Road Rage!

[onnut]

I have been driving in Bangkok for 5 years now and still get bouts of road rage, or at least work up a sweat without actually doing anything about it.

Today for example a small thing happened and I was left fuming, not to mention anything about my wife telling me off as well. I was driving towards Onnut from central Bangkok and had to stop at the lights, loads of bikes came around and stopped in front of my car like normal and when the lights turned red everyone rode or drove off as usual, but one bike stayed in the outside lane, the same one as me. So I politely followed him until I realized he was just going to stay there, then I flashed him, he did not see so I flashed again and he still did not see so I gave the tiniest beep of the horn so not to startle him but let him know I was there and he looked around but stayed there. Now there was plenty of room for him to move over to the other lane with the other bikes but he did not want to. He just stayed in the outside lane braking and swerving to annoy me. So I waited and stayed behind him until there was a gap in the other lane and drove around him, but the guy then sped up to try and keep me in that lane, so then I got very and just turned into the lane, regardless of where he was. Very stupid I know but luckily for the pair of us he must off guessed what I was going to do and came around the back of my car and then sped off after giving me the finger. As soon as he went, I drove very calmly again as if nothing was wrong.

I know I should of stayed calm and just kept behind him until he turned off or I had to but I just don’t understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?

[Gary A]

I have gotten used to people doing stupid things. Whenever my wife is with me, I tell her that the other driver thinks Buddha is protecting them. You eventually get to the point where you expect them to do something stupid.

[Deke]

I think the problem arises from frustration that when somebody is doing something like that, there's not really much you can do about it other than what you described which, obviously, is wrong.

One of the things that really gets to me is when people drive as fast as they can, cutting in and out of traffic, only to screech to a stop at the traffic light a few hundred meters up the road that they can easily see is red.

Actually, there are other things too numerous to mention. Many people, when the get behind the wheel, turn into the most selfish A-holes imaginable.

[noahvail]

When I first moved to Issan, I was amazed that scooters can come at you from 5 directions at once. Lots of silly stuff that I'd never seen in any other country I've driven in (though I hear parts of India are much worse). And I would yell at them! Windows up, a/c on, they would never hear me, of course. But my wife, who doesn't drive but rides a scooter, would ask why I was upset. It was worse if I actually beeped at them. So I'd explain.

Over the next few months, I got used to the driving here, though I've become hypervigilant in looking around. I can generally anticipate what's going to happen now, and don't get upset. But now, it's my wife that yells at the other drivers! We just laugh about it afterwards.

That being said, when some turkey like the one you encountered pulls a stunt like that on a 6-lane road here, it still gets my dander up. There's not much you can do, and if you clipped him, well a farang driving a car vs a Thai riding a scooter - you'll pay a lot. Mai pben rai just doesn't work all the time. I just shake my head at them - what else can you do?

[JUDAS]

Reminds me of something my wife said last year. We were driving from Chumphon to Buriram and I,as usual, was passing comment on other drivers. After a while the wife said "I need to open the window" to which I replied "Why." The quick answer from the wife was"I have to let all the fcuks out of the window" Obviously I think she's had some sort of breakdown but humor her with" What do you mean darling" You guessed it, she said, "The way you've been swearing at every driver for the last few hours the car's full of fcuks now" Learnt my lesson, much calmer now

[garyh]

Fit a truck horn to your car give the a hole a good blast when he is not expecting it and watch him sh1t LOL

[Sakeopete]

I used to be afflicted by road rage in Bangkok until I went to Tripoli, now I appreciate the safe and courteous Thai drivers.

[bojo]

Road rage in Thailand, you're joking! Aside from the odd tailgater on the highways, the Thais really are at peace with themselves on the road.

If you want to see real road rage, go to England. Even pensioners enjoy the sport there. In fact the only real road rage I've ever seen in Thailand was a Brit jumping out of his vehicle and confronting another foreigner in Samui. You'd never guess would you!

Regards Bojo

[onnut]

I drive a lot in Bangkok and venture out often as well, and over the 5 years I have learnt how to drive with the Thais in most cases. but, there are some very stupid people on the roads out here. I really must remember to just take a deep breath and count to 10 before I start beeping at them. I like GaryH's idea about the truck horn, that would shake em to the core,

Bojo, There is loads of road rage in Thailand and not just the Brits, try driving from Pattaya or Hua Hin to Bangkok, I have seen some incredible stuff going on.

Sakopete, Maybe I can cure myself by going to Tripoli for a while then

[bojo]

Bojo, There is loads of road rage in Thailand and not just the Brits, try driving from Pattaya or Hua Hin to Bangkok, I have seen some incredible stuff going on.

