What did we do wrong?

[quidnunc]

The other day I heard a horn honk and had just enough time to pull my 4 year old daughter out of harm's way as a Vigo rumbled past. Before you say what were you doing on the road; we were at a carnival and the road was full of people with kids. Prick never even touched his brakes.

This is exactly the type of anger and hate im talking about. Who in their right mind would want to kill a 4 year old? Agree with me here, a lot of Thai's have a lot of anger built up inside them... No wonder they shoot each other so much, according to statistics more than any other country in the world...

I wasn't able to find any listing by country of the rate of gunshot wounds but I did find statistics listing the intentional homicide rate by country. I was shocked to find out that Paangjang may be on to something: Thailand was immediately above a country that everyone knows to be insanely savage and dangerous. Of course, the country that I'm talking about is the USA. Out of 207 nations listed Thailand ranks 102nd and the USA 103rd. Myanmar ranks 70th and Indonesia 84th.

[Chiengmaijoe]

Its just a Thai thing IMO.

Often when i'm first in line at a red light and waiting for it to change and then you have the green so cautiously move forward and vehicles are still coming through 5 seconds later i move out into the very very late red light runners and stay there and they need to go around you.

All Thais,.... ladies, guys, bikes, cars ,tuk tuks will give you the evil eye and mouth some words to you...like it was you who is in the wrong..amazing stuff.

Good luck with that one.

[quidnunc]

Its just a Thai thing IMO.

Often when i'm first in line at a red light and waiting for it to change and then you have the green so cautiously move forward and vehicles are still coming through 5 seconds later i move out into the very very late red light runners and stay there and they need to go around you.

All Thais,.... ladies, guys, bikes, cars ,tuk tuks will give you the evil eye and mouth some words to you...like it was you who is in the wrong..amazing stuff.

Good luck with that one.

Actually, my experience is opposite to this. I find Thai drivers in general to be slow off the mark when the light changes. If I happen to be at the head of the line, I generally leave them far behind once the light has changed.

[Big Pinkie]

You farang were on the street..

Do you think it's that bad? I think it is with the lower working class. Jealous of the opportunities we have, frustrated with their never ending circle of poverty..

you've imbibed far too much moronic capitalist propaganda for your own good for far too long.

[sustento]

If your friend, the driver, is farang, he/she is guilty of driving while farang.

[DogNo1]

Here in Tokyo it is common for cars to go through an intersection a few seconds after the light has turned red. Drivers accustomed to the local scene do not stop on the short yellow lights (you'll be hit from behind) and do not move forward immediately after a light has turned green. Going with the flow makes life more harmonious. So far as the behavior of the Thai driver goes, Ya Ba springs to mind. It's probably best to shrug the incident off for your peace of mind. BTW, have you driven in Los Angeles recently? Talk about impatient drivers!

[Chiengmaijoe]

Its just a Thai thing IMO.

Often when i'm first in line at a red light and waiting for it to change and then you have the green so cautiously move forward and vehicles are still coming through 5 seconds later i move out into the very very late red light runners and stay there and they need to go around you.

All Thais,.... ladies, guys, bikes, cars ,tuk tuks will give you the evil eye and mouth some words to you...like it was you who is in the wrong..amazing stuff.

Good luck with that one.

Actually, my experience is opposite to this. I find Thai drivers in general to be slow off the mark when the light changes. If I happen to be at the head of the line, I generally leave them far behind once the light has changed.

Very true. Maybe they're checking for the late red light jumpers, or they're still in third gear. I still haven't figured that one out!

[Big Pinkie]

You farang were on the street..

Do you think it's that bad? I think it is with the lower working class. Jealous of the opportunities we have, frustrated with their never ending circle of poverty..

you've imbibed far too much moronic capitalist propaganda for your own good for far too long.

since at least one other person like this i will go even further; poverty is a third person projected disease caused by insufficient children. and separately, most all of these moto characters that i have observed think that they have reached the epitomy of life and consider farang as stupid bystanders to the real event.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Big Pinkie

[NeverSure]

The other day I heard a horn honk and had just enough time to pull my 4 year old daughter out of harm's way as a Vigo rumbled past. Before you say what were you doing on the road; we were at a carnival and the road was full of people with kids. Prick never even touched his brakes.

