Another Reminder Of How Dangerous Motorcycling Can Be Here

[submaniac]

So I am coming back from visiting my cousin on her birthday, and am over in Thonburi, trying to figure out how to find my way back home. I am in the far right lane out of three lanes in the same direction. Another motorcyclist pulls ahead of me from behind and on my left, and we are splitting the lane. My front tire is about at his rear tire, and I am to the right of him.

I ride in Thailand the same way I ride in the states: as if everyone else is trying to kill me, because they are. A black Mercedes 600SEL is ahead and on the curb, like he's parked. But I see that the brake lights are on, and it looks like the car is moving, albeit slowly.

Ride like everyone is trying to kill me. I figured that he may just pull out suddenly into the lanes, so I cut the speed and move into the far left lane until I see what he does. The guy I am splitting the lane with goes on his merry way at about 40 mph. About 2 seconds later the mercedes does what I feared he would do and pulls from the curb to do a U-Turn (obviously without looking if anyone is coming his way), and the guy I was riding with hits the mercedes at a perfect "T" at the driver's side front fender.

The guy flies over the hood of the mercedes, and is lying in the street. I seriously think he is dead. I pull off to the left and stop the bike to go see if he is alive. When I am stopped I see movement from the motorcyclist, and he gets himself the hel_l out of the middle of the busy road as fast as his injured body could manage it.

A few minutes later 4 motorcycle cops and an ambulance shows up. I see the driver of the mercedes yelling as if it was the motorcyclist's fault.

As I am riding home I am thinking that if I had not noticed the brake lights of the mercedes, I would have hit it too. I also start thinking that I am amazed that these thin plastic and styrofoam Thai helmet was good enough that this guy actually lived.

The kicker? This was the first day I actually rode my new (old but new to me) bike in the streets of Bangkok. I just got the registration taken care of yesterday, and was keeping myself to the local soi's until I could legally ride without risking it getting it impounded. Really scary start.

Edited January 22, 2008 by submaniac

[canuckamuck]

Good instincts.

I expect every car to pull out without looking because 75% of the time they do.

I also T-boned a black Mercedes one fine day and I had my wife riding with me. She and the bike went over the car; I slammed into the driver door and then went partially under the car and had my leg driven over. However in this case, the car was a runaway, nobody set the brake and it rolled across the highway where there was no intersection. I had no time to react.

We both ended up being OK, fairly miraculous really. And the owner of the car paid for my hospital trip and repairs to my bike too.

[jackcorbett]

Good instincts.

I expect every car to pull out without looking because 75% of the time they do.

I also T-boned a black Mercedes one fine day and I had my wife riding with me. She and the bike went over the car; I slammed into the driver door and then went partially under the car and had my leg driven over. However in this case, the car was a runaway, nobody set the brake and it rolled across the highway where there was no intersection. I had no time to react.

We both ended up being OK, fairly miraculous really. And the owner of the car paid for my hospital trip and repairs to my bike too.

In the past two to three weeks two people I know very well had motorbike accidents and in both cases the driver of the other vehicle ran. The first is an Aussie whose guesthouse here in Pattaya I stayed at for a total of 11 months. In fact I was talking to him and some other guys in front of his guesthouse when he invited me to go to Jomtien that evening with him to shoot some pool. I declined and then I lectured him about driving motorbikes at night, driving that far a distance, and that I would be hitting the bars that night but I would be walking most of the way even though I have a nice Nouvo motorbike. That night while returning home he was sideswiped by a car. He spent one week to ten days in the hospital and today I just tried to call him but he's back in the hospital again with complications the extent of which I am unsure of because I just got this info from his Thai girlfriend whose English is less than perfect.

Within one week of Pete's accident I called a social meeting down at our condo's swimming pool (I am one of a three person commitee representing the condo owners here). A German guy who lives up on the 7th floor who hardly ever misses these social meetings came to this latest social meeting with his arm in a sling. I asked him what happened and he told me that he was driving his Honda Phantom past Big C on 2nd Road when a motorbike taxi driver suddenly swerved over three lanes of traffic and hit his motorbike. He went down--the motorbike taxi driver didn't and just kept going. But my German friend is lucky. He only got a dislocated shoulder out of the accident.

