Midweek rant: Road Rage – time for Thailand to face the truth

[webfact]

Road Rage – time for Thailand to face the truth

 

File photo

 

It really is time Thailand stopped hiding behind the “jai yen” myth.

 

Increasing exposure to dash cams and video phones are showing that “Road Rage” is out of control.

 

Sure, violence in Thai society is hardly a new phenomenon – but it looks like half the population is resorting to violence to handle small scrapes and disagreements on the highways.

 

It is increasingly looking like a nation of “jai rorn” people or hotheads.

 

There is a pertinent question too – how long will it be before one of the daily assaults ends in the death of an innocent person or their entire family?

 

As if the death and carnage from road accidents is not enough – now there is an ever greater tendency for violence.

 

Just sounding a horn seems to be an excuse for a beating or waving a gun.

 

Thais have been bleating that society is going to the dogs – but it is now time for action, not just empty words.

 

It seems like every Tom, Dick and Somchai who goes out to visit their gran is tooled up for a fight should the slightest thing go wrong.

 

In the last few days we saw a man taking a baseball bat to a family car for a small accident. He then chased them down causing a serious accident.

 

Never mind the occasions when guns have been brandished from windows.

 

Swords and large knives seem to be essential items to be kept under the dash. A woman was brandishing a golf club the other week.

 

And it is not just private drivers – drivers of public vehicles seem to have even more weapons at the ready.

 

A check of minivans last year found a veritable arsenal of machetes, guns and other weapons.

 

A few fines were handed out but it was woefully inadequate punishment.

 

But even when weapons are not used Thai drivers are making good use of their fists and feet to supposedly teach other drivers who have upset them a life lesson.

 

Even rude and aggressive celebrities – like Nott Graap My Rot – are setting the worse of examples to their fans.

 

This week was no exception – a driver was mercilessly bashing a motorcyclist after a minor scrape.

 

The greater tragedy was that bystanders just looked on as if it was a humdrum daily occurrence.

 

The nation needs to wake up to this widespread and appalling violence.

 

So what needs to be done – or is it just a case of sweeping everything under the carpet and pretending that Thais are the sweetest people on the planet and wouldn’t hurt a fly.

 

Firstly the lawmakers and politicians need to take a long hard look at the legislation about the carrying of weapons.

 

If it is weak it needs to be upgraded. It certainly seems to be.

 

Surely carrying a weapon in a car or on a bus is not just transporting it from one place to another. Is it any different from having it on your person?

 

Penalties must be severe for people with weapons in their vehicles. Heravy fines ten times what they are at present. Jail time for anyone using them in any way.

 

Then the police must be told to enforce the regulations and not connive with the public to treat it as something that is acceptable.

 

For the lawless public are culpable too – it is all our problem, not just “them”.

 

But keeping weapons out of cars is one thing – the root cause of road rage runs deeper.

 

Politicians, police, and particularly parents need to educate the young.

 

They are seeing many images on social media and are beginning to accept dealing with problems in a confrontational way as the norm.

 

The prime minister has mentioned it many times – the problem is many just ignore him. Why don’t some celebrities step up to the plate?

 

The young need to be shown another way that avoids confrontation without resorting to violence.

 

But above all everyone needs to accept that there is a problem.

 

Stop the denial.

 

Stop hiding behind the acceptance of cute national traits.

 

And face the truth that something is seriously wrong.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-06-28

[Thaiwrath]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

but it is now time for action, not just empty words.

How about starting with severe sentences for offenders, regardless of their financial status, known in the civil world as a 'deterrent' to other would be offenders ?

[wakeupplease]

How about starting by employing some real non corrupt police, and make them do their job

[JAG]

How about starting by employing some real non corrupt police, and make them do their job

That is where it starts and ends...

[ezzra]

Truth to be told, again, that road rage in Thailand is no different to other countries

around the world and in some cases not as bad,

if you go out there driving with an attitude of Attila the Hun, expect troubles

to find you, you don't have to win every argument and fight, know when

to keep your cool and back out.....

