it seems that there is a slow brain reaction in most people lights turn green people sit think are they green or what 1min latter brain regester

so 10 cars get through my thai wife drives and now she gets angry at them

You're forgetting about all the people who run the reds. Nobody wants to be t-boned.

Perhaps they have more important things to think about.

Perhaps they have more important things to think about.

Probably - and as they invariably can only think of one thing at a time that excludes getting ready to move forward when lights change to green. Even when there is a numerical countdown they still fail to react to the change to green.

Accelerate away from the lights?.......................... I don't think so!

They are busy, picking their noses.

You should be patient and wait for them to finish.

Everything take time, even the miracles do...

you right they can only think one think at time on phone pick nose scratch arse then click after people blow horn

wow its green i think can go

Perhaps not everyone is in as a big hurry as you are.

This is not being critical of you just observing that different people from different places are in a different state of mind.

Aside from Thailand, I spend time in New York, and in Florida where I have residences. When in NY if I don't move a split second after the light changes , some one will blow the horn, where in Florida people will wait longer.

So relax, you will live longer,

and you can spend these extra years of life, waiting for people to move

The ones that amuse me are the ones that edge forward all the time the lights are on red, and yet when the lights change to green they don't move.

It is fear of the folk who get caught on a red and and think "<deleted> it, I ain't stopping" and jump the light.........

Being a laid back kinda guy, sometimes I decide, "<deleted> it; I'll just wait for the next green."

T

after it get green you must wait 10 seconds till the last cars leave that see it switch to red and fully accelerated....

For some reason many of the drivers here when they stop for the redlight will put it in park and put on their parking brake AND then they wait until their brain signals to go THEN they take off the brake and put it in drive.

e

It is fear of the folk who get caught on a red and and think "<deleted> it, I ain't stopping" and jump the light.........

That may be true when lights change to green, but what gets me is how slowly they take off when it's safe to. It's almost as if they take their foot off the brake, but forget to put any pressure on the accelerator

I actually got fined for going through a green light in Ubon!

I was in my car with the wife, waiting at a set of red lights to turn green. As soon as they turned green, I set off down the road (ahead of the car in the first lane) at normal speed, then pulled in to the first lane. 500 yard down the road, I got fined 200 Baht by the police for overtaking the car in the first lane at the traffic lights (from what I can gather from the wife).

Just to add, on the same road a few miles down the road, I had a traffic cop stop me, and try to fine me for driving in the 2nd lane. I had to point out to him, that I was actually driving in the 2nd lane so that I could avoid hitting him while he was stood in the middle of the road talking to a driver.

Its probably not so important, as in most of Asia a Red light means..................10 more people can go.......

Just to add, on the same road a few miles down the road, I had a traffic cop stop me, and try to fine me for driving in the 2nd lane. I had to point out to him, that I was actually driving in the 2nd lane so that I could avoid hitting him while he was stood in the middle of the road talking to a driver.

I had something similar happen to me.

I asked him if he expected me to jump over slow moving trucks, he starred at me for a few seconds then without saying a word waived with his hand that I should move on.

I always thought it was because you have to wait for all the motorbikes to restart their engines after they've finished picking their spots in the mirror. Then you've got more bikes squeezing through the traffic to get to the front, so by the time you start moving, the lights change back to red.

e

It is fear of the folk who get caught on a red and and think "fugg it, I ain't stopping" and jump the light.........

That may be true when lights change to green, but what gets me is how slowly they take off when it's safe to. It's almost as if they take their foot off the brake, but forget to put any pressure on the accelerator

They think it saves them gasoline by moving that way.

Several off topic posts and replies removed.

Because if you do you get killed, Thai people Jump red lights, if the can see them, if not drunk, Most licences are given away free, with three Bottle tops.

Usually they are just waiting for all the red light runners to go thru first, has happened to me many times, especially small motorcycles that come blasting thru the intersection. Also on the other hand, I've seen many on motorcycles go before the light turns green. Amazing Thailand again and again.

Yeah, I don't get it neither.

When I am lucky to be #1 at a red and I speed off on green the car waiting next to me at the red will take 3kms before speeding me at 100kms/h+. I guess they are trying to save petrol, same as waiting for total darkness before opening their lights?

But then they switch on their mist lights also, no idea why.

Some newer cars also have red mist lights at the back, a strain to the eyes, but drivers have no clue....

An intelligent person waits until a couple of seconds pass before you pull out into the intersection.

And you look both ways to see if someone is running the Red light.

That's because there are those idiots who think, "What the h - ll, I can make it", and run the Red light.

So at he Green light, you hesitate that few seconds to see if there is one of those idiots running the red light before you move.

It is called "defensive driving".

Never assume the other driver is as intelligent as you.

Anybody in Thailand who nails the gas pedal or twists the throttle immediately the light goes green are not long for this planet.

I rather enjoy watching the two week millionaires on their rented scooters waiting at the lights - elbows high, rear brake on, revving the throttle to make the auto scooter leap a few inches forward, and then the countdown starts.....

5........raise the elbows even more........4.......give it another rev...........3......release the rear brake and creep forward.........2.........develop tunnel vision and ignore whatever may be coming from left or right........1.......bugger waiting for the green, "I'm bullet proof and these things are only toys anyway"...........ZERO........GO!!!.........then narrowly avoid death by slamming on the brakes as the two busses, three trucks and seven scooters continue to cross against them, and then look confused as all the other riders that were behind them accelerate smoothly away and pass them.

But wait!! "I'll get them at the next light."

Yeah, I don't get it neither.

When I am lucky to be #1 at a red and I speed off on green the car waiting next to me at the red will take 3kms before speeding me at 100kms/h+.

You probably mean, passing you at +100 km/h at the next RED traffic light .

Converse to the actual topic, don't be in too much of a hurry to stop at a red light if it's just turned red. I've often had to sail on through because if I didn't I'd be wearing a bus or a concrete truck or a few scooters up my jacksie.

Once saw a Russian and his long legged blonde girlfriend (ok, off topic, but damn she had long legs!!) on a scooter do a semi emergency stop at a red light on Sukhumvit at the Boonkanjana intersection. They were in the second lane - luckily the dozen bikes and several cars and busses that sailed past them were in the other lanes.

e

It is fear of the folk who get caught on a red and and think "fugg it, I ain't stopping" and jump the light.........

That may be true when lights change to green, but what gets me is how slowly they take off when it's safe to. It's almost as if they take their foot off the brake, but forget to put any pressure on the accelerator

But quite a lot when driving an auto have one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator

There is a German joke:

a man sitting in a taxi asks the driver:

Hey, that's crazy. When there is the green light you stop, when there is the red light you go on. Why?

Answer: when I have green light a colleague could come in from the right side.

This makes you understanding OP's question.

But apart from joking I cannot confirm his observation in Chiang Mai. OP, acquire a positive attitude, control yourself and your impatientness. Here you are in Asia.

You're forgetting about all the people who run the reds. Nobody wants to be t-boned.

Funny you should mention that as a couple of years ago I was at a set of lights at Nakhon Sawan on my motorbike. They went green in my favour and nothing else was moving on their red lights.

I rode off and was hit by a pickup from my left side running a red. I had no chance at all and fortunately I had dropped my mate off 10 minutes before. If not he would have lost his left leg. As for me I was thrown off and got a bit bent, scraped and bruised and the bike was sort of rideable.

It was a clear sunny afternoon around 2 pm and it happened just outside a police box and the policeman saw it happen and the pickup was stopped.

We went to a police station where we discussed compensation with the driver and relatives.

The driver of the pickup was (truly) a little old lady of about 80 with her older sister and grandson in the pickup with her.