Why No Rule Of Which Side To Walk In Thailand?

[tw25rw]

In australia it was the norm to walk to the left in my parent's time, but they walk wherever now. Not as annoying as the British though.

[Chaimai]

Do we need rules for everything? I mean, really, which side to walk on?

Visit Shibuya Station in Tokyo. You'll lose your mind.

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More protocol than rules - whilst you complain about rules, youhave highlighted to consequence of not having rules or established protocol/guidelines.

I am sure a few years ago there were also idiots saying "Rules - for driving on xx side of the road. I mean, really"

[luap]

If I keep walking on the left side I'll never get home

[Xangsamhua]

I don't think it's all that confusing. In Thailand, at least in Bangkok, if you are approaching someone who is walking toward you, you veer to the right. I don't know why; it's just that way, most of the time.

[Chaimai]

I actually find driving in BKK less stressful than walking.

Ah ! Walking.

That is because the Thais (generally ) have no spacial awareness. In a car the parameters are more defined (because of rules, Sunbelt ) but on foot they can roam free.

[surangw]

original thinking ( being the first one to come up with a good idea) is frowned on in thailand

[jcbangkok]

I actually find driving in BKK less stressful than walking.

Ah ! Walking.

That is because the Thais (generally ) have no spacial awareness. In a car the parameters are more defined (because of rules, Sunbelt ) but on foot they can roam free.

This actually makes a sense and is a good observation.

[JohanV]

I actually find driving in BKK less stressful than walking.

Ah ! Walking.

That is because the Thais (generally ) have no spacial awareness. In a car the parameters are more defined (because of rules, Sunbelt ) but on foot they can roam free.

This actually makes a sense and is a good observation.

I second that. 'No spacial awareness' LOL

BTW, Dave2 if it wasn't made clear to you in earlier posts Cambodia and Laos both have a French colonial history, whereas Thailand is rather on the British side. French colonial history = quite Napoletan in a way, don't you think ?

jcbangkok: Thanx for the post on light scattering in the atmosphere. That question needed a solid answer ;-) Which is - BTW - also the reason why sunsets are red...

Edited May 6, 2010 by JohanV

[andD]

johanv..

re .... And - of course - it also explains why the British are still clinging on to left-side traffic

good thinking ... maybe ???

but thais and cambodians drive on the left .... but ... laos and myanmar on the right

how do you explain that ?

did naplolian have an influence there ?

dave2 : )

yes just us and

Anguilla Antigua & Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Bermuda Bhutan Bophuthatswana Botswana British Virgin Islands Brunei Cayman Islands Channel Islands Ciskei Cyprus Dominica Falkland Islands Fiji Grenada Guyana Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Jamaica Japan Kenya Lesotho Macau Malawi Malaysia Malta Mauritius Montserrat Mozambique Namibia Nepal New Zealand Pakistan Papua New Guinea St. Vincent & Grenadines Seychelles Sikkim Singapore Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka St Kitts & Nevis St. Helena St. Lucia Surinam Swaziland Tanzania Thailand Tonga Trinidad & Tobago Uganda United Kingdom US Virgin Islands Venda Zambia Zimbabwe

[JohanV]

Where the h*** is Bophuthatswana ??

[andD]

Where the h*** is Bophuthatswana ??

google it, thats what i did

[Chaimai]

I don't think it's all that confusing. In Thailand, at least in Bangkok, if you are approaching someone who is walking toward you, you veer to the right. I don't know why; it's just that way, most of the time.

I don't think ALL Thais are aware of this .

That also explains a couple of Waltz's I have had on Sukhumvit - I always veer to the left

[Felt 35]

Right side of the road.

[jcbangkok]

nearly every thread in Thaivisa that starts with "Why... Thai..." is an indication of the OP's elevated IQ and the level of his boredom

One would have to question the IQ of a person who slams people on a forum ABOUT Thailand and designed largely to answer questions about Thailand for asking "Why" in Thailand or why do Thais....

People in glass houses ....

[jcbangkok]

are you serious

I'm afraid he appears to be

Appears some people take themselves a little too seriously and are incapable of a little distraction to talk about random and not so consequential topics but yet have enough time to make weigh in on other people's rights to enjoy themselves while certainly not infringing on their right to ignore or not take part in the discussion.

[JohanV]

Appears some people take themselves a little too seriously and are incapable of a little distraction to talk about random and not so consequential topics but yet have enough time to make weigh in on other people's rights to enjoy themselves while certainly not infringing on their right to ignore or not take part in the discussion.

I second that.