[Queenslander]

We as concerned non-citizens can all provide answers or reasons for this phenomena, but if the truth be known there is only one answer and 'Jag" provided it. Thailand needs a real police force that is there to 'protect and serve' rather than 'collect and desert' the people of Thailand.

If such actions were formerly and regularly punished (despite the financial status of the offender) with heavy fines or long gaol sentences, instead of backhanders to the police, then possibly Thailand could curtail such abominations. However, this will never happen as too many police officers and court officials are reliant upon their weekly ‘brown envelope’.

ALL of the anti-social, discriminatory and corruption problems associated with Thailand are down to one thing and one thing alone, the lack of a genuine (almost) corruption free police service. A police service where one can make a genuine complaint and have it thoroughly and properly investigated and, if necessary see action taken. A police service that is there to honestly serve the people of Thailand regardless of race, colour, creed, status or financial standing, and provide justice for all. 

 

Unfortunately, we will never see it in my life time…

[trogers]

Ohhh...just a normal consequent of a failed Justice system...

[rodney earl]

It is difficult to do anything about this when the rich and influential get away with all sorts of road rage and virtually nothing is done about it.!!!

 

[tompelli]

On Monday I had to watch the lakorn based instructional video to get my 5 year licence renewed. Three characters in the video Mr smart, miss sweet & Mr numnuts. From watching the dross, I learned: how to peen peen your horn so as not cause offence (loss of face), not to spit on the road, if a woman in her car in distress presses the horn at an alleged attacker, 4 Thai males will come & kick the living daylights out of him. Oh & at the start of the video all 3 characters were driving without seatbelts. A very poor attempt & wasted opportunity to educate......enjoy. 

[wirat69]

Two things never to criticise a man about (1) whom he sleeps with (2) his driving

[rkidlad]

Maybe the guy in the picture with the brown shirt is coming to apologise and swap insurance details? Oh, wait! I see it. The big red circle. The baseball bat. Thank god for video editing software. I would have missed that. 

[franklnooner]

Road rage is horrible in ofcourse chonburi with all the laws in the land but none are enforced.

Tit

[jaltsc]

 “Road Rage” is out of control."

 

It is not a single feature that needs to be addressed. Road rage is nothing more than and extension of "saving face". It is entrenched in the Thai culture, and they would have to overhaul and replace that type of mentality if anything is to change. Don't hold your breath waiting for things to get better. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by jaltsc

[leither69]

Strange, you've not been told"go back to your country if you're not happy" yet

Things are slow  today

 

[Khun Paul]

This is THAINESS, we mere foreigners should never object. The PM himself he wants to promote THAINESS, it is now down to him to say what is no longer acceptable and also have as has been said a Police Service which will enforce the laws impartially

[Beats56]

Thais wont change. Just babies driving on the road any thing that ticks them off they go crazy. This loss of face needs to change.as well

 Just a excuse act like a nut bar.

 

[Juan B Tong]

Controlling road rage in Thailand?  You might as well dream for a tunnel under Sukhumvit at the Pattaya Klang intersection

[Krataiboy]

Thais are the nicest people in the world - until something happens to offend them. Then the friendly Dr Jekyll can turn instantly into Mr Hyde.

 

It's a cultural thing and will take many generations to change. Unfortunately, in the meantime, everybody's in for a bumpy ride - particularly on the road.

 

Driving is incredibly stressful at the best of times and road rage incidents are common everywhere - even across the developed world. They were fairly rare here a decade or so ago when few Thais could afford buy cars. As the roads become more crowded, we can expect an increase in violent confrontations.

 

As the majority of four-wheel drivers carry some sort of "protection", the best way to avoid becoming a casualty is to stay cool behind the wheel, wear a big smile and never adopt a threatening attitude.

 

It's simply not worth risking throwing away your life because some macho moron has never grown into an adult and can't bear to lose face in any situation.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Krataiboy
errors

[Get Real]

When reading this one, it sounds like this might be a country with a lot of nut cases. I wonder if that can be true??

