My Life In Danger From Samui Traffic

[BlackWolf]

Every day I feel that some Thai-drivers put my life in danger on the roads in Samui. It is mostly care- drivers

who act like they don`t care of people on motorbikes. The more big and expensive cars they drive, the more careless they act. Two times this afternoon when I drowe my motorbike from Tesco Lutus to my home, meeting cares passes other cares in the same direction, and drive into my lane on the road, force me to steer my bike out of the road. When I notice what they are going to do, I flash my headligts many times, but they just ignore me. If I dont act fast and pull my bike out of the road, they will kill me. And it seems like they don`t care if they do. To kill a farang is just another happenig that day.

I for my self have a Thai driving licence and I try do drive according to the law. But some Thais totally ignore proper driving. Sometimes I wisch I had i wery big car so I don`t have to steer away from those idiotes and let they crash into me. I fell sometimes so helpless, there is nothing I can do to prvent this hazardios driving. To go to the police is wast of time.

[Obiwan]

Welcome to the club

[LaoPo]

Every day I feel that some Thai-drivers put my life in danger on the roads in Samui. It is mostly care- drivers

who act like they don`t care of people on motorbikes. The more big and expensive cars they drive, the more careless they act. Two times this afternoon when I drowe my motorbike from Tesco Lutus to my home, meeting cares passes other cares in the same direction, and drive into my lane on the road, force me to steer my bike out of the road. When I notice what they are going to do, I flash my headligts many times, but they just ignore me. If I dont act fast and pull my bike out of the road, they will kill me. And it seems like they don`t care if they do. To kill a farang is just another happenig that day.

I for my self have a Thai driving licence and I try do drive according to the law. But some Thais totally ignore proper driving. Sometimes I wisch I had i wery big car so I don`t have to steer away from those idiotes and let they crash into me. I fell sometimes so helpless, there is nothing I can do to prvent this hazardios driving. To go to the police is wast of time.

Sorry BlackWolf, but driving a MOTORBIKE on Samui is asking for trouble and accidents. Get rid of the bluddy thing and buy yourself a car (with an airbag) !

How much for your life.....?

LaoPo

[Lite Beer]

I drove my motor bike on Samui for 2 years. Yes it is a nightmare.

Samui has the worst roads in Thailand. You have to drive very defensively. Be careful and keep your eyes looking every where. Expect other road users to do the most stupid things.

[malcolmswaine]

Driving a car is worse than driving a bike ... some of those people on motorbikes are just so unbelievably stupid its beyond belief. Trying not to run them down is a quite serious undertaking. It’s not the driving, it’s the clear lack of understanding of the very basics of cause and effect, like, if I drive in front of this concrete mixer THEN as a result I will probably get squashed ... like duh! ... wake up! ... get both of those neurons firing!

Anyway, rant over, ha ha

Still, better than sitting on the M1 outside London in Fridays rush hour traffic, that’s for sure

[ClaudeFeller]

It is easy:

No traffic police, no speed checks = no rules

Would be the same everywhere in the world.

I drive my Honda Dream since 10 yrs, never had an accident, but last year two car drivers wanted to kill me. It is dangerous but Who gives a f***?

[Dingojoe]

I love driving anything on Samui, its so exciting you never know what is going to happen next or what suprise is just around the corner, i would not have it anyother way. But of course you must be a daredevil and have lightening fast reflexes also mind and body control of a stunt man.

I have all this so to me driving in Samui is part of my exciting adventurous life style, i just figured everyone else who lived here was the same as me.

[suegha]

I love driving anything on Samui, its so exciting you never know what is going to happen next or what suprise is just around the corner, i would not have it anyother way. But of course you must be a daredevil and have lightening fast reflexes also mind and body control of a stunt man.

I have all this so to me driving in Samui is part of my exciting adventurous life style, i just figured everyone else who lived here was the same as me.

That is an interesting view point. See if you still hold it if you end up in hospital!

[Tony Clifton]

Samui? It's the same all over the country.

I'm outa here before I get killed or kill.

[Mark Wolfe]

I'm outa here before I get killed or kill.

Adios...(more foot traffic on God's superhighway...)

Get rid of the bluddy thing and buy yourself a car (with an airbag) !

I drove a car one day here recently, and it was unsettling. I feel much better on a bike. It's just a matter of what you are used to. I had driven a Vespa for 20 years and now a scooter for two.

Anyway, what Southeast Asian nation has fine drivers? Vietnam? Cambodia? Not....

[MSingh]

We shouldn't be naive enough to think that the standard of driving here should be any better than it actually is..

My main anger is directly towatrds Farangs who SHOULD no better but still use the menatlity " If it's good for the Goose......" & constantly drive on the worng side of the Road, overtake on the inside, ignore one way systems etc etc..

