Riding / Driving On The Islands

[Tracer Round]

Perhaps the new English-language broadsheet might include a police blotter. I'm sure the Tourism Bureau would love that.

[Gatorade]

And all the other daily deaths! We should have a thread detailing the daily traffic carnage on this island!

A good idea SE. Any thoughts on who would manage it and how?

[xylophone]

And all the other daily deaths! We should have a thread detailing the daily traffic carnage on this island!

A good idea SE. Any thoughts on who would manage it and how?

This sort of thing is all too common also here on Phuket, and although I am a careful scooter rider, I am for ever having to dodge out of the way when cars and SUVs and the like decide to overtake another vehicle, knowing full well that I am coming the other way and in full view. It is almost as if their frame of mind is, "I am bigger than you, so you had better move over".

The standard of driving anywhere in this country is absolutely abysmal.

[BigC]

read the report in the newspaper. His sister had admitted he had a drink.

As bad is this is allot of accidents can be avoided by the the drivers. Being a good driver is being aware of other bad drivers. achole slows down your reactions. I know samui has problems but are we as humans so un able to think for ourselves that we need laws to protect our selves.

This is not an attack on the victim and these words probably sound a bit harsh but for the rest of people that are still living breathing and relaxing and enjoying life. please rememeber that that few relaxing drinks could be your last.

problem with samui is people get too relaxed and do things they would not normally do. Throw in a 3rd world country no motor bike liscence no helmet a few beers then the answer is not hard to work out. like some one said before another day and another death. maybe people can learn from other peoples mistakes.

Maybe The victim was not drunk and has only 1 beer but for the amount of other people i see every night driving like a snake at 100 kms per hr. You had better watch and learn or it could be your bleeding releatives you are lying next to.

harsh words for a greatere cause

R.I.P

Hope your bad luck can make others learn. Even though it was not your fault. Just imagine how many other people are too follow.

[concerned]

read the report in the newspaper. His sister had admitted he had a drink.

As bad is this is allot of accidents can be avoided by the the drivers. Being a good driver is being aware of other bad drivers. achole slows down your reactions. I know samui has problems but are we as humans so un able to think for ourselves that we need laws to protect our selves.

This is not an attack on the victim and these words probably sound a bit harsh but for the rest of people that are still living breathing and relaxing and enjoying life. please rememeber that that few relaxing drinks could be your last.

problem with samui is people get too relaxed and do things they would not normally do. Throw in a 3rd world country no motor bike liscence no helmet a few beers then the answer is not hard to work out. like some one said before another day and another death. maybe people can learn from other peoples mistakes.

Maybe The victim was not drunk and has only 1 beer but for the amount of other people i see every night driving like a snake at 100 kms per hr. You had better watch and learn or it could be your bleeding releatives you are lying next to.

harsh words for a greatere cause

R.I.P

Hope your bad luck can make others learn. Even though it was not your fault. Just imagine how many other people are too follow.

Thanks for opening our eyes to your amazing revelation that drinking and riding/driving do not go together.

Believe it or not your news is not new to us.

In this case the motorbike rider was blameless and I'm sure your harsh words will be no comfort whatsoever to the poor fellow's relatives and friends.

[carmine]

... when a speeding pickup truck overtaking another vehicle hit the motorbike he was driving head-on recently in Bangrak.

I had this happen to me once on the ring road where even after the truck passed he stayed in our (2 of us on the bike) lane much longer than he needed. I remember he had a smile on his face right before I flipped him off.

i think this situation has happened to EVERY TV member who has driven on Koh Samui, its also not just pick up drivers ( even those they think they are untouchable ) but crazy teenagers on there bikes overtaking when there is clear trafficing heading thier way ( i have had to drive into the side of a road twice this month to avoid a head on with these maniacs )

but how to stop the situation ?, and i cant also help but blame the blessing of cars and the ' keep safe ' budda chains the teeangers where as they believe they keep them safe !

Trucks overtaking here is scary. A few times been pushed off the road. They overtake and flash their lights at you like where the #### am I meant to go. More annoying its farang truck drivers I see more often than not doing this, I small amount of empathy for the ice vans etc.. - tight schedule / no education but the farangs need a beating.

Good post. At the end of the day when you've witnessed the so called "driving test" it's easy to see why generally Thais are crap drivers but when i see the way some of the foreigners drive, drivers that have passed fairly stringent tests, i would also like to see them given a slap, banged up fpr a few days by way of a reality check.

[BigC]

read the report in the newspaper. His sister had admitted he had a drink.

