Fast Driving Trucks

[Voo Doo]

There have been so many accidents caused by truck drivers driving too fast on the roads of Koh Samui.

I wonder why there's nobody who can do something about it. Where's police then?

Any ideas...?

P.S. Feel like buying a shot gun or bazooka and establish my new law... :-)

Reminds me something: "Kill them all and let God sort it out".

Am I right or I'm still on the another planet...?

[britmaveric]

Get out of their way would be the best bit of advice for you!

[Voo Doo]

Get out of their way would be the best bit of advice for you!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I will apprecite if you tell me how.

[Voo Doo]

Get out of their way would be the best bit of advice for you!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I will apprecite if you tell me how.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once again.

Think about all of kids, old people or newbie motorbike tourists, not to mention us.

[last resort]

Getting out of their way is easier said than done. They ( truck drivers ) simply have no regard for others on the roads on Samui. 'Mine is bigger than yours' seems to be their philosophy. I'm with the bazooka idea. By the way Voo Doo, Samui is the other planet.

Last Resort

[taxexile]

I will apprecite if you tell me how

move to a nicer part of thailand.

[sbk]

Sorry guys, but my husband and I have driven all over Thailand and find that the "bigger truck gets the right of way" attitude is prevalent all over the country. Move to one of those little islands that have no roads and you should be safe.

[taxexile]

Move to one of those little islands that have no roads and you should be safe.

aaahhh , but what happens when that little island with no roads becomes a little island lots of roads and lots of trucks.

it can happen very quickly.

[sbk]

Not if the island is too small for a road

Just trying to point out that it doesn't really matter where you go, you cannot escape the scariness of many drivers here.

[Soph]

Totally agree, it is terrible

There should be some way of getting these drivers to slow down. I live on the beach side of the ring road and my friends live opposite, so to get to see them I simply have to cross the road - not an easy task, these tw@ts come hurtling down like theyre on the motorway, and there are tourists and kids and dogs - no regard.

Actually I was nearly hit last night by a young lad on a bike going sooooo fast, he swerved and nearly fell off, I was shaking like a leaf Risking my life to pickup my laundry

[Voo Doo]

Sorry for saying that but still there's no serious or reliable reply from none of you.

Changing island will be the easiest idea, but it's not the point. I can't take all of you there...! We live here and want to live without stress.

Again, my question is: is there any way to stop them driving that fast?

We live on a small paradise island with 5-6 hospitals!

Soon there will be more of them than resorts.

Local police stop motorbike drivers once or twice and then let them drive for the rest of the month. They don't give a shit about trucks.

Maybe they should...? They can make money charging for driving fast as well. Am I right?

Hope you remeber the accident when two diving instructors from N.Z. and Japan were killed by the truck which escped and nobody did anything about it.

Thinking about opening hospital now. Must be good business, huh?

Safe journey to all of us.

[sbk]

Sorry for saying that but still there's no serious or reliable reply from none of you. 

Changing island will be the easiest idea, but it's not the point. I can't take all of you there...! We live here and want to live without stress.

Again, my question is: is there any way to stop them driving that fast?

We live on a small paradise island with 5-6 hospitals!

Soon there will be more of them than resorts.

Local police  stop motorbike drivers once or twice and then let them drive for the rest of the month. They don't give a shit about trucks.

Maybe they should...? They can make money charging for driving fast as well. Am I right?

Hope you remeber the accident when two diving instructors from N.Z. and Japan were killed by the truck which escped and nobody did anything about it.

Thinking about opening hospital now. Must be good business, huh?

Safe journey to all of us.

Voodoo, perhaps you should open a driving school instead? It is easy to say "there is something we should do about it" but until you come up with a suggestion or two don't criticise anyone else for not doing the same. Do you really think the authorities will listen? To anyone? There are times to face realities and this is one, the best you can do is drive as defensively as possible. Me, I'd like to buy a Hummer.

[Khun Jean]

VooDoo,

There is only 1 way. Make it known to the rest of the world. Especially to the ones that think this is a quiet and safe place to spend a holiday.

