Foreigners Driving Poorly

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NongKhaiLee
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Foreigners Driving Poorly

Post by NongKhaiLee » January 24, 2020, 11:58 am

While I don't care for poor driving habits by others and often think negatively of them no matter what their nationality is, for some reason the bad driving habits and impolite attitudes of other foreigners here in Thailand strikes a particularly sour note with me.

Yesterday I was walking near Central with a group of about eight friends from back home, we stepped off the sidewalk to cross a side street and I didn't see anyone coming so led them across. Along comes a foreigner on a scooter, he was travelling at a pretty high rate of speed considering he was coming to a three way intersection, and it was clear he had no intentions of stopping or even slowing down much as he pulled out into traffic. He had to hit the brakes for us and gave us a sour look and shook his head back and forth in disgust.

Not too long ago I pulled out of a side street with my tuktuk and failed to see another foreigner on a scooter coming the wrong direction up the two lane, one-way street I was pulling onto ( I forgot to check to the left for people coming the wrong direction up the street), and he promptly laid on his horn at me. The locals often travel the wrong direction on the roads here, but they always stop for others who are coming out of side streets and heading the correct direction. Not so the foreigner, who seemed to think it was his right to go the wrong way.

I readily admit that I should have been more careful in both of the above instances, and while the instances I described here are certainly not unheard of among the local population, at least they are not rude about it. If foreigners want to break the rules like the locals, then they should at least do it with the attitude of politeness and acceptance the locals use.



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parrot
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Re: Foreigners Driving Poorly

Post by parrot » January 24, 2020, 2:23 pm

Car/truck drivers aren't so bad. But elderly, inexperienced, helmetless, flip-flop-wearing foreigners trying their hand at riding a motorcycle/scooter......and to top it off, thinking that driving like the natives is the best thing to do......that's bad. See it everyday in Udon.

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FrazeeDK
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Re: Foreigners Driving Poorly

Post by FrazeeDK » January 24, 2020, 2:37 pm

while getting ready to turn left into Big C the other day, with my turn signal on, a scooter ridden by a farang (at least he had a helmet on) blasted its horn at me and raced by me continuing straight on my left (against the law). If I had turned quicker he'd have hit me... Adopting the local practices is not the best idea...
Dave

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Khun Paul
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Re: Foreigners Driving Poorly

Post by Khun Paul » January 24, 2020, 5:02 pm

Going native regarding driving habits here , is a really STUPID idea, but then if you mention it to the transgressor which I have done over the years, you get the normal four letter expletive followed by a insulting tirade, so now I ask if they like hospitals, they ride off muttering showing complete indifference to all laws, I BET they do it in their own countries , they all probably belong to I am a better driver than the locals brigade, which by their actions show us they are not !

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tamada
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Re: Foreigners Driving Poorly

Post by tamada » January 24, 2020, 7:06 pm

NongKhaiLee wrote:
January 24, 2020, 11:58 am
... I readily admit that I should have been more careful in both of the above instances, and while the instances I described here are certainly not unheard of among the local population, at least they are not rude about it. If foreigners want to break the rules like the locals, then they should at least do it with the attitude of politeness and acceptance the locals use.
You got it in one right there. When you see a local doing something silly that causes another local to brake or stop, there's that obsequious, no eye contact, smiling head bob of the wrongdoer that is mostly acknowledged by a similar no eye contact nod with maybe a lesser smile and life goes on. It isn't written in the Thai Highway Code because it doesn't need to be.

IMHO, using the horn, especially on a step-through, is a sign that the know-it-all farang in flip-flops actually doesn't.

I will admit to having a great big, f*ck off air horn set on my sports lorry that I installed for my long-haul, overnight runs so it's seldom used in and around the city. Only when I see someone, invariably a know-it-all farang in flip-flops on a step-through about to commit Thai road traffic Hari-Kiri, do they get the full 113 dB, sphincter-rattling, 'shock and awe' experience.

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