[salavan]

Thailand is full of potential uk style Kenny noye's.   

[YetAnother]

it does seem that thais are much more aggressive than they were 20 years ago

[NoshowJones]

Thai guys fighting one on one without backup???? Who would have thought it.

[whatawonderfulday]

When you have despots who take over a country by military means then that sets the example as to the way people should behave so perhaps that is why this nation is seeing violent behaviour being on the increase.

 

Until a well educated and forward thing  leader comes along again (judged by world standards not Thai standards),  not a puppet or a military appointment,  to show that non violent and democratic ways are the intelligent and civilised approach to everything from government to motor cycle taxi operations, and hence sets a good social example then nothing much will change here I'm afraid. It will just become more and more violent until social tensions reach breaking point.

Edited June 28, 2017 by whatawonderfulday

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

How about starting by employing some real non corrupt police, and make them do their job

Dream on.

[robblok]

4 hours ago, JAG said:

That is where it starts and ends...

Yes it is... not something that is going to change fast. 

 

But the laws on weapons here are quite soft too. I mean why do people need weapons in cars.. presumably to defend.. but more often its to attack. 

[robblok]

6 minutes ago, whatawonderfulday said:

When you have despots who take over a country by military means then that sets the example as to the way people should behave so perhaps that is why this nation is seeing violent behaviour being on the increase.

 

Until a well educated and forward thing  leader comes along again (judged by world standards not Thai standards),  not a puppet or a military appointment,  to show that non violent and democratic ways are the intelligent and civilised approach to everything from government to motor cycle taxi operations, and hence sets a good social example then nothing much will change here I'm afraid. It will just become more and more violent until social tensions reach breaking point.

There is a well educated leader.. a few actually however they lack support. Problem is there are very few decent politicians, seems most are in it for their own gain (on both sides of the divide)

[whatawonderfulday]

1 minute ago, robblok said:

There is a well educated leader.. a few actually however they lack support. Problem is there are very few decent politicians, seems most are in it for their own gain (on both sides of the divide)

As I said - "judged by world standards not Thai standards)," 

[wvavin]

In my opinion, the education & culture have a great influence in what we see today.

[JonnyF]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Truth to be told, again, that road rage in Thailand is no different to other countries

around the world and in some cases not as bad,

if you go out there driving with an attitude of Attila the Hun, expect troubles

to find you, you don't have to win every argument and fight, know when

to keep your cool and back out.....

I disagree. I drive daily in Bangkok and I think it's worse here than the vast majority of places. I had an incident on Sathorn about 18 months ago where a car stopped for absolutely no reason and to avoid it I accidentally cut someone else up. At the next set of lights he was out of his car banging mine and trying to open my door to get to me. Worse thing is as a foreigner you can't win in that situation. If you get out and lose the fight you lose. If you get out and win the fight (assuming other Thais don't pile in on you) then you end up on Facebook as the big bad farang and possibly arrested and deported. He wasn't a big guy but for those reasons I chose to stay in the car (plus there was a good chance he was armed - I wasn't).

 

This wasn't a one off. If you drive here you pretty much have to choose whether to back down or get in a fight on a regular occasion. And this is when you are getting cut up, not when you are cutting others up. Thailand has a very serious road rage issue in my opinion. If it was just fists it wouldn't be so bad but it's often guns, swords, machetes etc. The main problem is that the driving standards and education are very low, the egos are very big and the penalties very lenient. That's a bad combination.

[DLang]

Nothing can be done.

 

The emotionally repressive culture, combined with the bow and take sheet from those above you, combined with the little-willy need for face and ego, come together to create the poor emotional health and repressed anger and frustration that the average Thai harbors.... add that they are coming from 200 generations of ploughing fields with buffaloes to driving modern vehicles in one single generation, and you have the reasons why the Thai roads are as dangerous as they are.