My Life In Danger From Samui Traffic

[Samuian]

Well it's from the good old golden times, samuians used to take things in their own hands and nowadays they don;t like anyone meddling around in what they consider is their birth right!

Go to the mainland and you'll see everyone is wearing a helmet or the seatbelt.... and people are in general more conscious of the traffic police.

As we are all, ourselves, responsible for what we are doing, we should, taken as things are, be very, very careful whilst engaging in the traffic on Samui!

Don't be angry about the fellas who don't know - they don't know - if you know better - DO BETTER! And be SMARTER!

I just have a friend in hospital with triple hip fracture! He wasn't drunk, it was only 3 PM in the afternoon, he wanted to make a u-turn and miss judged the other driver coming up the same lane.... while he THOUGHT the driver was understanding what he was going to do and pass him on the left... instead while engaging to make the u-turn the driver from m"behind him" wanted to overtake.... CRASH! Drove straight into him.... Police said it was 50-50 but he had to pay because the other was "poor" and had no money... on the 20th he is flown out to a special accident clinic in Germany...this one as SO MANY other accidents could have been easely avoided...

JUST TAKE UTMOST CARE WHILE DRIVING ON SAMUI!

[MSingh]

Well it's from the good old golden times, samuians used to take things in their own hands and nowadays they don;t like anyone meddling around in what they consider is their birth right!

Go to the mainland and you'll see everyone is wearing a helmet or the seatbelt.... and people are in general more conscious of the traffic police.

As we are all, ourselves, responsible for what we are doing, we should, taken as things are, be very, very careful whilst engaging in the traffic on Samui!

Don't be angry about the fellas who don't know - they don't know - if you know better - DO BETTER! And be SMARTER!

I just have a friend in hospital with triple hip fracture! He wasn't drunk, it was only 3 PM in the afternoon, he wanted to make a u-turn and miss judged the other driver coming up the same lane.... while he THOUGHT the driver was understanding what he was going to do and pass him on the left... instead while engaging to make the u-turn the driver from m"behind him" wanted to overtake.... CRASH! Drove straight into him.... Police said it was 50-50 but he had to pay because the other was "poor" and had no money... on the 20th he is flown out to a special accident clinic in Germany...this one as SO MANY other accidents could have been easely avoided...

JUST TAKE UTMOST CARE WHILE DRIVING ON SAMUI!

In my very honest opinion & from my experiences, some Thai Drivers crash into Farangs & other Thai's on purpose, i honestly believe that & if other people don't want to believe that, no problem, but that's what i believe..

Have you ever noticed when pulling out of turnings that the Car/Van/Bus never seems to break but just hoots their horn as if that's going to stop them from a collission ??

Have you ever noticed when behind a Thai Driver who is coming up to a road/junction with Cars & Motorbikes pulling out that you very rarely see brake lights on the Car/Bus/Truck in front of you even though you know full well that they should have braked a lot earlier if they even braked at all ??

You're right Samuian, the Accident you have highlighhted could & perhaps should have been avoided but it happened, i'm not saying in this particular case that it wasn't an accident but accidents do happen, it just seems on teh Roads here a lot of the time, accidents do happen just that little bit too much & when they do, the good old Police Force, 9.9999 times out of 10, give that same explanation that your Friend had, to every other Foreigner here..

Another cause of acciddents here are these...

Indications - Anything serving to indicate or point out, as a sign or a token.

Indicator - A person or thing that indicates, a poujn ting or directing device.

Indicate - To pont out or point to; direct attention to.

I said before earlier in the thread that we are naive to think the Driving skills of Thai people & other SE Asian Workers on the Island should be up to the standard of our own but i'd be intrigued to find out what the actual wording of what in the English Language is perceived to be " Indicator " as in " On a Car/Motorbike ", is becuase i have a feeling ( might be wrong ) that in Thai, the meaning of the word is different based on them very rarely being used which without doubt, causes numerous accidents ??

If the word is the same however, then it is extremely difficult to understand why these people do not use them as they shoudl as it is very, very selfish not to, for the sake & safety of others.

[Samuian]

If the word is the same however, then it is extremely difficult to understand why these people do not use them as they should as it is very, very selfish not to, for the sake & safety of others.