These Guys/Girls SHOULD know better as they are from Countries where driving Laws are enforced ( unlike Thailand it seems ).

The locals ( & by locals i mean Thai ) have probably very rarely been used to " traffic " or at least the number of Vehicles on th Road as there is here..

Construction workers from Isaan certainly haven't experienced Vehicles anywhere near the number that are on the roads here & local Samuians have only limited driving skills & i doubt if many hold a Licence which in any case, doesn't mean that you have the skills of a European/Western Driver would have anyway..

Cement Truck Drivers ??

They are not interested in Human Life, that is evident in the way they drive, they are mopre interested in finishing their current drop of Cement & getting back to the Yard to load up so then can earn more money by doing another Job, that really is a problem

[highdiver]

bad drivers exist everywhere and it not indiginous to Samui

on my last trip to Europe I was shocked by some of the drivers specially in Paris and in Rome. it seems that everyone is racing....

in samui we have 4 types of Drivers

the first is the local "save gas" or Taxi driver who drives at 30 mph and is realy very carefull...

the second is the local (Thai or farrang) that after been stuck for 10 minutes behind the first one gets tired of crawling speeds up just to get on.

the third is the tourist who have never driven on the left side yet feel obliged to rent a motor bike and tour the island preferbly with no shirt while looking at the scenery instead of the road . this driver is on holiday and as such reflects on the road signs and trafic lights as recomendations.

the last is local or tourist who wants to drive safely but are confused by the actions of the first and second and third drivers....so drive a car and look out in all directions to stay out of trouble.

[theoracle]

Care drivers sound safe.

[ClaudeFeller]

bad drivers exist everywhere and it not indiginous to Samui

on my last trip to Europe I was shocked by some of the drivers specially in Paris and in Rome. it seems that everyone is racing....

in samui we have 4 types of Drivers

the first is the local "save gas" or Taxi driver who drives at 30 mph and is realy very carefull...

the second is the local (Thai or farrang) that after been stuck for 10 minutes behind the first one gets tired of crawling speeds up just to get on.

the third is the tourist who have never driven on the left side yet feel obliged to rent a motor bike and tour the island preferbly with no shirt while looking at the scenery instead of the road . this driver is on holiday and as such reflects on the road signs and trafic lights as recomendations.

the last is local or tourist who wants to drive safely but are confused by the actions of the first and second and third drivers....so drive a car and look out in all directions to stay out of trouble.

Wrong again! How you manage to be so thai friendly? From 10 killers on the road there might be 1 farang, the rest is the thai style "hit and run" drivers, intoxicated, mindless and not caring for others life.

Highdiver, who are the killers on the road? Stop this nonsense please.

[lazeeboy]

considering the small size and population of samui ,it has one of the worst accident/death rate in the kingdom,i suppose all us farang are to blame as the thai's are great drivers ....................................................................

[Dingojoe]

the first is the local "save gas" or Taxi driver who drives at 30 mph and is realy very carefull...

the second is the local (Thai or farrang) that after been stuck for 10 minutes behind the first one gets tired of crawling speeds up just to get on.

Now the above is 100% correct, i have found myself doing it, being the second type driver. I have often wondered why anyone would drive that slow, i feel i can get out and walk, it makes me sooooo soooo angry, I get so pisssed off that i flatten the foot as hard as i can at the first oppotunity to pass, and after i pass i think to myself after i calm down and have dropped another VALIUM, i think well what did i do that for this is Koh Samui why am i in a hurry and who gives a sh_t if i am late.

[Higgins]

Car or Motorbike.... Thai or Farang. Drive slowly. Please

[limbos]

bad drivers exist everywhere and it not indiginous to Samui

on my last trip to Europe I was shocked by some of the drivers specially in Paris and in Rome. it seems that everyone is racing....

in samui we have 4 types of Drivers

the first is the local "save gas" or Taxi driver who drives at 30 mph and is realy very carefull...

the second is the local (Thai or farrang) that after been stuck for 10 minutes behind the first one gets tired of crawling speeds up just to get on.

the third is the tourist who have never driven on the left side yet feel obliged to rent a motor bike and tour the island preferbly with no shirt while looking at the scenery instead of the road . this driver is on holiday and as such reflects on the road signs and trafic lights as recomendations.

the last is local or tourist who wants to drive safely but are confused by the actions of the first and second and third drivers....so drive a car and look out in all directions to stay out of trouble.

Wrong again! How you manage to be so thai friendly? From 10 killers on the road there might be 1 farang, the rest is the thai style "hit and run" drivers, intoxicated, mindless and not caring for others life.

Highdiver, who are the killers on the road? Stop this nonsense please.

Claude,

IMHO Highdiver pretty much is spot on and is nowhere defending any Thais.

If you have an issue with him, take it somewhere else or take of your tinted glasses, not everything he says is pro Thai. In this case it seems that you're acting against the person and not the message.