Actually, almost every invention or major breakthrough in the development of modern civilisation was a result of distractions and failed attempts to achieve something else than what eventually was achieved;

Airconditioning was a result of a doctor trying to find a cure for malaria, and many other things e.g. sparkplugs, carburators, the thermos flask. the telephone, movies, x-rays, canned food, etc. and also possibly things like baked bread, cheese, youghurt and much more...

So, based on that - and because it's fun - I have to cast my vote strongly in favour of spending/wasting some time on 'random and not so consequential topics'.

Long live confusion, erroneous behaviour, seemingly useless threads of thought and distractions !

It's possibly the only hope we've got left in this meagre world of ours

Cheers

Edited May 11, 2010 by JohanV

[MrJohnson]

OP . . . a bit trivial, why is it there is not an unwritten rule as to walk to the right or left?

500+ posts in under 3 weeks - you really need to get out more

Try walking; afterwards maybe write down some more unwritten rules

Agreed. I think the OP needs a hobby. Stamp collecting perhaps. You could do it all online and never have to step outside. Is there a rule book on stamp collecting?

[MrJohnson]

Appears some people take themselves a little too seriously and are incapable of a little distraction to talk about random and not so consequential topics but yet have enough time to make weigh in on other people's rights to enjoy themselves while certainly not infringing on their right to ignore or not take part in the discussion.

I second that.

Actually, almost every invention or major breakthrough in the development of modern civilisation was a result of distractions and failed attempts to achieve something else than what eventually was achieved;

Airconditioning was a result of a doctor trying to find a cure for malaria, and many other things e.g. sparkplugs, carburators, the thermos flask. the telephone, movies, x-rays, canned food, etc. and also possibly things like baked bread, cheese, youghurt and much more...

So, based on that - and because it's fun - I have to cast my vote strongly in favour of spending/wasting some time on 'random and not so consequential topics'.

Long live confusion, erroneous behaviour, seemingly useless threads of thought and distractions !

It's possibly the only hope we've got left in this meagre world of ours

Cheers

Well if this is 'possibly the only hope we've got left in this meagre world of ours..' then excuse me I'm just going to jump off the balcony and end it all now.

[barky]

Well generally the un-written rule is to keep right. Certainly on pedestrian bridges and stairs there are arrows painted indicating keep to the right.

But this is Thailand and rules don't apply to Thais only to aliens.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that generally most Thais never try to avoid walking into you as they are more important and expect you to give way to them.

So, I guess they don't mind being walked into on a regular basis.

Usually, they go out of their way to make physical contact with you like cutting immediately accross your path, or cutting in on the inside of you even if there is no space for them to get into. Even if I'm walking against a wall they will try to pass me on the wall side when there is miles of space to go around me. They just walk straight into me. I stand my ground, say nothing and just wait quietly for them to realise I'm not going to move and then they have to make a side step around me.

I've just come to expect to be body checked or walked into almost everytime I go out onto the street. I diplay no emotion in these situations. It's just a part of life here.

[VocalNeal]

Just wondering if anyone noticed that Thais/Asian walk in the shade. Regardless of what side of the road it is.

As for any Americans feeling superior because of Napolean. The reason you guys drive on the right is because when Henry was building the Model T he put the steering wheel on the left side because the starter motor was on the right and there was no room for the steering column.

[jcbangkok]

OP . . . a bit trivial, why is it there is not an unwritten rule as to walk to the right or left?

500+ posts in under 3 weeks - you really need to get out more

Try walking; afterwards maybe write down some more unwritten rules

Agreed. I think the OP needs a hobby. Stamp collecting perhaps. You could do it all online and never have to step outside. Is there a rule book on stamp collecting?

One of my hobbies is obviously posting on Thai Visa. Is your boredom and dislike for life and other people so pathetic that you seem to be able to find the time to go out of your way to pass judgement on somebody and a topic they have posted which you have no interest ?

I don't think we need to take a poll to understand who has the issue here.

Edited May 11, 2010 by jcbangkok

[jcbangkok]

Just wondering if anyone noticed that Thais/Asian walk in the shade. Regardless of what side of the road it is.

As for any Americans feeling superior because of Napolean. The reason you guys drive on the right is because when Henry was building the Model T he put the steering wheel on the left side because the starter motor was on the right and there was no room for the steering column.

You should not let your hostilities or insecurities about Americans get in the way of facts. The laws in America regarding driving (riding) to the right were around long before Henry Ford built a car (or was born).

Edited May 11, 2010 by jcbangkok

[luckyluke]

Left is right and right is wrong.

[bifftastic]

Why is the sky blue?