If this information gets out it will effect tourism, and that will attract attention and hopefully improvements. Not only mention fast trucks, but rip off taxis and song theaws, dirty beaches and water, regular flooding in the busiest part of the island, double pricing, the list is long. Document it with pictures and small vidcaps for the ones that don't believe. It is sad to see a nice place go bad under no law enforcement and uncotrolled developments.

I can't be bothered with it, i just move on, for the Samui people it will be "som nam na". For the people who just bought a 10-20 million baht bungalow with 15.000 baht monthly maintenance, money enough anyway write it of as a loss, for the people who retire there and bought a nice place with saved money, i surely hope it will change for the better.

[RDN]

Find out where the trucks go at night, buy a very big bag of nails, ....

[speleo]

Dig up the road - if it's full of potholes there is a slight chance they might slow down. However, you're going to have to dig really big holes to slow down a Thai truck.

[Voo Doo]

Sorry for saying that but still there's no serious or reliable reply from none of you. 

Changing island will be the easiest idea, but it's not the point. I can't take all of you there...! We live here and want to live without stress.

Again, my question is: is there any way to stop them driving that fast?

We live on a small paradise island with 5-6 hospitals!

Soon there will be more of them than resorts.

Local police  stop motorbike drivers once or twice and then let them drive for the rest of the month. They don't give a shit about trucks.

Maybe they should...? They can make money charging for driving fast as well. Am I right?

Hope you remeber the accident when two diving instructors from N.Z. and Japan were killed by the truck which escped and nobody did anything about it.

Thinking about opening hospital now. Must be good business, huh?

Safe journey to all of us.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Voodoo, perhaps you should open a driving school instead? It is easy to say "there is something we should do about it" but until you come up with a suggestion or two don't criticise anyone else for not doing the same. Do you really think the authorities will listen? To anyone? There are times to face realities and this is one, the best you can do is drive as defensively as possible. Me, I'd like to buy a Hummer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sbk,

You are right. Thanks for that. I didn't mean to criticise anybody at all. Just being pissed off, that's it. Can't believe that!

Lost somebody I knew few days ago so...

Was waiting for some serious replies, not blah blah...

Buying hummer or bazooka looks like waste of money to me now...

[sbk]

My husband's cousin was killed last month in a motorbike accident. He was hit by another motorbike as he was pulling a uturn on his bike. Who's to blame? Him for pulling a uturn? The kid who hit him for driving a bit too fast (not excessively but too fast to stop)?

Personally, I think driving lessons for all kids in high school should be mandatory. But first they have to find someone who knows the rules of the road. Certainly the police don't, do you remember that exam that most of the traffic police failed? If the police don't even know the rules how can you expect the average person to?

[OlRedEyes]

Nothing happens on Samui (and I believe anywhere else in Thailand) unless there's money in it for someone.

So if you wish to finance a crackdown, I'm sure you'll get (temporary) results.

Otherwise, duck. The truck is a penis-extension

[Mister Fixit]

Sorry for saying that but still there's no serious or reliable reply from none of you. 

Changing island will be the easiest idea, but it's not the point. I can't take all of you there...! We live here and want to live without stress.

Again, my question is: is there any way to stop them driving that fast?

We live on a small paradise island with 5-6 hospitals!

Soon there will be more of them than resorts.

Local police  stop motorbike drivers once or twice and then let them drive for the rest of the month. They don't give a shit about trucks.

Maybe they should...? They can make money charging for driving fast as well. Am I right?

Hope you remeber the accident when two diving instructors from N.Z. and Japan were killed by the truck which escped and nobody did anything about it.

Thinking about opening hospital now. Must be good business, huh?

Safe journey to all of us.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Voodoo, perhaps you should open a driving school instead? It is easy to say "there is something we should do about it" but until you come up with a suggestion or two don't criticise anyone else for not doing the same. Do you really think the authorities will listen? To anyone? There are times to face realities and this is one, the best you can do is drive as defensively as possible. Me, I'd like to buy a Hummer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The reason the trucks drive so quickly is that the drivers are on piecework. They are paid by the load and so it is in their interests to do as many trips a day as possible.

