This Happens Every Day On Samui

[Boater]

people who say , go home if you done like it, samui's roads are death traps, but with thinking and posative steps things can change

just a quick youtube video below will show a daily life on samui roads ( though not from samui, but this happens here, just drive the roads for 30 mins )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1hDV2qxxGE

samui being a small island, they should be able to combat bad driving and educate drivers easier !,

be carefull on the roads, to many of my friends have died, and NEVER tak your kids on the bike on the handle bars or back seats, makes me sick

[outofoz]

Some nasty accidents caught on camera there..

I noticed in Samui how many people DO NOT use a helmet!

[Boater]

Some nasty accidents caught on camera there..

I noticed in Samui how many people DO NOT use a helmet!

they dont use common sense either, the report stated most of the crashes happen because people igonred red lights ! , if they put these cameras up in samui it would be unreal, but we need to think how , as expats, we can reduce these crashes

[BangrakBob]

i don't understand why people in cars and pick-ups drive at such speeds and over-take in ridiculous situations here. What deadlines have they got, if they are late who is really going to give a monkeys on Samui. So there doesn't seem to be any valid reason to do this, does there?

[Maipenrai007]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

[BigC]

True but even a helmet wouldn't have saved that bloke.

Allot of drunk drivers out there and they just pul out and do random u-turns.

Also drunk drivers are not ready for big tucks when then pul out and go straight into the back of them

like rubbbish trucks.

they kill about 8 people every year in Samui.

Some people out here drive at rediuclas speeds on a single lane road, drunk, no seat belts, car full of peopl and crash and take all there passengers with them plus maybe a motor bike or some incoent person on the street or another car coming th eother way.

this i more reason to not drive drunk to be able to react to drivers that are also drunk and driving al over the place.

very common for drunk drivers to hit other drink drivers

[Maipenrai007]

Yeah, simple fact that we all know Samui roads are dangerous!

[itishothere]

i don't understand why people in cars and pick-ups drive at such speeds and over-take in ridiculous situations here. What deadlines have they got, if they are late who is really going to give a monkeys on Samui. So there doesn't seem to be any valid reason to do this, does there?

Simple. They have to be in front of you. Especially if their car or truck is bigger, better, or newer. Couple this with the attittude that Buddha will protect them and that life seems to have less value. A few red lights won't stop them. And sadly a few deaths hasn't seemed to deter them. Is it any surprise that the tourists often behave in the same way?

Proper policing, fines, license suspension, imprisonment ...... all of these things might slow the madness down.

[starcandle]

Ouch,,, don't think many of them would have made it to Hospital,, it angers me when I see them crappy jeeps that kick out mountains of black smoke driving in convoy, all doing warp speed, normally followed by a silver mini bus.

Edited October 22, 2011 by starcandle

[robsamui]

Take a long close look at the accident that's emphasised - the one where the impact is shown about a dozen times. Try to picture it from ground level - particularly from the viewpoint of the motorbike that was hit.

Motorbike with three -up on it turning right at the T-junction. Big truck coming towards the junction to turn into it. The single brain cell of the motorbike driver only registers "aha - this truck is slowing down to turn in thus I can go off in front of it now." Having no thought or awareness of another lane of traffic alongside the truck, off he sails right into the path of another truck that's hidden behind the first one.

There are half-a-dozen clips (not really so much to do with red lights) where the bikes riders just don't even look and just sail out onto the highway with the expectation that the traffic will drive round them.

And then there are the coupla clips that clearly show an utter lack of knowledge of road-use. You know, the basics of the Highway Code (dunno what's it's called outside UK). Like the three bikes turning right - and then straight into the fast lane of the other side - see fig. a!

And then there's the blind and unthinking road positioning - Thais cannot make a right-turn without cutting diagonally across the corner. When turning right they either try to drive the last 20 metres on the wrong side of the road then creep into the turning on the wrong side, or they do what fig. b shows.

They position themselves in completely the wrong place - wrong to either be able to turn right if there's a car there waiting, and wrong so they can't see what's on the road where they're turning. Hundreds of times I've come up behind a guy on a motorbike, waiting to turn right but halted about 30 feet too far back (as he instinctively wants to cut the corner as in fig.b!) and I've just sailed round him without a pause and into the right turn.

