What did we do wrong?

[lostmebike]

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!

I have driven in Los Angeles, the 6 lane carriageways, the lanes for cars with two or more people in them, narrow roads etc etc. I never had a problem driving anywhere in America. Contrast that with driving in the UK or Thailand. I will admit though, if I was driving month after month and year after year in America, my views may very well change.

Are you comparing driving in the UK to driving in Thailand? If so, in your opinion, what are the comparisons?

No, I am not comparing Thai drivers to UK drivers. Does it sound like that? Your last question. UK drivers have much more common sense than drivers in Thailand.

Ok thanks.

Got my Monday head on today!

[MESmith]

Actually while I'm thinking of stupidity(usually rampant on the roads here) can someone tell me where you buy these dash cams in the Isaan? Also I think they will be an ideal discouragement to the 100-200 baht tea money seekers

Bought mine from Lazada. Free deliver, cash on delivery. Never had any problems with the one I bought.

http://www.lazada.co.th/vehicle-black-camera-car-dvr-black-149150.html

990 baht - but you need to buy a memory card too

That's a reasonably priced dash cam. Any chance of you posting sample videos? In a separate thread.....

[onthedarkside]

Many posts removed - started with racial slurs and then just rolled on - all removed.

[thefamilyjules]

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.

So glad everyone knows that the United States is insanely savage and dangerous. Ecstatic that Hollywood and Madison Avenue do such a fantastic job of portraying Americans as such, and even more to hear those who believe what they see and read now talk as if statistics are irrefutable, and as if the s==t of their own government and people doesn't stink.

Why does yet another TV thread have to get reeled into comparing this country with that, these people with those? Already some daft, prejudiced comments about Thais and other nationalities, the latter irrelevant to the OP's question, and several that had to be deleted by moderators.

What happened was messed up, but can we not see that Thailand, regardless of the prevalence of gun violence here or anywhere else, is conspicuously guilty of crimes against humanity as a matter of normal course -- in the form of human trafficking, exploitation of child labor including for commercial sex, gratuitous corporal punishment and verbal abuse by Thai teachers, almost all female, against children in school, gross negligence of safety standards, labor policies, and law enforcement. The list could go on to highlight the myriad forms which violence takes.

No doubt the level of anger and rage of many Thais, the women equal to the men, is off the charts and often comes out sideways. Few if any people have to take personal responsibility for their actions. Agreed that someday one of these locals mouthing off is gonna get the snot beat out of him by a foreigner, though the foreigner will inevitably lose the war. I admit to fantasies about putting some of these outright vicious people in their place. It's been Thai women I've witnessed more often than men who commit violence, and all of them do it because, if for no other reason, it is acceptable social behavior.

Webcams to CYA for sure. Living in this country is a risk at every turn.

[dighambara]

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

As a foreigner, you obeyed the traffic rules, so were open to insult.

As stated, most Thais drive with a 'me first' or 'I am the only person on this planet' attitude.

Today, I witnessed a person on motorbike, stopped in the middle of a lane needed for anyone making a turn. He purposely would not look at oncoming traffic, as to see the traffic would require he move back behind the line dividing the lanes.

A few minutes later, a 1 ton truck making a left turn in front of us, slowed more and more to become an obstacle to our vehicle - as if the driver was absolutely afraid to make the turn first. That driver repeated that act when merging into main traffic - a dozen cars had to stop until the truck moved across a lane and merged.

Thus, it is education - very few Thai drivers are aware of the driving laws or common courtesy.

[quidnunc]

If the rage levels in Thailand were as high as you and others say, then why is the murder rate in Thailand just middling? What we're really seeing in the comments is a kind of Rorschach test. You can see the anger seething in the comments of the various posters. What they're really doing is projecting their rage onto the Thais. It's much easier to imagine seeing something in others that you can't accept seeing in yourself.

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.

So glad everyone knows that the United States is insanely savage and dangerous. Ecstatic that Hollywood and Madison Avenue do such a fantastic job of portraying Americans as such, and even more to hear those who believe what they see and read now talk as if statistics are irrefutable, and as if the s==t of their own government and people doesn't stink.

Why does yet another TV thread have to get reeled into comparing this country with that, these people with those? Already some daft, prejudiced comments about Thais and other nationalities, the latter irrelevant to the OP's question, and several that had to be deleted by moderators.

What happened was messed up, but can we not see that Thailand, regardless of the prevalence of gun violence here or anywhere else, is conspicuously guilty of crimes against humanity as a matter of normal course -- in the form of human trafficking, exploitation of child labor including for commercial sex, gratuitous corporal punishment and verbal abuse by Thai teachers, almost all female, against children in school, gross negligence of safety standards, labor policies, and law enforcement. The list could go on to highlight the myriad forms which violence takes.

No doubt the level of anger and rage of many Thais, the women equal to the men, is off the charts and often comes out sideways. Few if any people have to take personal responsibility for their actions. Agreed that someday one of these locals mouthing off is gonna get the snot beat out of him by a foreigner, though the foreigner will inevitably lose the war. I admit to fantasies about putting some of these outright vicious people in their place. It's been Thai women I've witnessed more often than men who commit violence, and all of them do it because, if for no other reason, it is acceptable social behavior.

Webcams to CYA for sure. Living in this country is a risk at every turn.

[BawBae]

He was just being 'polite'.

[Wavnarok]

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".

[sanoek60]

Where can you get a dash cam? How dos it works?

[onthedarkside]

Where can you get a dash cam? How dos it works?

http://www.lazada.co.th/vehicle-black-camera-car-dvr-black-149150.html

Free delivery, pay cash on delivery. Don't forget to buy a memory card.