As bad is this is allot of accidents can be avoided by the the drivers. Being a good driver is being aware of other bad drivers. achole slows down your reactions. I know samui has problems but are we as humans so un able to think for ourselves that we need laws to protect our selves.

This is not an attack on the victim and these words probably sound a bit harsh but for the rest of people that are still living breathing and relaxing and enjoying life. please rememeber that that few relaxing drinks could be your last.

problem with samui is people get too relaxed and do things they would not normally do. Throw in a 3rd world country no motor bike liscence no helmet a few beers then the answer is not hard to work out. like some one said before another day and another death. maybe people can learn from other peoples mistakes.

Maybe The victim was not drunk and has only 1 beer but for the amount of other people i see every night driving like a snake at 100 kms per hr. You had better watch and learn or it could be your bleeding releatives you are lying next to.

harsh words for a greatere cause

R.I.P

Hope your bad luck can make others learn. Even though it was not your fault. Just imagine how many other people are too follow.

Thanks for opening our eyes to your amazing revelation that drinking and riding/driving do not go together.

Believe it or not your news is not new to us.

In this case the motorbike rider was blameless and I'm sure your harsh words will be no comfort whatsoever to the poor fellow's relatives and friends.

i did not expect anyone to thank me for my previous post just hope that this is a eye opener for all other drivers out there. If the news is not new to anyone then why do so many people do it. maybe people have to whitness the accident before they realise and whitness someones brother or sister at the funneral who is parralised with sadness to be berrying there brother sister ,son or daughter.

It seems harsh but if by sending harsh words gets the message across then it can't be all bad.

for example i used to be very fat drink and smoke. my doctor in England asked me how much i drink and smoked when i was 24 years old. i told her. she had a right go at me. i got angry as if it was none of her business yet 15 years later i don't drink or smoke and i exerisie regular. so something must have clicked

[smokie36]

read the report in the newspaper. His sister had admitted he had a drink.

As bad is this is allot of accidents can be avoided by the the drivers. Being a good driver is being aware of other bad drivers. achole slows down your reactions. I know samui has problems but are we as humans so un able to think for ourselves that we need laws to protect our selves.

This is not an attack on the victim and these words probably sound a bit harsh but for the rest of people that are still living breathing and relaxing and enjoying life. please rememeber that that few relaxing drinks could be your last.

problem with samui is people get too relaxed and do things they would not normally do. Throw in a 3rd world country no motor bike liscence no helmet a few beers then the answer is not hard to work out. like some one said before another day and another death. maybe people can learn from other peoples mistakes.

Maybe The victim was not drunk and has only 1 beer but for the amount of other people i see every night driving like a snake at 100 kms per hr. You had better watch and learn or it could be your bleeding releatives you are lying next to.

harsh words for a greatere cause

R.I.P

Hope your bad luck can make others learn. Even though it was not your fault. Just imagine how many other people are too follow.

Thanks for opening our eyes to your amazing revelation that drinking and riding/driving do not go together.

Believe it or not your news is not new to us.

In this case the motorbike rider was blameless and I'm sure your harsh words will be no comfort whatsoever to the poor fellow's relatives and friends.

i did not expect anyone to thank me for my previous post just hope that this is a eye opener for all other drivers out there. If the news is not new to anyone then why do so many people do it. maybe people have to whitness the accident before they realise and whitness someones brother or sister at the funneral who is parralised with sadness to be berrying there brother sister ,son or daughter.

It seems harsh but if by sending harsh words gets the message across then it can't be all bad.

for example i used to be very fat drink and smoke. my doctor in England asked me how much i drink and smoked when i was 24 years old. i told her. she had a right go at me. i got angry as if it was none of her business yet 15 years later i don't drink or smoke and i exerisie regular. so something must have clicked

I thought your post was well written....and as you rightly say if it stops even one person getting on their bike drunk then its worthwhile.

[H2oDunc]

I have to agree with Matt though. I can forgive the Thai's for driving like tw@ts , add your own vowel, as they do not know any better but it gets me very angry when some prick of a Farang drives like one. As Matt says they need a slap and a half. I was coming back from Lamai the other day. A straight road and absolutely nothing behind me. When a geriatric old Farang coming the other way pulls over onto my side of the road onto the bike lane. Now don't get me wrong. A huge flow of traffic and a gap and I have done the same but for this prick to do it when the road was empty got my goat.Why not just wait till I had passed then pull over ?

As I was wearing a fullface helmet, armoured jacket, jeans and shoes and this guy is wearing just a pair of shorts and flip flops I simply aimed for him till he had to run off the road cussing and cursing ha ha ha. maybe he will take that as a lesson in the highway code!

