[wilko]

Driving is different in Thailand...any driver worth his or her salt should be able to adapt with impunity....blaming others for your "accidents" and near misses is pointless...that's how they drive here - it may change gradually ...but not tomorrow.

In my experience most drivers in Thailand (and elsewhere) who complain only have themselves to blame.

And the best thing is on the road Thais are generally more forgiving & accomodating to most sort of drivers, slow or fast ..

I would surmise that the personality range of drivers in Thailand is about the same as anywhere else in the world within the bounds of local driving culture.

I tend to find that on longer distances driving in this country is quite relaxed and other road users are usually quite "forgiving & accommodating" and I note that the truck drivers are pretty good too using a similar light signaling system to the UK for passing.

Read the road...be prepared....

[asiaworld]

I would surmise that the personality range of drivers in Thailand is about the same as anywhere else in the world within the bounds of local driving culture.

I tend to find that on longer distances driving in this country is quite relaxed and other road users are usually quite "forgiving & accommodating" and I note that the truck drivers are pretty good too using a similar light signaling system to the UK for passing.

Read the road...be prepared....

i have noticed , that as far , as the road rage thailand is waay nicer, than even Singapore,never mind Malaysia .. Now here on intercity drives truckers are great, but watch out for passenger buses.. While in M'sia it is the opposite , like many trucks have nasty habit of starting to slooowly overtake another truck , when you approach them from behind , once i've almost reared one bastard .. Big thanks to Toyota brakes thou, & some skill, not to lose control .. (btw. wilko, long time meant to ask .. have you ever made it to Cambodia ? )

[Chris78]

So if you want to overtake the vehicle in front of you, use the right lane. If you want to cruise at lower speeds then stay left and let others pass you. This should be true for both cars and motorcycles....Right? Somebody tell me if I'm oversimplifying things here.

I agree that motorcycles should not be in the right lane if they're cruising at 60 km/h or less. However, if they're travelling at a significantly higher speed than the car in front of them, then they should be allowed to overtake using the right lane.

Also, drivers of cars should be aware that they are usually outnumbered by motorcycles on Thai roads and drive accordingly. This means always trying to leave a space where motorcycles can pass you if they need to.

Motorcycle riders should also be aware that cars can travel very quickly on larger, more open roads, so the right lane should be left free (unless you like to cruise at 180km/h or more).

[Plus]

Yesterday afternoon I had a short and easy ride on Praditmanutham road, the one that runs under Ekkamai-Ramintra expressway, from Nawamin to Ladprao, not much longer than three minutes.

Stay in the right lane, go with the flow, cruise at 80-100 - breeze. I counted how many motorcycles we would pass going about 60km/h in the left lane - twenty five. Not one was keeping with the cars or tried to outrun the right lane traffic. Sensible, responsible bikers, in my opinion. They were happy, cars were happy, no signs of lunatics trying to prove they can race with trucks.

Being predictable is what saves lives, means don't do anything stupid, people count on you being normal and average. Jump out to the right lane below 80 and someone would surely ram your ass. There will be a lot of honking, flashing lights, and dangerlous overtaking on the left.

[wilko]

I would surmise that the personality range of drivers in Thailand is about the same as anywhere else in the world within the bounds of local driving culture.

I tend to find that on longer distances driving in this country is quite relaxed and other road users are usually quite "forgiving & accommodating" and I note that the truck drivers are pretty good too using a similar light signaling system to the UK for passing.

Read the road...be prepared....

i have noticed , that as far , as the road rage thailand is waay nicer, than even Singapore,never mind Malaysia .. Now here on intercity drives truckers are great, but watch out for passenger buses.. While in M'sia it is the opposite , like many trucks have nasty habit of starting to slooowly overtake another truck , when you approach them from behind , once i've almost reared one bastard .. Big thanks to Toyota brakes thou, & some skill, not to lose control .. (btw. wilko, long time meant to ask .. have you ever made it to Cambodia ? )

Given up the idea of driving there...I'm more or less convinced that no one has actually driven to Sian Reap. I have experienced the roads there though.

For the time being I'm looking into driving down to Singapore in April.

[asiaworld]

PS as you've been in Malaysia - i'm proudly MAT REMPIT despite NOT being Malay, because "Mat Rempit" means nothing more than "Bike Lover". And if i blaze by you some day look on the top of that box on the back of my bulldozer, which says "REMPIT RXZ". Because the RXZ is the most popular "rempit" bike in Malaysia - but that's just a coincidence ("rempit" origin = "ramp it", "ramp the throttle").

Yeah i know it's the old thread , but i was just referred to a nice article, that explains a lot of what this discuion was about ..

Great read enjoy; *btw,link to wiki also nice} http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Mat_rempit

[Brigante7]

I do ride a motorbike (rather grand to call it a motorbike as its a honda wave) and also drive a car, though not at the same time!

When on my motorbike i happily pay the BIB a couple hundred baht every few weeks when i get pulled over for being in the wrong lanes, as i avoid the dangerous inside lane like the plague.

When driving the car i try to position my car in such a way as to minimise possible impacts from motorcycles. Pull over to the left side of the lane to block their way through while leaving a wide open space on the right side for them to get through. Its just a bit of thought that will save you many scratches. Basically, create a path for them to get through, leaving them plenty of room to do so. Its not possible ALL the time, but it sure is 90% of it.

Having said that, waiting on Soi 39 this morning in my new car and a dam_n motorcycle came down the middle with a pillion passanger. She managed to hook her umbrella handle over my nice shiny wing mirror! I was not a happy cookie, but at least no damage done and i had indeed forgotten my basic rule to leave them a clear path. So half my fault then.

Why should I leave a path for them? Let them sit in traffic like everybody else. I've just came back from a month in Thailand that included driving in BKK daily for 2 weeks and I must say it was so stress free compared to the UK, Ok they drive like idiots but atleast they know where they are going and don't fanny about trying to decide where and when they are going like 90% of the drivers in the UK.

5 minutes of driving in the UK after I arrived home and I missed driving in Thailand.

[BigSnake]

[Gary A]

There have been many threads discussing safety concerning motorcycles/bikes. The simple fact of the matter is that if you have never been down, you eventually will go down. Not if, but when. When you do go down, just hope there is not a truck or bus behind you. Most highway deaths in Thailand involve motorbikes. That's a simple fact. I love riding and have had motorcycles most of my life. I now live up country and frequently ride. The biggest danger here are dogs, cattle, buffalo and children. I used to have a Kawasaki Boss while living in Jomtien. Close calls and being down once convinced me that four wheels are much safer. My old body doesn't heal up as fast as it once did. I eventually came to the conclusion that I am no longer bullet proof like when I was young.

[pampal]

When driving the car i try to position my car in such a way as to minimise possible impacts from motorcycles. Pull over to the left side of the lane to block their way through while leaving a wide open space on the right side for them to get through. Its just a bit of thought that will save you many scratches. Basically, create a path for them to get through, leaving them plenty of room to do so. Its not possible ALL the time, but it sure is 90% of it.

I agree with you about leaving a space for the motosai to pass, but what difference

does it make which side (right or left) they pass you on?