I live in Chiang Mai now and haven't seen any RRage for ages, thank goodness. Are you talikng about Thais or foreigners enjoying the 'sport'?

Regards Bojo

[fiddlehead]

The cabbie in Bangkok said it best.

Traffic is crazy, people cut eachother off

constantly.

I ask him, " don't you ever get pissed off?"

and he replied,

"why get angry, you be mad all day!!!

[onnut]

Bojo, There is loads of road rage in Thailand and not just the Brits, try driving from Pattaya or Hua Hin to Bangkok, I have seen some incredible stuff going on.

I live in Chiang Mai now and haven't seen any RRage for ages, thank goodness. Are you talikng about Thais or foreigners enjoying the 'sport'?

Regards Bojo

I am talking about anyone really, but I have seen Thais kick off when another car has got in the way. my post though was more about how do you guys control yourselves while driving in Thailand when there is an idiot pulling stunts in front of you on the roads. everyone gets angry in different ways, some more than others. do you do anything to help keep you calm? or have any other tricks?

[onnut]

The cabbie in Bangkok said it best.

Traffic is crazy, people cut eachother off

constantly.

I ask him, " don't you ever get pissed off?"

and he replied,

"why get angry, you be mad all day!!!

ha ha, I like it, and it is true really!

[garyh]

I try the count to 10 but sometimes I get to 10 and still feel rage so might need to count to 20

[Digitalbanana]

I just don’t understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?[/size][/font]

26 yrs of driving in Thailand and I have found Thais to be generally some of the most courteous drivers in the world, much like in life. Whenever they err an appropriate apologetic nod is expected. In the odd case when frustrations get you, standard anger management works in most case. Take a deep breath, count to ten and think only of your loved ones. It will all be over soon and all will be safe. Never had a car prang yet.

[singa-traz]

A few month ago, I had one guy chased me and stopped in front of my car in the middle of the expressway (from Don Muang), after we had "visual" communication.

The guy came out of his car and expressed his feeling while I was taking picture of his car.

I learned three things:

1: Handphone camera don't take good pictures at night

2: Don't "communicate" with stranger, on the road

3: Life expectancy for pedestrian on highway is longer than I expected

Life is too short already, so I take it easy now.

[culicine]

Generally I don't lose it too often. It depends on my mood at the time. Most Thai drivers are OK on the road, though I don't like to be in their when they are driving!

Part of the problem is in the interpretation/understanding of some rules here. Like during the recent drivers licence vido, my wife tells me the rule is "give way to the left". Where I'm from it was always give way to the right. Luckily I haven;t had an issue with this - Thai don't follow many of the rules anyway.

The other one that gets me is roundabouts. There seems to be no such this as giving way to traffic already on the roundabout. Vehicles just don't stop when they get to a roundabout. I wonder if drivers are applying the give way to the left rules on the roundabout!

[Lancelot]

The cabbie in Bangkok said it best.

Traffic is crazy, people cut eachother off

constantly.

I ask him, " don't you ever get pissed off?"

and he replied,

"why get angry, you be mad all day!!!

Smart cabbie.

Rule #1 - Thais don't care.

Rule #2 - When in doubt, see rule #1

[Datsun240Z]

Fit a truck horn to your car give the a hole a good blast when he is not expecting it and watch him sh1t LOL

Use a proper yacht horn, much better

[Brigante7]

I have been driving in Bangkok for 5 years now and still get bouts of road rage, or at least work up a sweat without actually doing anything about it.

Today for example a small thing happened and I was left fuming, not to mention anything about my wife telling me off as well. I was driving towards Onnut from central Bangkok and had to stop at the lights, loads of bikes came around and stopped in front of my car like normal and when the lights turned red everyone rode or drove off as usual, but one bike stayed in the outside lane, the same one as me. So I politely followed him until I realized he was just going to stay there, then I flashed him, he did not see so I flashed again and he still did not see so I gave the tiniest beep of the horn so not to startle him but let him know I was there and he looked around but stayed there. Now there was plenty of room for him to move over to the other lane with the other bikes but he did not want to. He just stayed in the outside lane braking and swerving to annoy me. So I waited and stayed behind him until there was a gap in the other lane and drove around him, but the guy then sped up to try and keep me in that lane, so then I got very and just turned into the lane, regardless of where he was. Very stupid I know but luckily for the pair of us he must off guessed what I was going to do and came around the back of my car and then sped off after giving me the finger. As soon as he went, I drove very calmly again as if nothing was wrong.

I know I should of stayed calm and just kept behind him until he turned off or I had to but I just don't understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?

When the idiot on the bike didn't change lane why didn't you just pass him on the left?

Brigante7.