[ClaudeFeller]

Limbos,

I have lost some friends here, some have just been badly injured. In every case the reason was an intoxicated and/or reckless Thai driver. Again: There is almost no traffic police except for money collecting, no speed check on this highly populated ring road, nothing. Thats the main reason why driving motorbike in Samui is so dangerous.

[Cuban]

Whether you are driving a pushbike, motorbike or car; if you do not move over to the left hand side of the road when something larger and faster is behind you can expect the driver be they Thai or not to get the ass ache with you and pass close enough to let you know that you loosing a leg will mean only a minor scratch to their car/lorry etc.

Lead, follow or get out of the way.

[highdiver]

bad drivers exist everywhere and it not indiginous to Samui

on my last trip to Europe I was shocked by some of the drivers specially in Paris and in Rome. it seems that everyone is racing....

in samui we have 4 types of Drivers

the first is the local "save gas" or Taxi driver who drives at 30 mph and is realy very carefull...

the second is the local (Thai or farrang) that after been stuck for 10 minutes behind the first one gets tired of crawling speeds up just to get on.

the third is the tourist who have never driven on the left side yet feel obliged to rent a motor bike and tour the island preferbly with no shirt while looking at the scenery instead of the road . this driver is on holiday and as such reflects on the road signs and trafic lights as recomendations.

the last is local or tourist who wants to drive safely but are confused by the actions of the first and second and third drivers....so drive a car and look out in all directions to stay out of trouble.

Wrong again! How you manage to be so thai friendly? From 10 killers on the road there might be 1 farang, the rest is the thai style "hit and run" drivers, intoxicated, mindless and not caring for others life.

Highdiver, who are the killers on the road? Stop this nonsense please.

Wrong again??? why ???

because I dont generelise everything??? because I have respect for ALL people???

because I dont think that the Thais are the mother of all bad???

because I think that there are good and bad people eveywhere and it has nothing to do with nationality??

where do you get off blowing at the Thais in such generalisation.??? this is boardering racism!!!

Do you think that bad dangerous and reckless driving is limited to thais only??

NO NO NO Dear Claude you are the one who is wrong!!!

at any point of time there are more thai drivers on the road then forigners. as such statisticly there are more thai drivers in danger or creating danger then forigners.

if you have the time please do come on over to chaweng at about 3 am and see all those pissed heads forigners getting on mottor bikes and driving like maniacs. most of them have never driven a bike till they came to samui.

please do sit at the Fisher man village intersection and seee how so many forigners dont know which way they want to go and figure that the best place to consider is in the centre of the junction obstructing trafic.

if you noticed I said all the above by pointing that they are forigners...

I did not nationalise or make a generalising racist remaks by saying that the french are the most impolite driver who behave like they own the road, I did not say that the italians have a driving attention span of a 3 year old child, I did not say that the british are the ones who drive while compleatly pissed nor did I say that the americans dont understand the concept of left side driving.

[Mark Wolfe]

There is almost no traffic police except for money collecting, no speed check on this highly populated ring road, nothing. Thats the main reason why driving motorbike in Samui is so dangerous.

Not so.

The reasons are as follows, in no particular order:

* Poor road conditions, including non-functional street lights, and sand on the streets

* Inexperienced drivers

* No helmets or protective apparel

* Intoxicated drivers

* Dangerous driving techniques, including speeding

Having more police doing more won't change much of the above, but it wouldn't hurt, either. Certainly the major contributing factor is drunk driving. Ask as the emergency rooms in the hospitals here (so many big hospitals doing such good business on such a small island...do the math) what the reasons behind the accidents and in almost all cases at night there is alcohol involved.

Some Breathalizer testing on the roads would put the fear into many motorists, but then that would diminish the tourists freedom to enjoy themselves. Think of the lament of the many bar owners here that a crackdown on drunk driving would provoke.

[ClaudeFeller]

Guys, look at the topic:

- My Life In Danger From Samui Traffic -

"Life in Danger" is normally on the Ring road with 90 % Thais and 10 % Farang car drivers.

I drive every second day from Nathon to Lamai and back. Every day overloaded big trucks and pick up's with 20 burmese labors driving at 120 km/h on my lane, every day my life is in danger. So what? I am a racist?

Anyway if I die on the road it is my mistake because I didnt take care.

[MSingh]

Give me a Farang Tourist, never driven on the left hand side of the road, limited Motorbike skills, over a Thai Cement Truck Driver or one of these Luntaics in A ) The Minibuses or B ) The Trucks that transport Construction Workers between 16:30 & 18:00, any day of the week..

[limbos]

Give me a Farang Tourist, never driven on the left hand side of the road, limited Motorbike skills, over a Thai Cement Truck Driver or one of these Luntaics in A ) The Minibuses or B ) The Trucks that transport Construction Workers between 16:30 & 18:00, any day of the week..