Probably easier to answer

The­re is a physical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering that causes light to scatter when it p­asses through particles that have a diameter one-tenth that of the wavelength (color) of the light. Sunlight is made up of all different colors of light, but because of the elements in the atmosphere the color blue is scattered much more efficiently than the other colors.

yep

here in London people walk wherever they feel like walking, in the road, on the right or the left of the pavement (sidewalk) and yes, they stop in doorways to talk, less so at the bottom of escalators. People also have a problem letting people off trains before they try and get on. I doubt if any 'rule' would be successful, there was talk of a 'fast lane' on Oxford Street but I think it was on the news on April 1st!

Driving on the left was the norm until the French, as described here earlier, changed it, then, having conquered most of Europe, everyone fell into place. The rest of the world stayed with the original plan but colonies of European powers reflected their colonial 'masters' I think the USA just wanted not to be British after their revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic

Sweden changed theirs in the 1960's (I think) and had a big 'turnaround day' when all the new road signs were unveiled and everyone switched over! Sounds like fun!

Someone also mentioned Paris, I concur, having driven there too, they drive wherever they feel like driving! Nutty place!

people will walk wherever they feel like walking you can't have rules for walking

[jcbangkok]

Very surprised to hear London has no protocol to make walking on busy sidewalks more efficient. I had always assumed the proper etiquette was to do the same as road traffic. With all the comments here, I tried doing a little research and found an interesting page that covers left/right yielding from everything from cars to boats to escalators. Below is what they have to say about Pedestrian traffic.

http://www.brianlucas.ca/roadside/

What about pedestrians?

The rules about which side of the road people drive on are clear, but there are also "rules" that govern how pedestrians behave in relation to each other. These pedestrian rules are not usually codified in law (a proposal to legislate a "fast lane" for walking on Oxford Street in London notwithstanding) but form a sort of "standard practice" which many people are not even consciously aware of until they travel to a country with a different standard practice and end up bumping into the locals.

In this section, when we describe pedestrians keeping right or left, we mean right or left in relation to other pedestrians on sidewalks, in hallways, and in pedestrian-only areas. We're not talking about pedestrians in relation to cars. That situation is universally covered by law or at least by parents' instructions to their children, as follows: for greatest safety, pedestrians walking on or next to a street that has no separated footpath are advised to walk so that they are facing oncoming motor vehicles, no matter which side the cars are on. This means that if cars keep right, then pedestrians should walk on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic, and vice-versa.

Keep right: Keeping right is the normal practice in the USA and Canada. (There might be some regional variations: one reader says that people in Idaho keep to the left.) Mark King reports that people keep right when skating on Ottawa's 8-kilometer-long Rideau Canal skating rink. France also keeps to the right. Pedestrians in Taiwan keep right and to reinforce the rule, some crosswalks in Taipei were painted with arrows directing people to keep right when crossing roads. As the habit has become more ingrained, these arrows have been gradually removed. (Justin Jih)

No preference: The United Kingdom seems not to have a preference as to which side of the path to use when walking. Mark King comments that this puts the British at a disadvantage when they go to places where there is a standard practice, because "they are unaware that there is a convention and so do not instinctively follow it, so getting in the way of roughly half of the people coming the other way and muttering about how crowded it is." Jay Doty confirms that the Scots also walk "every which way."

This doesn't mean that the British bump into each other. They don't tend to use single-file traffic, but they still manage to negotiate their way effectively using body language, eye contact, and other cues to signal their intentions and notice others' intentions. Foreigners in the UK who are not tuned in to the signals try to play follow-the-leader and end up bumping into people when the leader's route turns out to be unpredictable. Conversely, British tourists in foreign lands who don't realize that they are supposed to fall in line, cut through traffic at odd places and get run down. Aaron Moreau-Cook, an American, says that he used to constantly run into people when visiting the UK, but then he moved there and adapted: "after four months of living here I now can navigate the pedestrian walkways without a problem." William Hibbert suggests that "if you're in a hurry, the best way to proceed is to ignore other peoples' signals, and give out a very strong signal of your own by staring hard in the direction you want to go, aiming for each successive gap in the oncoming crowd. They'll understand and move aside in response to the strong psychological pressure you're exerting."

In the London Underground, some of the foot tunnels have signs (not always obeyed) asking passengers to keep to the left, and in some cases there are even railings down the centres of the tunnels to separate people walking in opposite directions.

Sreekumar Ashok writes that in India, just like in the UK, there is no predominant side for pedestrians and they use the same techniques to avoid a jam.