Very few of them have had any instruction or lessons, or even have a licence. (Witness all the 10 year-olds hammering about on the Samui roads.)And when was the last time you saw a driving school or instructor in Thailand? Or "learner plates" on a vehicle? No way! Total loss of face! The Thai driving test is an utter giggle anyway, straight out of Monty Python.

Three-up, four-up, no road awareness, no knowledge of positioning or protocol, wrong side of the road, no use of flashing indicators, driving without lights at night, overtaking on the inside or when they can't see what's coming . . .

AAARGH!

R

Edited October 22, 2011 by robsamui

[Birdman]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

there are much more middle aged to old Farangs everywhere, who seem to live here on Samui, on their motorbikes equipped only with slippers, shorts and a t-shirt, just like at a harmless European summer camping area

[robsamui]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

there are much more middle aged to old Farangs everywhere, who seem to live here on Samui, on their motorbikes equipped only with slippers, shorts and a t-shirt, just like at a harmless European summer camping area

Oh come on!

Aren't these the ones in the brand new Fortuners and CRVs?

And in any case for every one of these there are 500 Thai loonies who have never had a driving lesson in their lives and don't know right from left, all flying about at high speed like witless wasps and believing they are immortal. You can't blame the lunacy on Samui's roads on the 1% of pensioners that are pottering along slowly on bikes, whether you like slippers or not!

(I didn't notice that the Thai public service video showing all the crashes (and trying to explain to the dull-witted public what traffic lights were for) featured any ageing or confused farangs . . . )

R

Edited October 22, 2011 by robsamui

[josephinebloggs]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

there are much more middle aged to old Farangs everywhere, who seem to live here on Samui, on their motorbikes equipped only with slippers, shorts and a t-shirt, just like at a harmless European summer camping area

Nothing that is mentioned in these 2 Posts would contribute to even 1% of Road accidents in this Country OR on Samui..

[sbk]

One racist comment removed, anything further along those lines will result in something more formal than mere deletion.

[SamPedro]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

there are much more middle aged to old Farangs everywhere, who seem to live here on Samui, on their motorbikes equipped only with slippers, shorts and a t-shirt, just like at a harmless European summer camping area

Oh come on!

Aren't these the ones in the brand new Fortuners and CRVs?

And in any case for every one of these there are 500 Thai loonies who have never had a driving lesson in their lives and don't know right from left, all flying about at high speed like witless wasps and believing they are immortal. You can't blame the lunacy on Samui's roads on the 1% of pensioners that are pottering along slowly on bikes, whether you like slippers or not!

(I didn't notice that the Thai public service video showing all the crashes (and trying to explain to the dull-witted public what traffic lights were for) featured any ageing or confused farangs . . . )

R

Rob

Are you inferring that us old farangs in brand new Fortuners and CRV'ss are a road hazard?

[manarak]

makes clear that you need to look left and right whenever crossing anything, regardless of the signals' color.

One way to increase your odds to stay alive on those big crossings is not to go to the front of the waiting line and instead stay a bit behind so that the Thais in front can catch any incoming vehicles.

I always remember the moment when my taxi somewhere between Ayuttaya and Kanchanaburi remained motionless 4 or 5 seconds after the light changed to green.

I opened my mouth to ask what's wrong when a 16 wheeler laden with concrete tube sections passed on the intersection with estimated 100 KpH, barely missing a car that had started from the other side...

Edited October 23, 2011 by manarak

[robsamui]

Its amazes me the Farangs that are on holiday here piled up with a whole family on a bike, no helmets etc. I think a people must remove their brains as soon as they land in Thailand!

there are much more middle aged to old Farangs everywhere, who seem to live here on Samui, on their motorbikes equipped only with slippers, shorts and a t-shirt, just like at a harmless European summer camping area

Oh come on!

Aren't these the ones in the brand new Fortuners and CRVs?

And in any case for every one of these there are 500 Thai loonies who have never had a driving lesson in their lives and don't know right from left, all flying about at high speed like witless wasps and believing they are immortal. You can't blame the lunacy on Samui's roads on the 1% of pensioners that are pottering along slowly on bikes, whether you like slippers or not!

(I didn't notice that the Thai public service video showing all the crashes (and trying to explain to the dull-witted public what traffic lights were for) featured any ageing or confused farangs . . . )

R

Rob

Are you inferring that us old farangs in brand new Fortuners and CRV'ss are a road hazard?

No.

Seems to are too dopey to understand the overall comments.

R