Is It Possible To Be A Good Driver And Not Care About The Other Road Users?

[2long]

I'm not the best driver in the world, or even Bangkok, but I consider myself to be aware, conscious of others, capable of handling the vehicle etc. My problem is that I can't stop noticing, thinking about and complaining about all the bad, rude, inconsiderate and dangerous drivers we have here in LOS. I could switch off and not care about them, but would then probably become a worse driver because of it. I think they (good driving and caring about what'[s going on around us) go hand-in-hand.

Here's a poll to see who agrees, thinks I'm mad or has opinions or advice.

With a 1,600km round trip (me the only driver) coming up I really need to keep my wits about me while not gettig wound up by those 'special drivers.'

[Thaddeus]

If anyone picks the first option, they should not be in control of a moving vehicle anywhere in the world, more so here.

[G54]

Agree totally with Thaddeus.

To avoid problems you use your experience to be aware of any possible unforeseen manoeuvre by other road users.

[TVmonitor]

"Good driving" cannot be measured in terms of how you obey the rules of the road - it's how you mange to survive in/adapt to the environment in which you are driving.

I find that nowadays I'm less aggravated by the idiosyncrasies of Thai traffic and have contained myself to about one outburst a week - which is considerably less than it was in Australia or the States.

[hkt83100]

Actually, I prefer driving in Thailand opposed to home in Germany. Thai drivers - in my opinion - are more predictable, just expect the worst and you will never be surprised. At home, even the worst can easily be exceeded.

[craig]

As my Thai wife says, most Thai drivers don't know the rules of road and they don't care about other people. So, expect the worst and try to be prepared for it. Yesterday while going north toward Pattaya on Sukhumvit, a car made a quick, unsignalled left turn at an intersection. Seeing as how the car was in the far right lane, it had to cross in front of the other vehicles...cars swerved, stood on their brakes, and farang on a motorbike ended up kissing the pavement.

Not to mention that the cardinal rule here is that the bigger the vehicle the more of the roadway belongs to them...Get out of their way when they drive the wrongway in your lane...I could go on, I spent a dozen years as a Driving Instructor while teaching high school in the US...I stessed defensive driving there and here it is imperative.

[torrenova]

Thais have no sense of spacial awareness. They do not have the capacity to judge speed, direction, vehicle attributes and breathe at the same time. So they breathe.

I swear 90% should never be allowed on a road. The other 10% should never be allowed out at all.

[noahvail]

Thais have no sense of spacial awareness. They do not have the capacity to judge speed, direction, vehicle attributes and breathe at the same time. So they breathe.

Agreed. My Thai wife used to annoy me by not crossing the street as a pedestrian until the road was clear each way by....well, I could have crossed the street and back three times lol. One day the light bulb went on - she couldn't judge speed and distance! So I set about to teach her, and now she's ready to jump across when cars are traveling toward her, but at a safe distance instead of a huge distance. But she's still too afraid to drive a car.

When I first moved here, I exploded about every half-hour on how bad the drivers were. Even though I'm a defensive driver, I was exhausted after a one- or two-hour drive. Then I started thinking of driving as a video game with consequences - and started driving in the Thai style, while still trying not to be tooooo stupid about it. Now, the stress is gone, I get places faster...but I still get a bit nervous on a 2-lane road when both lanes are filled by buses aiming at me...fortunately, most roads in Issan have a decent shoulder on them, which my little pickup happily negotiates.

[yabaaaa]

Agree totally with Thaddeus.

To avoid problems you use your experience to be aware of any possible unforeseen manoeuvre by other road users.

Hmmmmmmmm you cant foresee "unforeseen manoeuvres"

[wolfmanjack]

Tell me about it!!!! I used to getpissed off every few minutes b the way they drive here but i have adapted to the thai way ( which would get me arrested til the end of my days in the USA) of driving I do not get aggravated too much any more. However i still do not pass on curves i can not see around even though they have a dashed yellow line. Drive the thai way but use some common sense and drive defensively. Expect the unecpated. Look both ways even though you have the green light because you can be sure there is a good chance a thai will be running a red light.