Claude,

Fair enough and if you live here long enough, you will be in the same boat that you've lost friends. The ones that I knew where involved in a mixture of accidents, involving both Thais and Westerners.

Still, it isn't a reason to address Highdivers post the way you did.

I think we call all agree that the roads are dangerous on Samui, for many reasons mentioned by various posters. All reasons that Highdiver mentioend are valid, imho.

[Tony Clifton]

I drove a car one day here recently, and it was unsettling. I feel much better on a bike. It's just a matter of what you are used to. I had driven a Vespa for 20 years and now a scooter for two.

Anyway, what Southeast Asian nation has fine drivers? Vietnam? Cambodia? Not....

That is very true.

I feel a lot more anger and frustration when driving a car or truck here.

On the motorcycle you get to steer clear from more of the morons by staying close to the shoulder and also needing much less room to maneuver. Mind you , those advantages of the motorcycle don't change the fact that it remains much more deadlier in case of an accident. Life expectancy is much lower here if you use the roads.

It's never going to change.

I've noticed that it's gotten worse in 4 short years, the more new drivers there are, the more they learn by observing the road viruses already at work infesting the roads. Contagious behaviour for which nothing is done, absolutely nothing.

The way things are now, after all these years of negligence first by the police and secondly by successive incompetent and careless governments, you'd have to confiscate every single driving license and start from scratch, including a total reform of the police force.

Never gonna happen, and that's why the driving here will never improve.

See my signature below, this is why.

[yoksot]

We shouldn't be naive enough to think that the standard of driving here should be any better than it actually is..

My main anger is directly towatrds Farangs who SHOULD no better but still use the menatlity " If it's good for the Goose......" & constantly drive on the worng side of the Road, overtake on the inside, ignore one way systems etc etc..

These Guys/Girls SHOULD know better as they are from Countries where driving Laws are enforced ( unlike Thailand it seems ).

The locals ( & by locals i mean Thai ) have probably very rarely been used to " traffic " or at least the number of Vehicles on th Road as there is here..

Construction workers from Isaan certainly haven't experienced Vehicles anywhere near the number that are on the roads here & local Samuians have only limited driving skills & i doubt if many hold a Licence which in any case, doesn't mean that you have the skills of a European/Western Driver would have anyway..

Cement Truck Drivers ??

They are not interested in Human Life, that is evident in the way they drive, they are mopre interested in finishing their current drop of Cement & getting back to the Yard to load up so then can earn more money by doing another Job, that really is a problem

I am still trying to overcome the difficulties of replying to these letters so please bare with me.

I mostly agree with all the comments concerning the hazards of driving on Samui, but lets not put it all down to the Thai road users. The one way system In Lamai is blatantly ignored but mostly by Ferangs who should know better when they wouldn't do it in their home countries.

But one of the biggest factors to accidents are the VERY BAD roads we try to overcome, especialy motor cyclists trying to avoid the ever increasing number of holes which are obscured when filled with rain water.I have been using the roads for 18 years and they have NEVER had the serious upgrade to accomodate the the non stop increase in traffic, and lets face it when these roads were first built they were NOT designed for the Heavy Goods vehicles that now race around the Island and the people comming here flashing their money about as if the only mode of transport to be seen in is a bigger 4X4 than the one they are parked next to at Tesco.

Sure I have had accidents here and in the past it was down to my own stupidty most of the time due to too much drink, but I have learnt by my mistakes but being a more carefull driver here dose'nt help to compensate for bad roads and others in a hurry, my last accident was at a junction in Lamai where I waited patiently for the road to clear, however when I made my move a Thai motorcyclist overtook everything behind me and collided with me, fortunately I received only minor injuries and damage to my bike while he lay in the road unconcious. But here is the great news EVERYTHING was recorded on c.c.t.v. and when veiwed by the police it was clear who was to blame. the police were very efficient and helpfull getting the damages paid for in full from the Thai causing the accident. My THANKS TO THEM.

Yok Sot

[PaulAllen]

Everyone is forgetting dogs and cats. I had a dog run strait into my front wheel on a motorbike and it was only by the grace of God and me getting my foot down that stopped from laying it down. It would have been bad. The animals are very unpredictable.

I now wear a helmet and drive very defensively and do not speed. Those things along make my trips anywhere much safer.

[Obiwan]

Any one noticed nobody wares a helmet anymore?

Are they forbidden by law on KS?

[MSingh]

Any one noticed nobody wares a helmet anymore?

Are they forbidden by law on KS?

With the way some of the Cars & Trucks drive on the Island & at such speeds, i fail to see that a Helmet would do a great deal to help anyone, they are still the Law though & we get remined of that on the last Friday of the Month when the local Constabulary are a little sort of $$...