Police Sting Targeting Farangs On West Side Of Narawat Bridge

[realthaideal]

That the "Farang" word is racist is an olllllllllld saw. I mean so old at this point. I'm sure you could find a thread or two to get into it with someone if you wanted on the greater TV forum. But I get it, we're all one, aren't we Tommo ? But then, if we can't have labels ? I mean you'd stop noting differences between quarks and leptons ? Whaddya gonna do ? It's only when YOU assign a value to the word, that it becomes charged.

And yes, the police do seem to be out quite prolifically right now.

And perhaps, yes, Ollylamaness, it is the quantity of traffic and crappy drivers getting on all of our nerves. I'll add that it's probably coupled with an increase in heat and a decrease in air quality. But again, whaddya gonna do ?

[beb]

I'm going to go against the grain and say "thanks" to the OP for the heads up. I appreciate it and frankly it motivates me to finally get that Thai license I've been thinking about.

I don't know what they do in other countries but in the US when people are coming from a speed trap, they typically flash their lights to warn oncoming traffic. It's a common courtesy. After reading this thread I imagine a line of drivers ranting and raving about that jerk that stupidly flashed his lights because... well, just because.

It's also illegal in the U.S. to warn others about speed traps by flashing your headlamps - worth a ticket, fine and points on your license.

Yes, we have a real band of outlaws terrorizing the roads in rural America with their light flashing.

[Tomtomtom69]

OP, it's alright. Everyone's new to TV and makes mistakes.

But to put it into perspective take a look at Phuketwan (which I cannot link to on TV); there's a story of a young Brit named Jack Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox was 22 years old and died last year after he ran his scooter into a pole. The story is about how his mother was complaining that in Thailand they let anyone rent a bike without proof of a license. Mr. Wilcox never had his license to drive a car or motorcycle and rented a scooter in Phuket and died 10 days after arriving in the country.

I have my Thai motorcycle license and Thai driver's license. It was not hard to obtain at all. Before I got that, I got an international driver's permit for car and motorcycle in my home country, which was even easier. The people you hear complaining on this forum are people who followed the rules, and they don't like it when they follow the rules and someone who doesn't follow the rules complains about it. And it is so very easy to follow the rules with this one. There's no reason someone doesn't get an IDP. It took about 15 minutes in the home country.

Having a license doesn't mean that you are good at driving or riding a motorcycle; it just means you have met the very bare minimum competency. And if someone can't get the very bare minimum competency to even be bothered to get an IDP, then I shouldn't have to share the road with them because their lack of competency in even filling out the paperwork puts my safety at risk.

Just look at all the postings and news articles on TV and see how many motorcyclists are killed, often due to their inability to ride a motorcycle. So many people think they can just come to Thailand and hop on a bike, like it's easy. Tell you what, I think Thailand is one of the most difficult places I have ever ridden. I've been on a bike since age 12-13. I learned how to ride in the U.S. where people follow the rules of the road. In Thailand, it's precisely because people don't follow the rules of the road that makes it much more difficult to ride.

200 baht is nothing compared to the price Mr. Wilcox paid.

You're right - they really shouldn't be renting out scooters and motorcycles to renters without motorcycle licenses, especially not foreign tourists who generally don't have any motorcycle license at all. The thing is, motorcycles are very rare in most western countries, which is why it's even more ludicrous for western tourists to drive them out in Thailand given not only the much more dangerous road conditions but the fact that very, very few westerners have any experience riding a motorcycle or scooter at all - even back home they probably don't even know anyone who owns one, let alone having driven one before arriving in Thailand. I learned to ride a motorcycle here in Thailand years ago and then went on to ride in all nearby countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia safely BUT I have to say in hindsight the only reason I have managed to do so successfully is due to my attitude from the start that reflects the hierarchy of vehicles in this part of the world - motorcycles are the smallest motorized vehicles - always ride defensively and always choose a car over a motorcycle for long distance travel or travel on major arterial roads as driving a car is a lot safer for most of us and statistically speaking much safer than riding a motorcycle in Thailand. Also, only once have I ever sat on a motorcycle in the west, that was in Australia where a friend of a friend drove me home on the back of his 600cc Suzuki. That was almost a once in a lifetime experience as I was never expecting to ride on a motorcycle in Australia - hence I waited until I came to Thailand to get my motorcycle driver's license for the first time. Much easier and cheaper than in the west, where I wouldn't ever ride a motorcycle anyway thus there was never a good reason to obtain one back home.

It's also interesting to note that motorcycle rental shops are very rare in the west, I wouldn't even know where to begin looking as none of the major rental companies will have motorcycles for rent in such countries as Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada etc. and of course the motorcycle license test is much more complicated than for cars (at least in Australia). Those facts alone should act as a bit of a deterrent in my opinion, but unfortunately they don't for many tourists coming to Thailand.

Interestingly, in this part of the world it's easier to get a motorcycle license and in Vietnam for instance, motorcycle rental shops for tourists are everywhere (just like in Thailand except Bangkok) but renting a car without driver is still almost non-existent except for a few shops renting out older vehicles mainly in Hanoi for people in possession of Vietnamese driver's licenses only - although due to the risk of car theft, these shops will demand a large deposit, possibly even your motorcycle as a deposit (if you have one) just to hand you the keys to one of their cars.

[Frank James]

If you ride a bicycle in Chiang Mai, there is no legal requirement (yet) to wear a helmet. Maybe there should be, but as of now, not. You can cruise right through all those checkpoints, trying to suppress a smirk at all of the commerce going on, and when there is heavy traffic, you can almost always beat a car or a motorbike to your destination. Get off those stupid organ donor vehicles and get yourself a nice bicycle. Get a good cable lock too. I've had two bikes stolen here.

[anto]

>>Get off those stupid organ donor vehicles and get yourself a nice bicycle.<<

I think its more dangerous on a bicycle in C.M. traffic ,than on a m/cycle.

[hellodolly]

First off the police have nothing to do with what you two are on about. They set up a stop on the west side of the Narawat bridge and they are not targeting farongs they are an equal opportunity tea money collector so get over the paranoia.

Mods this horse is dead dead dead. Tell the people trying to keep it alive to start another thread with there real intentions.