So here's what I do when I go out drinking at night. I'll drive my motorbike about one mile down the back streets here in Naklua where the traffic is relatively light to a bar that is within 50 meters of Naklua Road where I cross the street to hop on a baht taxi. So if I want to go down to Walking Street, Soi 3, Soi 6, Sois 7 and 8 and so forth I'll just pay the 10 baht and get down there that way. If I stay out very late there's hardly any traffic whatsoever on the back streets to my condo when I pick my bike up. And both last night and two nights before I never bothered with getting on a baht taxi. I just walked the entire distance to and from the bar where I had left my bike. So I knocked off a few of the calories I was putting on with my beer drinking while getting to survey a lot of streets, look over a lot of women, and take in several new bars.

Yes....I drive a motorbike but always my primary consideration is self preservation. Even during the daytime I try to limit my risk. Example....if I want to go to South Pattaya to get an errand or two done I'll drive relatively early in the morning when the traffic is much lighter than it will be later on. Whenever I can I'll try and avoid making right turns for example where I need to cross several lanes of traffic to make my turn. For instance, say I need to make a right turn onto Naklua Road and I'm driving South. I'll make a left turn instead and work my way to the farthest lane to the right as I head North. I'll then carefully observe the flow of traffic that's heading South in the two lanes that are now on my right and I'll pick my opening and basically pull a U turn in some form or another. Sometimes I'll simply turn into a sidestreet. Other times I'll just pull to the curve on the opposite side of Naklua Road and reverse my direction from there. My theory is that my brain cannot begin to assimilate what all the traffic is doing on four lanes at once. Therefore I avoid the right turn (unless there's a traffic light there). Instead I manage it by driving in such a manner that I only have to focus on two lanes of traffic at a time. And I don't drive the way a lot of Thais do along with many Westerners which is to simply pull out into the street blocking traffic before making the right turn or driving down the street the wrong way in order to merge with the traffic that's flowing in the correct direction.

[vegas]

Every time I think about buying a motorbike again I see an accident involving a bike, which instantly turns me off.

Last one was in front of Sukhumvit 26 where a bike rider was trapped under a bus, parked in the right hand lane, with the usual crowd of onlookers gathered around talking and trying to peer under the bus from the footpath. One lady dressed in office gear, ran across the road towards the bus I assumed to give the guy a few words of encouragement or sip of water (it was a hot day). Instead, she squatted down, took out her camera/phone, took a pic and ran back to the footpath.

[traveller5000]

Good instincts.

I expect every car to pull out without looking because 75% of the time they do.

I also T-boned a black Mercedes one fine day and I had my wife riding with me. She and the bike went over the car; I slammed into the driver door and then went partially under the car and had my leg driven over. However in this case, the car was a runaway, nobody set the brake and it rolled across the highway where there was no intersection. I had no time to react.

We both ended up being OK, fairly miraculous really. And the owner of the car paid for my hospital trip and repairs to my bike too.

ouch, your leg was driven over? That would have hurt. im suprised the merc didnt snap it.

[canuckamuck]

ouch, your leg was driven over? That would have hurt. im suprised the merc didnt snap it.

Tough as nails I guess Actually I am amazed at that too. I my mind In can still feel that car going over and that squishing feeling. All I know is that it really happened, you should have seen how I crushed in the driver side door too.

Edited January 24, 2008 by canuckamuck

[micksterbs]

Every time I think about buying a motorbike again I see an accident involving a bike, which instantly turns me off.

Last one was in front of Sukhumvit 26 where a bike rider was trapped under a bus, parked in the right hand lane, with the usual crowd of onlookers gathered around talking and trying to peer under the bus from the footpath. One lady dressed in office gear, ran across the road towards the bus I assumed to give the guy a few words of encouragement or sip of water (it was a hot day). Instead, she squatted down, took out her camera/phone, took a pic and ran back to the footpath.

Yep, couldn't agree more. In fact, I was going to start a topic about this very subject; i.e. "Bikers who are just too sensible/shit-scared to ride out here and is it just me?" kind of thing. I rode bikes in the UK for many years and ok, there are always idiots around, but at least most are singing from the same songsheet. Here, well, it's a completely different kettle of fish, isn't it? I mean, not only do the humans drive with absolutely no brain, the animals are also doing their best to put you in the hospital. I must kill two or three dogs a year; not because I enjoy it but because the daft buggers seem intent on going to doggy-heaven ASAP. At least in a car you just sort of go "Shit!" or "Whoahh!" or some other expletive and then have a look for any impact damage the next time you wash the car. On a bike? Well, I don't need to paint a picture. I would really love to get back on a bike but I don't know if my nerves can stand it. There are bold bikers and there are old bikers but not many old, bold bikers.