I am not sure if the word ไฟ เลี้ยว - "fai lee:ow" has a "different" meaning, I think it comes down to discipline, many don't have that.

Never been taught traffic discipline, or what happens if... or most may not even know ANY of the rules, most seem not to care...hey, hey it's me, may brandnew powerful car... here I come!

After all it comes down to ego and ignorance... think the wat's could do a lot in this case...

[MSingh]

If the word is the same however, then it is extremely difficult to understand why these people do not use them as they should as it is very, very selfish not to, for the sake & safety of others.

I am not sure if the word ไฟ เลี้ยว - "fai lee:ow" has a "different" meaning, I think it comes down to discipline, many don't have that.

Never been taught traffic discipline, or what happens if... or most may not even know ANY of the rules, most seem not to care...hey, hey it's me, may brandnew powerful car... here I come!

After all it comes down to ego and ignorance... think the wat's could do a lot in this case...

I can't disagree with you Samuian & thanks for letting me know, is that word you mention the Thai translation for Indicator/Indication or is it the Thai translation for what we perceive an Indicator to be on a Car/Motorbike ???

[sbk]

"Fai leeow" turning signal or turning indicator.

My husband gets particularly irked at people who either never use theirs or never turn them off. After one lady turned in front of him without using one, he pulled up alongside her and said, "next time you buy a motorbike you should ask them to give you one without the indicator, you never use it anyway and it will be cheaper that way"

I think he is developing road rage issues

Anyway, I complain about traffic here but he went to Samui a couple of weeks ago and said it makes Koh P look quiet. He said your traffic is horrendous and between the crazy Thai drivers and the stupid tourist drivers, it is one busy place!

[MSingh]

"Fai leeow" turning signal or turning indicator.

My husband gets particularly irked at people who either never use theirs or never turn them off. After one lady turned in front of him without using one, he pulled up alongside her and said, "next time you buy a motorbike you should ask them to give you one without the indicator, you never use it anyway and it will be cheaper that way"

I think he is developing road rage issues

Anyway, I complain about traffic here but he went to Samui a couple of weeks ago and said it makes Koh P look quiet. He said your traffic is horrendous and between the crazy Thai drivers and the stupid tourist drivers, it is one busy place!

Thanks sbk, you're Husband is definately not wrong with regards to the traffic being horrendous..

Soemthing i wonder though & that we may be overlooking, the actual translation of the Thai word that you mention " Fai leeow ", the word " Fai " definately means " light " yes ??

& this is what i'm getting at, you would think that actual translation may be turning signal or indicator & it obviously is, but it doesn't actual mean that based on the forst word " Fai " meaning " light ", i hope i haven't confused you..

[simey]

I remember when I passed my driving test in the UK, my driving instructor drove me home and seemed to be breaking all the rules - hands not at 10 to 2 etc. He told me that now I had passed I needed to learn how to drive in the real world not in a theoretical one, and he was right.

Many accidents are caused not by people breaking a fixed set of rules but by people doing something that other drivers don't expect. Not stopping at a pedestrian crossway might be bad in the UK and you would kill someone doing it, yet here doing that causes confusion and more than likely an accident as the guy behind you overtakes and runs over the pedestrian. Here on Samui we have such a mix of local drivers (who I don't think are as bad as reported once you understand their methods), and tourists (applying the rules of their own conutry to the caribean they have rented) that accidents are inevitable.

To the cyclists without helmets, you only look cool until your face is planted in the back of my truck because you were looking somewhere else while I was braking for the lights. Why do you have to wait until you have had an accident before you start wearing the things? You seem to like applying European rules to the road when it comes to how you are treated by other users, yet they don't apply when you want to drive the wrong way or put your helmet safely protecting the back of your seat. For the record I have driven all over the world, lived here for 6 years now, have 2 cars and so far no accidents. And yes I wear my seatbelt, my face moving 60kph one way meeting an airbag doing twice that the other way is not pretty.

[sbk]

"Fai leeow" turning signal or turning indicator.