This is exactly the type of anger and hate im talking about. Who in their right mind would want to kill a 4 year old? Agree with me here, a lot of Thai's have a lot of anger built up inside them... No wonder they shoot each other so much, according to statistics more than any other country in the world...

Can you please cite the source of those statistics> I'm sure that this assertion is false.

Thailand is 3rd in the world for gun murders per capita. It's more than double that of the US.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

Crimes committed with guns have fallen by 70% in the US in the past 20 years despite (or because of) an explosion (sorry) of gun and ammo purchases. LINK

Now go get your warm glass of milk.

[Chiengmaijoe]

You farang were on the street..

Do you think it's that bad? I think it is with the lower working class. Jealous of the opportunities we have, frustrated with their never ending circle of poverty..

you've imbibed far too much moronic capitalist propaganda for your own good for far too long.

since at least one other person think like this i will go even further; poverty is a third person projected disease caused by insufficient children. and separately, most all of these moto characters that i have observed think that they have reached the epitomy of life and consider farang as stupid bystanders to the real event.

I'd include a diagram with that one, if I were you. I had to read it twice.

[NeverSure]

I do believe that a lot of Thai men are jealous of farangs. Right or wrong, the average Thai male sees us as taller, having whiter skin, and attracting "their" women. They may also think we're rich. They know we have bigger johnsons.

Now, get one on yaba or too much alcohol and it's time to be careful, IMHO. I try very hard to avoid any conflict with them.

[MrGaoMungGawn]

A good reason to get a dash cam. I put 1 in a month ago and has akready saved me a bib shakedown Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

A picture is worth two in the bush,

And dash cams should be obligatory.

Mass production has made them cheap enough,

Together with black boxes in every car.

Then the language barrier would be not such

A barrier.

Posted on my i5 4670 Linux-Chrome contraption

[puukao]

you cost him 35 baht.....and i would have paid him 100 baht from the car just to be nice and good karma while in Thailand. i would un-friend this driver immediately, study in temple to understand thais better, and please don't delay thais from making money in the future. farangs never understand.

[Tokay]

A good reason to get a dash cam. I put 1 in a month ago and has akready saved me a bib shakedown Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

What kind did you get? Should be getting our new car soon and that is the first thing I want to get installed the day we drive off the lot. Both front and back cams. Heck, side cams too if they make them.

[onthedarkside]

An inappropriate post and all the replies - removed

[pitchag]

Dont't you just love it when sitting first at the lights to go straight on, the lights change and the bikes on your left cut across the front you to do a right turn. I now wait a few seconds before moving off because of this and the red light jumpers.

The worst of it is if you hit them it seems it is automatically your fault. I too have installed a dash cam just so it is not my word against a Thais, I have also found on the many check points driving from C.M. to Rayong once the bib saw the camera I was waved on no questions asked

Edited January 5, 2014 by pitchag

[somchaiq]

just drunk or had trouble with his wife.

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 720 using Tapatalk

[jaideeguy]

Don't you know that songthew drivers own the roads and make their own rules??

[jackr]

Op, you did nothing wrong, don't bother musing over it. 100:1 he wouldn’t have done it if it were a Thai driving. One day we’ll read irate 6’4” farang pummels crazed songthaew/tuk-tuk driver who bit of more than they could chew. I, for one, will not be posting RIP. Some are ok, but in general they're just not nice folk and this country would be a better place without them.

[captspectre]

Thai driving rules "Me first!" Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

you did nothing wrong, thai's are like that when you keep them from killing themselves! more than once i have pulled off the road and witnessed an accident where they crashed into each other like gooney birds! better them than me!

[andreandre]

Its just a Thai thing IMO.

Often when i'm first in line at a red light and waiting for it to change and then you have the green so cautiously move forward and vehicles are still coming through 5 seconds later i move out into the very very late red light runners and stay there and they need to go around you.

All Thais,.... ladies, guys, bikes, cars ,tuk tuks will give you the evil eye and mouth some words to you...like it was you who is in the wrong..amazing stuff.

Good luck with that one.

Actually, my experience is opposite to this. I find Thai drivers in general to be slow off the mark when the light changes. If I happen to be at the head of the line, I generally leave them far behind once the light has changed.