[jackcorbett]

Yep, couldn't agree more. In fact, I was going to start a topic about this very subject; i.e. "Bikers who are just too sensible/shit-scared to ride out here and is it just me?" kind of thing. I rode bikes in the UK for many years and ok, there are always idiots around, but at least most are singing from the same songsheet. Here, well, it's a completely different kettle of fish, isn't it? I mean, not only do the humans drive with absolutely no brain, the animals are also doing their best to put you in the hospital. I must kill two or three dogs a year; not because I enjoy it but because the daft buggers seem intent on going to doggy-heaven ASAP. At least in a car you just sort of go "Shit!" or "Whoahh!" or some other expletive and then have a look for any impact damage the next time you wash the car. On a bike? Well, I don't need to paint a picture. I would really love to get back on a bike but I don't know if my nerves can stand it. There are bold bikers and there are old bikers but not many old, bold bikers.

You saw my post about my attempts at risk avoidance. I've skydived more than one mile of free fall. Supercharged my old Miata so it would do 140 miles an hour instead of just 118. My last big bike in the U.S. was a BMW K-100 RS which I had up to 131 miles an hour on a second rate road before backing her down when I ran out of room. Ridden dirt bikes on the farm straight up and down nearly perpendicular drainage ditches. Jumped off a 15 foot cliff in Jacksonhole, Wyoming doing a ski run called Corbett's Couloir. (and I didn't learn to ski until I was 30), and my Dad kept trying to squeeze more more mile an hour out of his Toyota Lexus when he was 80, finally managing 151 miles an hour out of it. So I am not exactly a chicken shit kind of guy, but driving my motorbike in Pattaya scares the crap out of me.

[bob4you]

I seldom drive a motorbike, but when I do I treat it as if it was a bicycle. 30km per hour is as fast as I can go on bicycle so that is my limit on motor bike. If you were in US on a motorbike you have to follow the rules of the road as if you were driving a car. i.e. no passing on on shoulder, no crossing double yellow line, no weaving in and out of other cars, always wear a approved safety helmet and most of all don't drive on the wrong side of the street.

Many motorbike drivers here in Thailand are killed or injured due to the lax enforcement of the laws as well as common sense. If you watch many farangs that have been here a while the will drive just like the Thai's do. driving on wrong side of the street, merging out of side streets without looking, cutting in and out of cars to get the the front of a light etc. The laws in first world countries are written and enforced to save lives so keep that in mind.

I was on the scene of the Finn killed a week or so ago on 3rd road, he was on Honda 150 bike and ran head on into a car driven by man from England. He was killed instantly but would be alive today if he was on the correct side of the road and probably would even been alive if he had a proper helmet strapped on his head.

The driver of the car still was charged (never heard any results of the charges but he was take to police station). When driving on a 2 lane highway I alway stay as close to center line as possible to avoid motorbikes and cars coming out of side streets and those going the wrong way. If I kill or injure someone and it is not even my fault I would still feel horrible if I hadn't taken all precautions possible to have avoided that accident.

Edited January 25, 2008 by bob4you

[canuckamuck]

Driving by western rules will also get you killed here.

The best thing you can do is drive overcautiously until a time when you begin to get a feel for the laws of Thai vehicular motion. Here vehicles can behave like molecules that flow around each other in a free flowing environment. Thais respond to motion, if you maintain your velocity you communicate that you going straight through, any hesitation and you lose your opportunity. This is part of the reason for the left hand turn of God, as some poster described it. Entering a road without out looking for oncoming traffic is the result of trying to maintain velocity. Unfortunately velocity is related to face, so driving becomes a series of drivers playing chicken with eachother. It explains a lot.

Westerners are used to flowing through channels, isolated from the other drivers by painted lines, street signs, and enforcement; improper motion is often punished.

The Thai system is more like a fish tank where the bigger fish can do what they want, and the smaller fish need to work around that. Everyone gets where they want to go, but there is no obvious path to follow. You need to know what size of fish you are. Little fish who think they are bigger are often violently corrected. There are of course drunk fish, angry fish, and stupid fish. These are the biggest threat. For safety it is best to assume you are surrounded by these ones.

