Why do YOU think the Thais are such bad drivers?

[Ginjaninja]

or the surveyors didn't make it back????

[Stargeezer]

Not sure about Thailand drivers, as I have only been there on vacation,
but I have heard my Thai relatives say some thai, words I did not understand.
I guessed the drivers around them were getting on their nerves.
In Canada there is a video out of Calgary's worst driver, a woman trying to get out
of a parking lot. She bangs into the car behind her then takes about 4 minutes to
finally get out of the parking lot. Pretty sad really. All caught on a security camera.

[Takiap]

Thailand is determined to get #1 in something. As they're already in the mix, they've decided to push for 'The World's Most Dangerous Roads'.

Yup, that's Thailand. That one in the red on the right... on its own.

Great to see just how much the "NEW" South Africa has progressed. Having said that, most of the road deaths in SA are probably a result of carjacking. The ANC have really done a wonderful job at taking the country forward.

[Big Boy]

I actually find Thai drivers consistent/predictable. Yes, you've got to stay alert, but having got used to their ways, they're not so bad.

I actually wonder what Thais make of foreigners, and their strange habits e.g. using your right indicator if turning right, or switching your lights on at night so that you can be seen.

[Nereus]

...................using your right indicator if turning right

Wots an "indicator"?
Oh, do you mean that button in a car, that when pushed lights up those coloured lights on each corner, and makes sure everybody knows you are a VIP, and so get out of the way!

[Name Taken]

We haven't had a whinge about Thai drivers for awhile. I have been driving here for well over 20 years and thought that I had seen most of the antics they get up to. But todays effort has to take the award for the best qualified idiot so far.

Heavy traffic, but still moving along Sukhumvit Soi 77. This Soi has to be one of the most congested around this area, as it is a major route between Sukhumvit and the eastern suburbs. Big trucks, motorbikes, songtows stopping every few hundred metres, etc., etc.

In the middle of this lot Somchai, driving a 12 wheel truck, decides to do a 3 point turn and go back where ever he just came from! I could not bloody believe it! No indicators, no thought of anything apart from himself, he just swung the truck across the road in front of oncoming traffic, and then reversed back in front of the car ahead of me. He had to back up several times, as apart from the Soi being narrow, there were cars parked along the verge.

Normally I would give such a fool a blast on the horn, but I suppose like everybody else, I could not believe what was happening, and just sat there with my mouth wide open!

He's lucky he didn't get stuck.
A lot of streets in Thailand are narrower than a golf cart.

[Terry]

OK - so whilst we are at it ..........

Can somebody tell me why some local drivers have the infuriating habit of 'flicking' their indicators left / right / left, prior to their final indicated move?

Is it to wake me up or something?

As for the stupidity of using ones hazard lights to indicate "I'm going straight on - at a crossroads", I think that's been covered elsewhere.

Answers in a brown envelope please.............

[Big Boy]

I can't explain it, but one of the mini-buses in our convoy last weekend kept doing it

[Spitfire]

One of the most telling things I notice is how little Thai drivers trust each other by the way they flash their lights at anything making a turn/U-turn in the anticipation that those turning will just go without giving a f%&$ about oncoming traffic.

And, most annoyingly of all, the way an oncoming car over-takes something on their side of the road at an insanely dangerous time and then has the nerve to flash his/her lights at you to say "I'm coming through" whilst you are quite rightly just going down your side of the road. Man! That pisses-me-off.......strange how often it's a Fortuna and I shudder to imagine the complete wanker that must be behind the wheel.

[Nereus]

If the following is not a perfect example of "me first", I do not know what is. I see a lot of this with motor bikes in Bangkok. Then they get pissed off when I won`t give way to them!
..............................................................................................
Lane jumpers filmed at Meng Jai

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... red-lights

[HHTel]

The same on Petcha daily. An orderly queue of traffic then some bonehead(s) decide to use the hard shoulder to gain the advantage.
On Rama II it happens often that a 3 lane traffic jam turns into a 5 lane traffic jam with no way of any access for emergency vehicles.
Will these drivers ever grow a brain - I doubt it.

[Big Boy]

One thing I regularly notice when stopped at traffic lights. I always become surrounded by motorcycles in front and on both sides. However, its never a problem because Thai motorcyclists always go when the countdown clock is red/3 seconds. By the time the lights turn green, the motorcyclists are well gone.

[Big Boy]

strange how often it's a Fortuna and I shudder to imagine the complete wanker that must be behind the wheel.

I know US had his wrist slapped by a few members a week or so ago when mentioning Fortuna taxi drivers. I must say, we used a Fortuna taxi a few times while in Udon a couple of weeks ago, and his driving was good.

[GLCQuantum]

On Rama II it happens often that a 3 lane traffic jam turns into a 5 lane traffic jam with no way of any access for emergency vehicles.

Very true. I live 5 minutes from Rama II and see this a lot. Emergency vehicles have no chance of getting through. I'm sure this applies to most busy roads in Thailand.

[usual suspect]

Here I am again..no, not gonna mention that F-word..

I don't know if I'm using the correct title to label the Thais when they get behind a wheel, but dare I use the word 'selfish'?
They become bullies, do not yield, it does indeed seem that they do not reconise that any traffic laws exist here. Well maybe they're right to think this..no driver ever gets fined, arrested, or his vehicle carted off to the compound..so maybe this goes a long way towards their driving attitude..?

On a 'local theme' (& I witness this scene daily)..imagine coming down from Hin Lek Fai hill on Chomsin... to the point where Chomsin merges with the Pala U Rd (just up from Gee Supermarket)..
..well, the traffic coming up from the rail-crossing will not, not,not give way to any vehicle coming down from HLF..
They will speed up to the junction just to beat traffic coming down into town..the inbound traffic, my self included, has to slowly nudge forward & close the door to these morons who have no intention of stopping..so it gets to the point where cars are squeezing thru' the small gap left between incoming traffic on the Pala U Rd turning left here, & our persistent wall of Chomsin cars & bikes wishing to join the flow of inbound traffic..but no, none of them will yield..until they HAVE to! Selfish to the very end.