Thai Drivers & How To Stay Alive Here.

[thaicbr]

Every year I ride and drive more than 20000km in the winter period (when I´m in LOS) all over the country, also BKK. Never felt, it´s too dangerous. I like lefthand driving more than the rightside here in Germany. The Thai Driver are not agressive. The traffic is easy, every Parking Ground Guardian can stops all cars. This is suicude in south of Europe. Traffic lights are almost acceptet, constrution sides are marked. Very easy going at all. Try India or Turkey to realize how simpel it is in Thailand.

Traffic lights are almost accepted as what?Street lantarns??

Did you know that about 2 years ago a 30 day test with 10 traffic light camera's in Bangkok registered Seventy seven thousand ( 77.000) red light jumpers.

That translates to one car or bike every 6 minutes. Red light jumping doesn't mean (necessarily) ignoring red lights. Considering that these would have been placed very busy intersections, this is not a whole lot of red light jumping. It's basically a testament to how well traffic lights are respected in the city, isn't it.

UMM NO. it means that there were lots of <deleted> jumping red lights. I remember the time there were big reports in the paper so BKK residents even knew where the cameras were placed. and yes to set these cameras off you ran a red light. why do you think that you still see some cars with no back number plate.

[BigBikeBKK]

I absolutely agree with your first sentence. As for the rest, well I have been racing motorcycles for 40 years and have decided never to have a bike in Thailand.

A shame- you're really missing out...

Thailand is blessed with miles and miles of perfect roads with little to no traffic (count how many cars you see in the 10 minute videos above and below) and not a speed trap in sight- bikers paradise!

Happy Trails!

Tony

[jackcorbett]

whoever said there are 100,000 road fatalities in Thailand per year is mistaken but his point is well taken. I've seen figures between 28 to 40 per 100,000 population and with a population of 70,000,000 this comes out to about 28,000 fatalities. However one must keep in mind that the U.S. with a population of over 310,000,000 has only about 34,000 so one has to figure that Thailand has a rate of about 4 times as many deaths as in the U.S. I suggest the main two causes are as many others have pointed out, Thais in general do whatever they want to do on the road and 2. The police aren't doing a dam_n thing about it.

I regard Pattaya as being far more dangerous to drive in than the rest of Thailand. It is what it is, and along with being what it is it attracts the worse Thais and the worse Westerners so we end up having a lot of brain dead people out about.

Nevertheless I still drive a motorbike here. What I try to do is to reduce risk whenever I can while always being alert to the fact I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots who are out to kill me whether intentionally or just out of plain stupidity. So much of the time if I'm headed out at night I'll drive up the back roads and park my bike out on Naklua Road, preferably in front of a bar where I'm known and then I'll take the 10 baht taxi to wherever I'm going. Last night I left my bike at the Naklua Lek Villa Hotel where my buddy is staying and from there my girlfriend, my pal, and I took the 10 baht taxi down to Beach road where we got out and walked over to Soi Bukeaoi where we hit some bars. There we were met by another friend who had driven his bike from the dark side of Sukamvit Road. In my example my friend assumed a lot more risk than I did. By the time my gf and I went home there was nearly zero traffic on the back streets to my condo.

If I have to go relatively far on my bike during the day....say I want to go to South Pattaya Road, I like to get there around 11 a.m. rather than wait until mid afternoon when a lot of people are out and about who have just woken up with hangovers. Once again, I'm reducing risk by choosing to travel when there is a bit less traffic out there.

I try and avoid making right turns into heavily traveled streets wherever it's possible instead choosing streets where there is a light or I might head down to Dolphin Circle where the speeds are very low and everyone's into this "taking my turn, now you are taking your turn mode." I prefer this to making a right turn into Naklua Road which has four lanes of traffic because if I make a right turn I can drive against the flow of traffic the way many Thais do and cut into my lanes when I'm able to do it or I can drive across two lanes and turn right into either the 3rd or 4th lane. That's too much for my mind to focus upon because I need to know every split second what everyone's doing in four traffic lanes while still watching out for the idiots who are driving against the flow of traffic. So I am willing to drive further to catch a light or a strategic spot like Dolphin Circle rather than simply making a right whenever and wherever. If no light is nearby I might turn left and go the opposite direction I'm wanting to go and then look for the most opportune time to reverse my direction. I must be very careful doing that however, but at least I only have to keep a sharp eye out for two traffic lanes simultaneously.

I try to keep my speed low enough that my mind can take in all the idiot moves drivers around me are making and how I can best avoid them and so that I can brake in time or be able to suddenly maneuver quickly to avoid colliding with someone who's just done something that's unforeseen and stupid. Lastly I regard my fellow drivers as the enemy. I don't mean that I hate them or that I get angry with them. I just regard them as an enemy that is likely to injure me at some time or another or kill me because they are such terrible drivers. So I keep my mind more in a war mode than a cruising along the river bike trail mode.

[Sisaketmike]

I'm driving here since over 10 years without accident. It's funny to see how most people driving, most of them do really need some education or at least a couple of crash test videos, telling them what a helmet or a safety belt is for. Not to mention education about driving in the right direction of the road, using lights at night and most importantly, it would be nice if someone could tell them that slow cars should drive on the left side.

I always very happy when I can go back to Germany during holiday and drive there, no hassle at all.

