Several bikers went down due to an old man cycling a Riksha style tricycle with a bench for passengers. 

It was dark and raining and the man had neither lights nor cats' eyes on his vehicle.

 

He disappeared pdq, as is customary.

 

You all have seen those "homemade" sidecars and countless older bikes without license plates?

 

Anything goes? Would this sum it up?

 

• Don't have a driving license / no insurance / no lights? Mai pen rai!
• The road-worthiness of a vehicle will be optional.
• These Rishas are a menace, causing lots of traffic jams in my small town.

Anyone can operate a public transport service? No need to have lights or cats' eyes, is that the law?

Just wondering as several bikers are nursing their injuries.

I have never heard of anyone (read police) enforcing road worthyness of vehicles. The only thing would be loud motorbike (but of course not truck/bus) exhausts in some areas. Half of broken vehicles bribe their way through the PoRoBo and the other half just don't go there at all. Checks on the road don't exist. If there's an accident, then you can just pay a 1000 THB fine and continue business as usual.

 

Wake up in the morning, hop onto your illegal and dangerous vehicle, ride without helmet, license or insurance, stop and set up shop on a busy road taking at least one lane of space, sell your goods without any kind of permission, drive home with sparking coals openly on display and flying around, get home and count your un-taxed revenue, hop into bed. Another successful day.

have some change for a maybe-fine to come and it's all good

Just do not ride when dark.....  My no. 1 rule for (big) bike in unknown territory.....

Drunk people, no lights, deep potholes in any combination are lethal...

Nonsense post Removed

lord give me the patience to accept what cannot change.

Amen.

Do not drive between dusk and one hour after dark and you will be much less likely to have problems. The risks are not gonna go away, so I guess we have to limit them.