Think you have miss read my post...i'm talking about the vehilces that come through their red light when you have the green to go for 5 seconds and more already.

[worgeordie]

Something similar happens to me at least once a week,so now no big

deal,in fact I can tell what a Thai driver is going to do even before he/her

knows he is going to do it himself,usually turns out to the most dangerous,

stupid,unexplainable choice,the Thai lady drivers ON the phone they take

the prize,in their own little world,oblivious to whats going on around them.

I have invested in a car cam,just to prove it was not my fault,if an accident

happens.

regards Worgeordie

[venturalaw]

Are you quite sure it is a 2-way street? And does that operate 24 hours a day?

Other than that, was it possble your friend could have pulled hard left to allow the red songthaew to pass rather than sitting in the middle of his lane?

Other than that stressed and tired drivers who are using stimulants do tend to fly off the handle and drive erratically and aggresively.

Yes two way street 24hrs a day, always has been. No space for us to go anywhere, or him. Just can't imagine what he was thinking other than a loss of face. I think a lot of them are frustrated with the hard life of driving people around all day for 20baht.

"Just can't imagine what he was thinking other than a loss of face." You are assuming facts not in evidence: They don't think.

[jacko45k]

Its just a Thai thing IMO.

Often when i'm first in line at a red light and waiting for it to change and then you have the green so cautiously move forward and vehicles are still coming through 5 seconds later i move out into the very very late red light runners and stay there and they need to go around you.

All Thais,.... ladies, guys, bikes, cars ,tuk tuks will give you the evil eye and mouth some words to you...like it was you who is in the wrong..amazing stuff.

Because in their eyes, you are inconveniencing them, highlighting the error of their ways and causing them loss of face.

You are meant to wait until all of them have gone through, similar to a junction without lights.

They see you as deliberately making problems for them, irrespective that the lights are in your favour.

Being a foreigner makes it much worse!!!!

Edited January 6, 2014 by jacko45k

[ttthailand]

You say " what are these idiots thinking". ..... That's the problem they don't think. Sh-t for brains !

These lowlife scum have such bad karma already that they have nothing to loose so they act like animals, which they are !

Don't worry about it, you did nothing wrong but even if you did it does not justify his actions.

[ukrules]

One day he'll do that to the wrong person and someone will wind down the window and shoot him. Apparently it happens all the time.

Edit : He probably had no idea you were a foreigner due to tinted windows assuming you have them like everyone else.

Edited January 6, 2014 by ukrules

[Ajaan]

You farang were on the street..

You're joking, but I have in fact heard this line of "reasoning" many times from many Thais.

If the OP could have sat the fellow down and queried him as to the cause of his anger (of course, an impossibility, even if the OP speaks Thai), I'm almost sure the answer would have been something along the lines of "if the farang had never come to Thailand, nobody would have been in that lane, and he could have overtaken the other songthaew with no problem".

This same argument is often used to point the finger at a farang seen to automatically be at fault in any traffic accident (including when the farang is a PASSENGER in a taxi involved in an accident): "if the farang had never come to Thailand, the car containing the farang would not have been occupying that space in the road at that moment, and the accident never would have occurred".

Edited January 6, 2014 by Ajaan

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

welcome to the land of 90 IQ.

In the past I always scoffed at this assertion but maybe not so far fetched.

It's interesting how people/cultures from colder climates are forced over time to think and prepare for the future while people in warmer places never had that beneficial environmental stressor.

My take away is just assume the average Thai driver is on lazy autopilot.

Assuming they have your same 'western' cognitive tools is a potentially grave error in judgement.

[Card]

A good reason to get a dash cam. I put 1 in a month ago and has akready saved me a bib shakedown Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I have had one for a few years now - even take it abroad to record my holiday trips. I know how well it could be used for recording accidents and any bib activity but I was just wondering about how you used it to avoid a bib shakedown. Did you point to the camera when the bib tried one on - or what other technique did you use?

[The Deerhunter]

Hmmmm. Dash cam!! They are an absolute necessity in many countries (Russia for eg). The could be a damn good idea here too. Put them where the BIB can see them when the stop you to try selling tickets to the policemens' ball. Might discourage them, or alternatively encourage them to confiscate?????

I think I will price around & install one.