Edited January 25, 2008 by canuckamuck

[macan]

Jack, thanks for the guide to better drink driving... kind of a 'Park & Imbibe' strategy.

I was almost concerned until I saw in the next paragraph that your primary consideration is self preservation!

[mikethevigoman]

Every time I think about buying a motorbike again I see an accident involving a bike, which instantly turns me off.

Last one was in front of Sukhumvit 26 where a bike rider was trapped under a bus, parked in the right hand lane, with the usual crowd of onlookers gathered around talking and trying to peer under the bus from the footpath. One lady dressed in office gear, ran across the road towards the bus I assumed to give the guy a few words of encouragement or sip of water (it was a hot day). Instead, she squatted down, took out her camera/phone, took a pic and ran back to the footpath.

im in pattaya and its mad, every day without fail when i am driving about i see chalk on the road outlining where a rider came to grief, i sold my road bike and now only ride to the border accasionally on my dirt bike and on the dirt in cambodia, much safer than the streets here,.

[micksterbs]

Driving by western rules will also get you killed here.

The best thing you can do is drive overcautiously until a time when you begin to get a feel for the laws of Thai vehicular motion. Here vehicles can behave like molecules that flow around each other in a free flowing environment. Thais respond to motion, if you maintain your velocity you communicate that you going straight through, any hesitation and you lose your opportunity. This is part of the reason for the left hand turn of God, as some poster described it. Entering a road without out looking for oncoming traffic is the result of trying to maintain velocity. Unfortunately velocity is related to face, so driving becomes a series of drivers playing chicken with eachother. It explains a lot.

Westerners are used to flowing through channels, isolated from the other drivers by painted lines, street signs, and enforcement; improper motion is often punished.

The Thai system is more like a fish tank where the bigger fish can do what they want, and the smaller fish need to work around that. Everyone gets where they want to go, but there is no obvious path to follow. You need to know what size of fish you are. Little fish who think they are bigger are often violently corrected. There are of course drunk fish, angry fish, and stupid fish. These are the biggest threat. For safety it is best to assume you are surrounded by these ones.

Yep, a good point, well made. I think that one tends to automatically adjust, subconsciously, every time you visit a large city in your own home-country. Driving in London is a completely different story from driving in the sticks, for example. Here, although on a much more extreme scale, it is a very similar situation, IMO. Like you say, you just sort of sense where it's all going and try to blend in. I'm not advocating driving as brainlessly as them, just relaxing to a certain extent and flowing with it. Driving too much in "home-mode" will turn you into the piece of grit in the machine. My main worry vis-a-vis biking here is the animals. I realise that you have the dog problem in the cities here but, probably, one is driving slower. Out in the sticks, they just seem to delight in playing dare with the traffic. It's as though Thai dogs are missing some gene that says "Don't play on the road". They're complete numpties! And then we have the cows that decide to wander across the road as you approach. Haven't hit one yet, but I came bloody close a few weeks ago. I was glad I had ABS. I was even more glad I wasn't on a bike.

[JSixpack]

Driving by western rules will also get you killed here.

The best thing you can do is drive overcautiously until a time when you begin to get a feel for the laws of Thai vehicular motion. Here vehicles can behave like molecules that flow around each other in a free flowing environment. Thais respond to motion, if you maintain your velocity you communicate that you going straight through, any hesitation and you lose your opportunity. This is part of the reason for the left hand turn of God, as some poster described it. Entering a road without out looking for oncoming traffic is the result of trying to maintain velocity. Unfortunately velocity is related to face, so driving becomes a series of drivers playing chicken with eachother. It explains a lot.

Westerners are used to flowing through channels, isolated from the other drivers by painted lines, street signs, and enforcement; improper motion is often punished.

The Thai system is more like a fish tank where the bigger fish can do what they want, and the smaller fish need to work around that. Everyone gets where they want to go, but there is no obvious path to follow. You need to know what size of fish you are. Little fish who think they are bigger are often violently corrected. There are of course drunk fish, angry fish, and stupid fish. These are the biggest threat. For safety it is best to assume you are surrounded by these ones.

Ha! Amusing but very astute analysis, love that.