The perils of driving

Just listening to the news from Bangkok. They are reporting that a Greek airline pilot on his way to work at Suvarnabhumi airport, was driving his BMW when a Fortuna with red plates immediately behind him, blinded him with headlights on full beam. He let it pass, then came up behind him and did the same. The Fortuna driver let him come alongside, then fired 6 shots from a pistol into the car, two of which entered his shoulder. He managed to get into the airport where he was immediately treated by medics . He is not thought to be in a serious condition .The police are looking for the Fortuna.

Important lesson in this story.

I do occasionally, well, frequently, or admittedly, almost every time behind the wheel in Udon, want to correct other drivers' aggressive and dangerous driving. Hate to admit it does get to me. My wife informs me they know what they are doing, they will not change, and they could care less about my opinion.

For the sake of my and my passengers' welfare, better to let it go without reaction. Just grin and bear it.

it is an immediate reaction to try to correct peoples driving here. I have heard many stories like the OP. rct gives good advice, just let it go and remind yourself its not your country.

wow that really surprised me,i know theres crazy people everywhere but ive found that thais are pretty courteous drivers especially in heavy traffic,and ive done a lot of driving in thailand.

its all over the news and thai visa Grozza but glad to hear you have had good experiences here.

rct's wife is a smart woman!

Out on the highways,I have found many Thai drivers that were aggressive and not courteous!

But I would agree that generally speaking Thais are relatively courteous about moving to the left,but it is not always easy to get them to stop at crosswalks or allow you to make a turn against heavy town traffic

I have had many honk at me for stopping and allowing oncoming cars and pedestrians to turn or cross in front of me!

But,I am just a courteous person

thai drivers courteous , you have got to be joking....
today i drove to the neighboring villlage , had to turn right from main road at a u turn, had 3 cars in front of me , and a bus in the back, as it probably took to long for the bus driver to wait the first car to go he past all on the left to cross over double , by the time he could go it was also my turn to cross and i closed the door in front of him , we came inside village road ( 1lane go , 1 lane come back , ) as he was not happy with what i did before he crossed the yellow line to pass me and cars in front of me , realizing there was a pickup coming from other direction he tried to push me away , as i did not move he had to stop ( also the pickup coming from opposite direction ), i did get some cursing from my wife but i did not do anything wrong..., even they drive a bus full of people , they do not have any sense of responsibility here, also no knowledge of traffic laws ( what laws???) ....., as i am also driving here longtime ,i have realized this is the country of selfish driving people , without any lack of driving rules what so ever, and to bad as dermot would say it ,(sometimes) i have adapted to the same customs....., and as of the remark grozza " wow that really surprised me,i know theres crazy people everywhere but ive found that thais are pretty courteous drivers especially in heavy traffic,and ive done a lot of driving in thailand" this must be the joke of the year (sorry grozza) , the motto here is who is first is first, to bad they all want to be first....but at what cost......, the accident numbers talk for them selves....

kopkei how your still alive is beyond me pulling these kind of tactics,

realizing there was a pickup coming from other direction he tried to push me away , as i did not move he had to stop

,you have no consideration for other road users and to do that when your wife was in the car just goes to show what kind of person you are selfish.
yes he was wrong in the first place to do what he did to you, but the old saying about two wrongs dont make a right, in this case it could of been two wrongs make a couple of people DEAD.this was just my point of veiw and you just proved how a lot of people in the western world think.
if you would have pulled somthing like that in australia you would have been followed home and there would have been some sort of altercation,and if the other car was carrying lebanese you might have had a couple of bullets in your leg,and these kind of things happen every day in australia,thailand on the other hand ive never even had someone give me the bird for a mistake ive made on the road.

grozza, he would never have been exposed to a situation like that in Oz, so your scenario is both racist and entirely speculative.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/road-rage-doctor-keeps-sports-car-20101223-196dl.html

and
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/road-rage-spa ... -op0s.html
and
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/m ... 1118677400
and
http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au ... -at-rocks/
and
http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/pub ... -life.html
just a couple i could dig up jack,look i live in sydney i know whats happing here and there just the ones in the news theres plenty more that dont make it that far.

jack are you trying to say that what hapened to kopkei wouldnt happen in australia,because if you are i must be in another oz.
after kopkei did not let the guy back in what did the thai person do nothing.like i said in my post before in australia there would have been a good chance he would have been followed and a altercation would have happend.

No grozza - what I am saying is that it is extremely unlikely that kop would have been exposed to that sort of driving in Oz (by the bus driver), and therefore the situation would not have arisen.

I am not disputing there are acts of violent road rage in Oz.

ps I didn't see any Lebanese mentioned in the links you posted.

well grozza, i think you have misjudged the situation i was in, the bus tried to overtake my car , by crossing the yellow line and so drive on the wrong side of the road, even i had other cars right in front of me so no where to go for this bus as he can not overtake 4cars on this road , what did you expect me to do brake like an idiot or go left in to the parked cars there...., the bus had to brake and go back behind me , the guy in the pickup coming opposite side had to brake too because idiot bus on his lane ....., ( this all at low speed) , and in my country i do not have idiot bus drivers crossing the yellow line, trying to pass where they are unable to pass.... , he would quickly loose his license , not me as i did not do anything wrong...., but in my country ( mostly) everybody drive according the traffic rules , rules they have here also but nobody follows....

Its tough driving here no doubt but dont let it get you down. I can see all of your points of view but for Gods sake, have a beer and try to forget about it. The way i solved this problem is I didnt and wont buy a car here. Having said that Ive already had a few close encounters in the Tuk Tuks! By the way the Thais are not the most dangerous drivers in the world. I lived in Kuwait and the Thais have nothing on them!

kopkei i never said you were in the wrong i meant you should of let him in,because as you said it was at low speed and you had time to brake to let him in front of you instead of shutting him out,and putting people in danger of a head on collision.

p.s jack buses do drive dangerous in oz as well theres been accidents in australia involving buses overtaking cars,trucks and having head ons as well.
oh im sorry let me rephrase for you middle eastern decent.