And bear in mind; If a farang is involved in an accident he will most likely be judged to be the guilty party. Regardless.
This is said a lot so it must happen but...
In the 8 years I have been here I'm yet to see a foreigner get stung for a road crash that wasn't his fault . Been witness to (or heard about) a fair few accidents but never a horror story where the farang got shafted.
Lucky I guess.
Let me modify my statement; Farang car/Thai motocy. Farang guilty. Car/car; let your insurance handle it. Don't admit guilt or sign anything before your insurance agent has agreed.
Well Terry Mrs. T. old driving instructor got it wrong: "Mrs.T's old driving instructor stated that if you are on the roundabout, you must give way to entering traffic."
Traffic driving on the roundabout has right of way. In Phuket there are roundabouts everywhere and surprisingly the rule is followed quite well by everyone, even Fortuners giving way to motorbikes.
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
The Pala-U / Highway 4 roundabout has yield/give way signs on the slip roads entering the roundabout, so the rules are as they would be in the UK and most of the world.
The French used to do it completely differently and, rather obviously, completely wrongly but they are now coming to their senses and generally give traffic on the roundabout the right of way.
The traffic rules here are taken directly from the UK highway code. Of course, it's not adhered to as Thais are not taught how to drive. With regard to the Hemel Hempstead etc roundabouts. I have used them many times and it does apear confusing if you think of the whole thing as a roundabout! If you think of it more of a circular road with mini-roundabouts then you can't go wrong. The reason it's designed like that is that it's too BIG to be used as a normal roundabout.
With regard to farangs always at fault, my son had a serious accident on his motorbike and was hit by a Thai pickup. As the Thai was in the wrong (admitted by himself) there was no question about who paid. The Thai's insurance company. And it certainly wasn't small bucks.
After driving on these roads for 18 years (and still alive), anyone who is looking for rules, or expecting them to be obeyed, is in grave danger! Use your extra sense and expect the worst at all times.
There are 2 golden rules, that I try to remember, always look for the motorbike going the wrong way - easy to miss that one! When some jerk does something dangerous or outrageous, don't show your anger to them. I have twice been followed by vehicles that I honked at and do remember that many Thai men carry guns in their cars!
heartofmidlothian wrote:After driving on these roads for 18 years (and still alive), anyone who is looking for rules, or expecting them to be obeyed, is in grave danger! Use your extra sense and expect the worst at all times.
There are 2 golden rules, that I try to remember, always look for the motorbike going the wrong way - easy to miss that one! When some jerk does something dangerous or outrageous, don't show your anger to them. I have twice been followed by vehicles that I honked at and do remember that many Thai men carry guns in their cars!
Sound advice from somebody who speaks with a lot of experience - there may be rules but not many drivers will be following them. The other "obvious" bit of advice would be, if in any doubt always give way to a road user who is bigger than you!!
Farang are always guilty........This is a load of crap, passed on from one bitter Farang to the next. If a pickup and a motorcycle are involved in an accident, the pickup driver will almost always end up with the short end of the stick, regardless of whether he/she is Farang or Thai. That's just the way it is, so you either need to accept it, or you need to stop driving a pickup/car. Let's just say, it's like an unwritten gentleman's agreement.
As for the roundabout by the railway crossing............it's no problem for me at all, unless the MIB are interfering with the traffic. You simply edge forward until the road is too narrow for others to pass, and then you proceed. It works a treat every single time. I guess I've completed my apprenticeship successfully.
Don't try to impress me with your manner of dress cos a monkey himself is a monkey no less - cold fact
I don't have a valid driving license so when I take the family to the UK Mrs Almirante is the one doing the driving on an international license, I believe the only roundabouts she had seen before was the one at Suvarnabhumi airport and Victory monument.
So we collect the car at Glasgow airport, a brand new Audi A4. I have never been so terrified in my life, there are 3 or 4 roundabouts to tackle just to get out of Glasgow airport!!! On a couple of them we went round and round until she understood what I meant by (screaming) the second exit. Happy to say we were only honked a number of times with a couple of close calls and she got used to the roundabouts in the end.
It's perfect for me too while visiting the relatives being able to have a wee dram.
On the northern end of Cha Am proper there is a new roundabout at the end of the northern u-turn.......girl on a motorcycle nearly ran us down last week as she just drove right into it as we were coming toward her. I'm not sure she even recognized the roundabout......probably was wondering what those dumb signs meant.......(ie: "before all those white people came here we didn't have all these stupid signs, what the heck do they mean anyway?").
I've been waiting for someone to get killed since they put a fairly busy street across the entryway into Palm Hills golf course where drivers are asked to give right of way to the people on the new road. No stop signs or warning lights, just a small written sign in Thai.
Since there aren't any published traffic rules in Thailand it's a little disingenuous of us falang to expect Thais to know them, although I'm sure we all think they somehow should. Many things we've learned driving in a controlled environment are not really common sense but learned behaviors. Example: a couple of times I've been waiting for traffic to clear so I could make a right hand turn and people are passing me just as I begin to turn......and of course I start cursing at them because I almost killed them. After over six years I'm still learning to understand they have no reference to my turn signal and probably think I should look out for them, not the other way around.
Roundabouts are a little sophisticated for people who've never seen them before and you have to wonder what the bosses in Bangkok are thinking when they install them. Do they expect Thai drivers to learn roundabout "rules" by osmosis?
T,I,G,R wrote: since they put a fairly busy street across the entryway into Palm Hills golf course
Do you mean the Klong Road that Palm hills entrance cuts across? Not new - No road markings agreed but standard universally recognisable Yield/Give Way triangles warning users that cross the main road.
Thanks poosmate - there are a couple there that I've actually guessed right, but when I've asked my Thai travelling companions, they either can't see the signs, or don't know.
almirante82 wrote:I don't have a valid driving license so when I take the family to the UK Mrs Almirante is the one doing the driving on an international license.
I'm not sure of the valididty of this, so check it out before following through(!), but I heard that if you get yourself a Thai licence, you can then apply for an international driving permit yourself and it's valid for driving on the roads in the UK. Not sure you'd find an insurance company willing to take you as a named driver on those terms though!