Keep left: People in Japan keep left when walking. Tourists in Japan should remember this, says Jay Doty: "When you walked on the right you were definitely a hinderance to traffic." Conversely, Japanese tourists cause traffic jams in other countries: Wayne Huffman reports from Hawai'i that he has "had countless Japanese people walk directly into me, even though I am 6'4" and 220 pounds. If someone is coming at you and you step to your right, they step to their left, and you stay on a collision course. This happens to me at least five times a day." There is a weak tendency to keep left in Australia and New Zealand, although many people report that the tendency is weak indeed. David Hoole says, "Australians... are even more unruly than the English," and he's not referring to Aussie-rules football. Bill Lockhart mentioned that he has observed Mexicans fighting the flow by trying to keep left in Texas when everyone else was keeping right, and wonders if keeping left might be the standard practice in central or southern Mexico. David Newgreen recalls sailing from England to Australia in 1966-67, when the safety briefing instructed passengers that in case of emergency, they were to keep to the right-hand side of staircases and passageways. The briefing stated, "we emphasise this for the benefit of Australian and New Zealand passengers who normally keep to the left." Edwin Man reports that in Hong Kong there is a slight tendency to walk on the left.

[JohanV]

Just wondering if anyone noticed that Thais/Asian walk in the shade. Regardless of what side of the road it is.

I think you are right on the money there, VocalNeal

Well said.

[JohanV]

Sweden changed theirs in the 1960's (I think) and had a big 'turnaround day' when all the new road signs were unveiled and everyone switched over! Sounds like fun!

It was 1967 and I was a first grader. I remember it very well.

The radio plugged a specially composed 'drive to the right' song for weeks...

Two days after the switch an old woman was nearly killed in Stockholm after insisting on driving 'as she always had'...

I guess you could call it fun. Sort of..

BTW, Sweden also have clear rules for pedestrian walking. They should walk on the left side, so that they face incoming traffic

thus presumably avoiding being hit from behind. This is actually not a recommendation but rather a traffic rule.

I've never heard of anyone being fined for walking on the wrong side, though..

Edited May 11, 2010 by JohanV

[MrJohnson]

OP . . . a bit trivial, why is it there is not an unwritten rule as to walk to the right or left?

500+ posts in under 3 weeks - you really need to get out more

Try walking; afterwards maybe write down some more unwritten rules

Agreed. I think the OP needs a hobby. Stamp collecting perhaps. You could do it all online and never have to step outside. Is there a rule book on stamp collecting?

One of my hobbies is obviously posting on Thai Visa. Is your boredom and dislike for life and other people so pathetic that you seem to be able to find the time to go out of your way to pass judgement on somebody and a topic they have posted which you have no interest ?

I don't think we need to take a poll to understand who has the issue here.

Lighten up Sunshine.

[jcbangkok]

OP . . . a bit trivial, why is it there is not an unwritten rule as to walk to the right or left?

500+ posts in under 3 weeks - you really need to get out more

Try walking; afterwards maybe write down some more unwritten rules

Agreed. I think the OP needs a hobby. Stamp collecting perhaps. You could do it all online and never have to step outside. Is there a rule book on stamp collecting?

One of my hobbies is obviously posting on Thai Visa. Is your boredom and dislike for life and other people so pathetic that you seem to be able to find the time to go out of your way to pass judgement on somebody and a topic they have posted which you have no interest ?

I don't think we need to take a poll to understand who has the issue here.

Lighten up Sunshine.

As I alluded to earlier ... doesn't appear to be me who needs advice on things such as low self-esteem, manners or controlling emotions.

Edited May 12, 2010 by jcbangkok

[jcbangkok]

Sweden changed theirs in the 1960's (I think) and had a big 'turnaround day' when all the new road signs were unveiled and everyone switched over! Sounds like fun!

It was 1967 and I was a first grader. I remember it very well.

The radio plugged a specially composed 'drive to the right' song for weeks...

Two days after the switch an old woman was nearly killed in Stockholm after insisting on driving 'as she always had'...

I guess you could call it fun. Sort of..

BTW, Sweden also have clear rules for pedestrian walking. They should walk on the left side, so that they face incoming traffic

thus presumably avoiding being hit from behind. This is actually not a recommendation but rather a traffic rule.

I've never heard of anyone being fined for walking on the wrong side, though..

Am curious if you remember what they did with buses, including school buses, when they changed driving directions. Did they have to retrofit doors towards the back of the bus on the new curb side?

Also, as per walking the main topic was pedestrian traffic on a sidewalk or hallway keeping right or left. I think numerous places have laws in terms of walking on the street, when no sidewalks, in terms of facing oncoming traffic. I seem to recall as a kid they used to want you to ride bicycles this way too but then remember the campaign to have bicycles follow the same traffic laws as cars. In fact, many a person can testify, in the US that a drunk driving charge while riding a bicycle carries the same penalties as driving a car ... including points against your driver's license and insurance rates.

Edited May 12, 2010 by jcbangkok