[Rooo]

Someposts removed from another topic, all here.

[Rooo]

Tracer round

Perhaps the new English-language broadsheet might include a police blotter. I'm sure the Tourism Bureau would love that.

They have printed the statistics supplied by Samui Rescue.

[Boater]

Tips for Driving in Thailand

This began as serious advice for a visiting friend, somehow it became satire.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!!!

a) That motorcycle on the left IS going to turn right... the rider will not indicate and will only look AFTER starting the turn...

Around the next blind bend / over the next crest IS a truck overtaking on your side of the road...

c) Or maybe that driver is cutting the corner because that's just how it's done here...

To confuse Thai drivers, try using your indicators.

Indicators are to be viewed with scepticism, the driver / rider may be indicating which way s/he is going to turn, which side you should overtake on, which direction s/he came from or maybe they're on by accident and s/he just doesn't know how to cancel them.

A Thai driver's licence requires a medical certificate; one of the tests is for basic colour blindness, presumably so you'll know what to do at traffic lights. E.g.

a) Green = go

Yellow = go

c) Red = tailgate the car in front and... go

An alternative interpretation of signal colours from a Thai friend.

a) Green = fast

Yellow = faster

c) Red = fastest

To annoy Thai drivers, stop at red lights and stop signs.

Thais drive on the left of the road... Mostly...

"Lane" is water falling from the sky. The lines on the road are purely for decoration and can be ignored...

There exists a mysterious area to the left of the main flow of traffic where road rules, common sense and the laws of space-time appear to be absent. In this area you may travel as fast or as slow as you wish, in whatever direction you wish, or just stop and talk on your mobile phone.

Speeding is an offence in Thailand, but just what speed should you be doing? There are few (if any) signs, so pick a random number and double it... or quarter it... it depends how you feel at the time...

Driving Under the Influence (Drink Driving) is also an offence, but the Thais have a unique way of circumventing detection... everyone drives as if they are drunk, weaving, swerving, stopping for no apparent reason etc... so that the police don't notice who is really drunk...

The only requirement for riding a motorcycle seems to be a literacy test, if you can write a suicide note, you're allowed to ride.

Popular motorcycles in Thailand are electric start 110cc four-stroke automatics, they need to be automatic or at least have an automatic clutch so the drunken 14 year old can talk or her mobile phone while weaving through traffic with her two friends (sitting side-saddle) and a scared little dog on the back.

When riding a motorcycle in the rain (or hot sunshine) many riders employ an umbrella for protection... if your mobile phone rings at the same time, have your passenger hold the umbrella for you.

Motorcycles are used for everything. Often fitted with an outrigger (An entire fast food store can be attached to the side of a motorcycle) and/or a trailer (a 2 wheeled cart drawn via the rider or passenger sitting on the handle). These machines have a carrying capacity limited only by the imagination. Also you may see a family of four aboard a single motorcycle, and it's likely piloted by the 9year-old sitting on her mother's lap.

APPROACH MOTORCYCLES WITH CAUTION... (see points 1- 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, Etc...)

When approaching an intersection it's important to be sure of who has right-of-way, there seem to be differing schools of thought, but generally it's the largest vehicle, although the most expensive vehicle is often given preference, however, the most widely accepted rule is that the driver with the largest "balls" takes right-of-way...

Avoiding accidents, when a situation presents itself;

a) Sound your horn and/or flash your lights

Sound your horn and/or flash your lights

c) Swerve

d) Accelerate

e) Pray

f) Sound your horn and/or flash your lights

g) Trust that luck (or Buddha) will resolve the situation before it affects you

h) As a last resort, if all of the above fail and you have absolutely no other choice you might try that 'other' pedal on the floor... the one to the left of the accelerator.

Road signs in Thailand follow international convention, being in both Thai and English... mostly... also recognised in Thailand is the universal international single digit salute...

Please use courtesy when parking... leave your car in neutral with the handbrake off so that the driver of the car you double parked over can push your car away to get out...

The Glacier Technique:

Situation: you're in a side street trying to turn into a major road and the flow of traffic is endless... you can't get a break...

Solution: edge forward an inch at a time, eventually the cars will have to curve a little get around you, keep edging forward, eventually a car will stop, because the driver has no choice.... After that, you may go... this also works for changing lanes and merging. (Btw; nobody will blast their horn or even give you a dirty look as you do this as it is considered normal... but you WILL get blasted from behind if you don't do it).

Taxis are cheap and plentiful; the driver may even speak English.

Important! While riding in a taxi be sure to look at your hands, your feet, the floor... or anything except the road ahead... it's just better if you don't know (see point 14, 15, ...).