My husband gets particularly irked at people who either never use theirs or never turn them off. After one lady turned in front of him without using one, he pulled up alongside her and said, "next time you buy a motorbike you should ask them to give you one without the indicator, you never use it anyway and it will be cheaper that way"

I think he is developing road rage issues

Anyway, I complain about traffic here but he went to Samui a couple of weeks ago and said it makes Koh P look quiet. He said your traffic is horrendous and between the crazy Thai drivers and the stupid tourist drivers, it is one busy place!

Thanks sbk, you're Husband is definately not wrong with regards to the traffic being horrendous..

Soemthing i wonder though & that we may be overlooking, the actual translation of the Thai word that you mention " Fai leeow ", the word " Fai " definately means " light " yes ??

& this is what i'm getting at, you would think that actual translation may be turning signal or indicator & it obviously is, but it doesn't actual mean that based on the forst word " Fai " meaning " light ", i hope i haven't confused you..

Fai faa means electricity, saeng fai is electric light, so you can see it is a combination word that has been created to mean a certain thing, like many words, the meaning has probably expanded. DavidHouston in the Thai language forum is the man to ask here, he is brilliant in finding out how these words come about. Might post there and ask

As for his take on your traffic, well he went to high school there in the 80's so perhaps his perspective is a tad skewed as well

And Simey, I don't know about Samui but for many of the tourists we get, as far as I can tell, they don't even know the rules of the road in their own country. They seem to be in the "holiday haze" that shuts ones brain down as soon as one dons bermuda shorts and sunglasses

[MSingh]

Thanks sbk, you're Husband is definately not wrong with regards to the traffic being horrendous..

Soemthing i wonder though & that we may be overlooking, the actual translation of the Thai word that you mention " Fai leeow ", the word " Fai " definately means " light " yes ??

& this is what i'm getting at, you would think that actual translation may be turning signal or indicator & it obviously is, but it doesn't actual mean that based on the forst word " Fai " meaning " light ", i hope i haven't confused you..

Fai faa means electricity, saeng fai is electric light, so you can see it is a combination word that has been created to mean a certain thing, like many words, the meaning has probably expanded. DavidHouston in the Thai language forum is the man to ask here, he is brilliant in finding out how these words come about. Might post there and ask

As for his take on your traffic, well he went to high school there in the 80's so perhaps his perspective is a tad skewed as well

And Simey, I don't know about Samui but for many of the tourists we get, as far as I can tell, they don't even know the rules of the road in their own country. They seem to be in the "holiday haze" that shuts ones brain down as soon as one dons bermuda shorts and sunglasses

Thanks SBK, i will ask DavidHouston but i hope you & others can see what i mean..

Fai faa means Electricity, saeng Faeng mens electric light, no mention or translation of an actual Indicator or an Indication & in this is where the problem may lie because that Indicator on Motorbikes/Cars in the Thai Language, doesn't mean it's an " Indicator or Indication " in teh Thai Language, it's just an Electric Light.....

Edited February 18, 2008 by MSingh

[leemond]

With Ford, Toyota, Nissan etc having their own production facilities in Thailand would they not think it practical to make a particular model for the home market i.e without lights, brakes, indicators, bumpers, wipers, exhaust, metallic paint, dashboard including all instrumentation etc. I believe there would be a market for a more back to basics model which excluded gearing, steering, tyres, glass, seating.

Taking these non essential items out would broaden the appeal of the vehicles with valuable cost savings passed on.

[Mark Wolfe]

I am reminded of a story of a college football player in the US who, upon making it to the pros, complained that he had trouble holding the ball in the big leagues. The coach said something to the effect of: "This is the ball we use; if you can't get used to it, play somewhere else."

The driving on Samui is probably more along the lines of rude than anything else, but it manifests itself as reckless. I don't like that cars and trucks pass as if you, the motorcycle driver in the opposing lane, don't exist, but that is the way it works here (and other places...India comes to mind).

It only takes a few minutes on the road to understand what is, and what isn't acceptable and to adjust accordingly.

I'd like some of the street lights to be turned on too, but whinging about it is just a pastime, not something that I actually expect to result in improvement.

This is the driving we use in Samui; if you can't get used to it, drive somewhere else.

On a side note, the shitehouse condition of the roads, the lack of lighting at night, the wild driving and so on simply add to the wild and woolliness of Samui. It give Samui the character that we all love (to hate, sometimes).