So the answer is to try to get their company to pay them a daily wage and not by the load - but that will never work.

The only way to deal with this problem is to be ultra-vigilant and if necessary, move.

[penzman]

I had one of these nutter truck drivers following me at 120 k's in the fast lane last week on the motorway. There was heavy traffic but it moved along, he could not go faster anyway as we were boxed in. He was so close I could not see his front bumper in my rear view mirror . I moved up ahead 5 meters and slighlty touched the brake pedal. He did not seem to get the message and came close again. I moved up 10 meters ahead and slapped on the breaks hard, down shifted and took off again after hearing ###### from his air brakes. He stayed 100 meters back afterwards and drove in the left lane like he should.

[limbos]

Dangerous game amigo.

[craigt3365]

It isn't just Samui. It is all of Thailand. No matter where I am there are people driving way too fast. I use to live off Soi Kasemsan One, near MBK. The small soi is packed with those temporary places to eat and has tons of people (many tourists) walking down the very busy road. Scooters would scream down that soi and honk their horn at you if you did not move fast enough. You really had to watch yourself...

I don't think things will change until traffic laws are enforced with REAL tickets (not bribes) that accumulate points until you lose your license. And then they do like in other parts of the world...if you drive under the influence or without a license, you lose your vehicle. Sure makes you think...and no bribe will get it back. Even if you are hi-so!

[Rinrada]

Even after almost 5 years over "ere" K wife still finds is amazing that when she goes to cross any main road at a Zebra all of the traffic including motorbikes,cars,buses and even 40 ton Artic trucks stop to let her cross and without any negative "signs" from the drivers.

She is actually thinks they are in her words "very considerate".

I just reply ...No... thats the Law and we all go along with it.....always the odd assh..es but generally....

She on the other hand will hang on at a pedestrian crossing untill most oncoming traffic has passed before hitting the button to change the lights (to be polite) but i am working on her....."Press the bloody thing "......or we will be here until Christmas

Could it happen in LOS.......?

[wolf5370]

Find out where the trucks go at night, buy a very big bag of nails, ....

55555 - very good RDN

The only way to stop them (legally and without nails) is through the law. If trucks were forced to have Tachos and random Tacho checks, the average speed would show the nutters. As someone said, if the drivers were paid by the day and had maximum hours per day, it would stop the NEED to drive so fast. Problem is that the law can only be changed by the government. The government is full of business owners who would loose money if trucking costs rose. BiB's don't generally know the simple road laws - how to teach them to read tachos and actually calculate anything - god knows! Computer systems can do it, but again it is costs and none cares.

Just as an aside, my father was a lorry driver for 35 years in the UK. He and his colleagues actually went as far as calling for a strike when the company they worked for - Courage (Grand Met) - tried to shorten their drive times, meaning they would have to break the speed limit to reach some destinations and risk their HGV licenses. So, the Thai truck drivers could do something about it if they weren't so eminantly replaceable!

I suppose a crack down on Yaa Baa could help!

[Rooo]

Just came back from a trip , Phuket , Pattaya , Bangkok.The only thing I can say is ALL Thai people drive fast.

I know it is a very serious problem on the island & it will get worse as the number of trucks seems to be multiplying everyday.

As for a logical answer? I think the business houses on the island should bring the problem to the attention to the local council,highlighting the negative effect these practices are having on the island.For example a discussion on this forum alone can wipe out several thousand baht worth of adverising they are spending to attract tourists here.

Another suggestion, why not have some responsible members of this forum approach the local authorities with some complaints ( practices that are adverse to the island's prosperity ) & some suggestions of how to fix them.

We have to bear in mind we can only suggest & not tell them what to do to improve things.But with the roght approach I think the message will get through.

Oh by the way have you ever had the buses harrass you on the motorway?No way in the world will you get me on a bus from Samui to Bangkok, a 747 without wings.