[wolfmanjack]

I just don’t understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?[/size][/font]

26 yrs of driving in Thailand and I have found Thais to be generally some of the most courteous drivers in the world, much like in life. Whenever they err an appropriate apologetic nod is expected. In the odd case when frustrations get you, standard anger management works in most case. Take a deep breath, count to ten and think only of your loved ones. It will all be over soon and all will be safe. Never had a car prang yet.

The most courteous drivers i have ever seen were in Alberta Canada. People pull over on the shoulder to let you pass when they are traveling slower than you. It happens here in thailand also but not as a general rule like in Alberta. No need for flasshing your head lights to get people to move. I have never seen any one in Alberta pull off the crazy stuff i see in thailand. I never had anyone cut me off and never had anyone refuse to give right of way like here in thailand.

As a generalization i would not say that the drivers in Thailand are courteous. Some are but most aren't. I guess many peoples reference is different from mine though. If you are used to traffic jams in LA, CA where people are honking and freaking out then i could see where you think drivers in thailand are courteous.

[Heng]

I see road rage a lot but rarely experience it myself. When I do, I keep it in perspective that odds are their lives probably suck in relative terms. I ask, do I really want to get into a shoot out on my way to the driving range, or my tennis match, or whatever... all of the other options are better than either lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road or spending an hour discarding a firearm likely worth more than the life of whoever 'someone who apparently stole my gun' just had to shoot in self defence?

[mark5335]

Reminds me of something my wife said last year. We were driving from Chumphon to Buriram and I,as usual, was passing comment on other drivers. After a while the wife said "I need to open the window" to which I replied "Why." The quick answer from the wife was"I have to let all the fcuks out of the window" Obviously I think she's had some sort of breakdown but humor her with" What do you mean darling" You guessed it, she said, "The way you've been swearing at every driver for the last few hours the car's full of fcuks now" Learnt my lesson, much calmer now

My wife had never heard me swear until I started driving in Bangkok, now it seems I'm making up for all those years when I didn't swear with a proliferation of f-words and cursing.

[onnut]

I have been driving in Bangkok for 5 years now and still get bouts of road rage, or at least work up a sweat without actually doing anything about it.

Today for example a small thing happened and I was left fuming, not to mention anything about my wife telling me off as well. I was driving towards Onnut from central Bangkok and had to stop at the lights, loads of bikes came around and stopped in front of my car like normal and when the lights turned red everyone rode or drove off as usual, but one bike stayed in the outside lane, the same one as me. So I politely followed him until I realized he was just going to stay there, then I flashed him, he did not see so I flashed again and he still did not see so I gave the tiniest beep of the horn so not to startle him but let him know I was there and he looked around but stayed there. Now there was plenty of room for him to move over to the other lane with the other bikes but he did not want to. He just stayed in the outside lane braking and swerving to annoy me. So I waited and stayed behind him until there was a gap in the other lane and drove around him, but the guy then sped up to try and keep me in that lane, so then I got very and just turned into the lane, regardless of where he was. Very stupid I know but luckily for the pair of us he must off guessed what I was going to do and came around the back of my car and then sped off after giving me the finger. As soon as he went, I drove very calmly again as if nothing was wrong.

[/size]

I know I should of stayed calm and just kept behind him until he turned off or I had to but I just don't understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?

When the idiot on the bike didn't change lane why didn't you just pass him on the left?

Brigante7.

because there was too many bikes in the left lane for me to squeeze my car in!

[Plus]

My first step - treat them all as obstacles in a video game. That way I'm not disappointed or upset when they don't cooperate. I'm upset at my own skills instead.

Occasionally they get through, though. For me it's usually when someone manages to cut me off when I don't let them to. In those cases I try to figure out how they managed it rather than be angry about it. If I conclude that the other guy has better judgment of his car size, I think I should improve myself. If I conclude that anyone could have done it if they broke a particular rule, like making a u-turn from a second lane, then I let it go because I just don't do that kind of stuff. If I conclude that he is just an idiot counting on me breaking in time - well, no need to be upset with idiots, as per rule number one.

Basic thing - anger comes when reality doesn't meet your expectations. So adjust expectations instead of reality, and I don't mean expect very little, think of it as uderstanding, not just expectations. If you know exactly how and why that other guy does it, your expectations will be very very close to the reality.

Another trick is that I want to get from A to B as fast as possible with optimal effort - not too hard, not too little. If someone cuts me off, it's not a big deal when taking in account the full 30km route. Temporary set back. It's "putting things in perspective" - and I can't think of the whole life while driving, or eight preceipts or something, 30km journey is ok, though. Big enough to not care and small enough to stay in my mind all the time.