Safety belts are required for the driver and front seat passenger, but not for the rear seat passengers, probably because the rear seat passengers bodies are likely to still be there after an accident, whereas the bodies of the occupants of the front seats are likely to be much harder to find... safety belts save the ambulance bearers time...

Part II: Tips for Driving in Bangkok

DON'T!

[Leckyman]

Very good, & very true:unsure:

[PoorSucker]

Source: Samui Gazette

[goldfinger]

in June and July only 2 accidents(with injuries) per day???

and 3 month nobody died on the streets??

speechless.....

Edited August 12, 2010 by goldfinger

[PoorSucker]

Yes, June and July had very few tourists.

[Boater]

I got a copy today and saw that , they must be very untrue as it was reported in the samui express of an english man being killed in july ! Are these reports based on instant death ?

I find it very hard to believe no deaths in june july ,

[screamingeagle]

As a general rule, viewing statistics over the past few years, there is one traffic accident death a day on Samui!

[goldfinger]

Source: Samui Gazette

these numbers are only from samui rescue, where they were on the scene,

so by far too low

Edited August 12, 2010 by goldfinger

[gerazsolt]

those young thai fellas who go wild crazy with the bike, i saw many drive reckless... i think they dangerous...

also farang tourists flying around in the middle of the left lane without looking back... better to horn them down first haha

and we not talk yet about the high speed minivans who really have to arrive in the airport and going crazy always...

yellow taxis like hunting for customers slowing down quickly without inidicators are pretty annoying when u not look for a second already hit them and of course the person who comes behind is the guilty, not the taxi guy who have modified car and his brake light doesnt work or its BLUE

i think some common sense and caring each other while driving is not that difficult specially in a village style island there is nowhere to rush but the problem is the police doesnt seems to enforcing the rules in the past years, anyone can speeding how they want without any consequences...

if they start to check the helmets everyday random locations, in 2 weeks everybody will start to wear it sure..

i would support a greener samui campaign and hunt down all the smoky bikes and trucks too...

[smokie36]

those young thai fellas who go wild crazy with the bike, i saw many drive reckless... i think they dangerous...

also farang tourists flying around in the middle of the left lane without looking back... better to horn them down first haha

and we not talk yet about the high speed minivans who really have to arrive in the airport and going crazy always...

yellow taxis like hunting for customers slowing down quickly without inidicators are pretty annoying when u not look for a second already hit them and of course the person who comes behind is the guilty, not the taxi guy who have modified car and his brake light doesnt work or its BLUE

i think some common sense and caring each other while driving is not that difficult specially in a village style island there is nowhere to rush but the problem is the police doesnt seems to enforcing the rules in the past years, anyone can speeding how they want without any consequences...

if they start to check the helmets everyday random locations, in 2 weeks everybody will start to wear it sure..

i would support a greener samui campaign and hunt down all the smoky bikes and trucks too...

I realise we have a whole bunch of them already but how about some sleeping policemen?

[Rooo]

Maybe a more suitable thread then every condolences thread that gets hijacked.

[animatic]

Lets also not forget the tourists that think this is a slow lazy place

and stopping mid road with three bikes to check your map,

blocking a turn off from a high speed straight away, is a rational thing.

You know these idiots would never think of doing this back home, and yet.

I have 5 years on a bike here, and have learned

EVERYTHING on the roads of Samui is trying to kill you, including the roads themselves.

So I ride accordingly.

Another issue is SLOW drivers...

they actually cause a huge number of' very dangerous incidents.

Some are Thais who just bought a car, get in and learn to drive,

or are just plain paranoid about their new car.

The other side is those westerners on vacation, but not used to driving on the left.

They putter along at 35km and sight see and cause incredible frustrations for

those behind who at least are willing to keep at normal speeds.

Those that habitually speed get twice as frustrated and pass into oncoming traffic.

The numbers of bikes run off the road from this scenario is staggering.

They should just rename this place Koh Ting Tong.

Yes 110% on the BIB needing to have a rolling speed gun stop,

and stiff fines SAME for all. 100 baht for ever Km over the limit

would be a start 5km over is 500 baht and that is a NOTICEABLE fine

for most of the worst offenders financial levels, and 20km is 2,00 and even the

ego mad truckowners will take notice of this. $50-60once week adds up.

And how about making the companies responsible for their drivers actions too.

Especially the ones demanding their truck drivers work by the load,

if they aren't getting the loads to site they get paid less,

regardless of distance from load to unload..

A recipe for speeding overweight behemoths plowing through people.