I'm living and driving here over eight years, the only reason why I never had an accident with my Pick Up was that I'm always thinking for them. You're right, most of them don't even know that they suppose to drive on the left side, driving 60 km/hr, or less...

No turn signal, they just drive where they want to. I've seen people at the Transportation office starring at the traffic signs like they saw an Alien from Somtham planet. Would the lose their license for one year,crossing a red light, they would stop. The sad thing, most even haven't got a license to show.

After driving several times through Bangkok, I couldn't believe how easy it is to drive in a big German city, when I came back for a holiday. Isan is very similar to Bangkok, even in Sisaket and Ubon you need to be a good advanced driver.

A friend of mine, a 24 year old farlang got killed in Ubon, wasn't his fault, a Pick Up passed a red fai deng. Dead. Not much happened to the Thai driver.

It's almost the same situation to get rid of the political problems...........they could, but they just don't know how.

Wish you all a save ride through this wonderful country.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[Sisaketmike]

Let me tell you my latest experience.At a traffic light near Rayong a few days ago I'm on the outer left stroke as the light is red already.Car waiting for the red light on the right hand stroke so I slowly travel towards the light.Whe I almost reach the light some car comes from behind and pushes me of the road because he want to be first in line.I pull up beside him and he lowers his side window.I ask if he ever learned any traffic rules after which he gives me the middle finger and ups the window again.As I am faster on the bike as him of course,between Rayong and Ban chang he tries push me of the road another 3 times at high speed.

I forgot to add that first he brakes heavily right in front of me.

Shouldn't you love them?

Love them or hate them. Just be happy that you're still alive. Some guys carrying a gun would just blow your farlang face off, which is not a joke.

A Thai who almost caused an accident made me lose my temper, he was chasing me and he had a gun.

All I could do was to drive to the cops to get rid of him. Wife and son inside my car..I saw the gun.

Scary shit, but please be careful, this losing face thing could be dangerous for your health.

[Pitbullman1]

The only way to stay alive and be safe here is to drive an Army Tank

[Sisaketmike]

Every year I ride and drive more than 20000km in the winter period (when I´m in LOS) all over the country, also BKK. Never felt, it´s too dangerous. I like lefthand driving more than the rightside here in Germany. The Thai Driver are not agressive. The traffic is easy, every Parking Ground Guardian can stops all cars. This is suicude in south of Europe. Traffic lights are almost acceptet, constrution sides are marked. Very easy going at all. Try India or Turkey to realize how simpel it is in Thailand.

I drove in India and lots of other countries....what are you talking about, please?

I can't believe your statement, driving in Bangkok is really not that easy for everybody.

Driving here in the Isan you'll have to expect buffaloes, cows, dogs ,or just vehicles without lights like KUBOTAS.

Here are lots of aggressive drivers.

Congratulations for doing more than 20,000K's when you're here.

Sounds like you're only driving, takes pretty long to make 20,000 k's. Sorry, I guess all the other posts are wrong then??????/ Greetings to the Parking Ground Guardian......????????????????????????????????????

Edited May 12, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[maccaroni man]

<i>They learned all their habits (good & bad) from who ever was showing them and in many cases they just learned by sitting/standing on the family motorbike or car when they were babies. So it's all ingrained from birth</i>

That is very true.

And it's funny it is true in every country all around the world.

That's not the 20 hours of driving lessons that teach you how to drive, but the childhood sitting in your father's vehicle.

So give Thai people a brake, that's only the second generation where the vehicle (at least motorbike) are almost spread everywhere, and things are improving.

When you come to live in a country you chosen, you have to accept its own rules, even if they are not up to your standard or they do not seem the best possible.

life on samui may be a bit different from other places in thailand but what i notice is thais always seem to be in a hurry; they will put everyones life at risk to pass on blind turns just to go 50 meters more and turn into a place of business or residence. I rarely use my rear view mirror as it seems to be more of a monkey see monkey do system; if the guy in front is dodging then i will too and so on, as a matter of fact i tell my son it is almost like playing dodge ball, everything will be coming from the front or side. one more point when the police drive on the side walks, against traffic, and pass on the under side, there is not much hope for the avg. population to change their thinking.

[Sisaketmike]

The main rule is to drive slow and don't hit any potholes. You might spill your beer. Also don't bother honking your horn. I will not be able to hear it over my music.

The main rule is: Never listen to your wife sitting next to you..)holy s...

Are you trying to find a particular street, building, shop, or the way to your Mia Noi, drive left when she's telling you to turn right.

[ttakata]

One more thing around BKK.

I use my turn signals but some people don't see them so they cut me off on the inside of my turn.

Once I was sweeping left in a rotary and next thing I know I'm touching shoulders with a guy that was going straight through on my inside side.

So I often glance behind me to make sure no one is going to take me out while I'm turning.

I've ridden bikes about 10 years now and still I've had 2 low (10KMH) speed crashes here.

Once was an oily patch of pavement, the other was clipping the rear of a tuktuk that stopped while I was checking the next lane for clearance.

Helmet saved me once and good gloves saved me the other time.

I've almost lost it on a wet piece of smooth concrete (upper drive/pick up area on South side of Gov't center) and a recessed steel plate in the road.

So remember the road quality is also a hazard too.