[63Tommy1]

Reminds me of something my wife said last year. We were driving from Chumphon to Buriram and I,as usual, was passing comment on other drivers. After a while the wife said "I need to open the window" to which I replied "Why." The quick answer from the wife was"I have to let all the fcuks out of the window" Obviously I think she's had some sort of breakdown but humor her with" What do you mean darling" You guessed it, she said, "The way you've been swearing at every driver for the last few hours the car's full of fcuks now" Learnt my lesson, much calmer now

My wife had never heard me swear until I started driving in Bangkok, now it seems I'm making up for all those years when I didn't swear with a proliferation of f-words and cursing.

I never heard my wife swearing , until yesterday when she got cut off by a Taxi in Bkk traffic...

Can´t imagine where she picked that up???

Tommy

[gwynt]

Generally I don't lose it too often. It depends on my mood at the time. Most Thai drivers are OK on the road, though I don't like to be in their when they are driving!

Part of the problem is in the interpretation/understanding of some rules here. Like during the recent drivers licence vido, my wife tells me the rule is "give way to the left". Where I'm from it was always give way to the right. Luckily I haven;t had an issue with this - Thai don't follow many of the rules anyway.

The other one that gets me is roundabouts. There seems to be no such this as giving way to traffic already on the roundabout. Vehicles just don't stop when they get to a roundabout. I wonder if drivers are applying the give way to the left rules on the roundabout!

My theory on roundabouts is when the first "Traffic Island" was introduced to Thailand it was the Yanks that were doing the directing, hence the give way to left rule????

[Thongkorn]

I am a professional driver in the UK. I drive every day to work, at work ,and from work.If i even retaliate in any way regardless of who is right or wrong. and can be proved, i lose my job,The good thing is that over the years i have learned to just ignore and let be what ever happens in front of me , i must admit when i go to Thailand it serves me well, because i just live and let live and laugh, my Thai partner looks at me strangely and some times says why you not angry, I just say for what, In the UK it seems that every body is agree and wants to fight you even woman flick the Vs. i just blank it and don't even register it because what ever you do will cause confrontation, We all make mistakes some times the trick is to remember that we all are human and all make mistakes.

[Brigante7]

I have been driving in Bangkok for 5 years now and still get bouts of road rage, or at least work up a sweat without actually doing anything about it.

Today for example a small thing happened and I was left fuming, not to mention anything about my wife telling me off as well. I was driving towards Onnut from central Bangkok and had to stop at the lights, loads of bikes came around and stopped in front of my car like normal and when the lights turned red everyone rode or drove off as usual, but one bike stayed in the outside lane, the same one as me. So I politely followed him until I realized he was just going to stay there, then I flashed him, he did not see so I flashed again and he still did not see so I gave the tiniest beep of the horn so not to startle him but let him know I was there and he looked around but stayed there. Now there was plenty of room for him to move over to the other lane with the other bikes but he did not want to. He just stayed in the outside lane braking and swerving to annoy me. So I waited and stayed behind him until there was a gap in the other lane and drove around him, but the guy then sped up to try and keep me in that lane, so then I got very and just turned into the lane, regardless of where he was. Very stupid I know but luckily for the pair of us he must off guessed what I was going to do and came around the back of my car and then sped off after giving me the finger. As soon as he went, I drove very calmly again as if nothing was wrong.

[/size]

I know I should of stayed calm and just kept behind him until he turned off or I had to but I just don't understand why some people do stuff like this.

What experiences have you had with road rage and more importantly how have you tried to handle it without flying of the handle?

When the idiot on the bike didn't change lane why didn't you just pass him on the left?

Brigante7.

because there was too many bikes in the left lane for me to squeeze my car in!

OK, thanks for answering that.

Brigante7.

[Brigante7]

I am a professional driver in the UK. I drive every day to work, at work ,and from work.If i even retaliate in any way regardless of who is right or wrong. and can be proved, i lose my job,The good thing is that over the years i have learned to just ignore and let be what ever happens in front of me , i must admit when i go to Thailand it serves me well, because i just live and let live and laugh, my Thai partner looks at me strangely and some times says why you not angry, I just say for what, In the UK it seems that every body is agree and wants to fight you even woman flick the Vs. i just blank it and don't even register it because what ever you do will cause confrontation, We all make mistakes some times the trick is to remember that we all are human and all make mistakes.

It's not always about retaliating, it can be about standing your ground if you are in the right, I.E. somebody is trying to force their way in to your lane, why should you let them in, let them wait. The most annoying is when you are on a motorway and a lane is closing ahead and there is always an idiot who wants to race along in the lane that is closing and then try to force their way in.

Brigante7.