Scary experience on bus

[Guest]

“I would like to file a complaint and get this asshole fired so he can't threaten the lives of 60 people at a time in this way. Would my complaint just be laughed at and ignored?”

 

Bungie6

They will laugh at you and it’s a waste of your time:

 

Thai bus drivers are not that bad driving. Aren’t they?

Neighboring countries are far more worse especially the infamous “Malaysian road bullies” and going to the rural areas in India is even like your worse nightmare.

[Guest]

Yep - I think Thai bus-drivers are shockingly bad. Inner-city, racing each other from one stop to the next, last second braking etc etc. Longer trips are as bad. Still use the buses a lot BUT whilst having got used to the driver's behaviour, my opinion of their driving abilities as being crap has not changed at all ('abilities' is used in regard to their paid job of driving a bus......they may be great at speedway or Formula 1 etc ).

Just because there are other places around that are worse doesn't change things here.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Scum_Baggio:

One big problem with Thai society is that complaints reflect more badly on the person filing them ("kee-bon!") rather than on the status quo being complained about - not a good precondition for improving things, is it.

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You know Scum this is the first thing popped in my mind when I saw the first post. They dont seem to complain about anything...and when I do at times, Thai people who are with me are embarrassed. This is my theory as to why so many things in Thailand are mediocre as they accept anything. You know you pay for an airconditioned bus and the wanker switches off the air conditioner for some reason and it's so bloomin' hot that you cant breathe....and no one says anything. Sometimes this "tolerance" pisses me off.

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: Bey ]

[zanemay]

Just to inject a little humor into this grim topic (and it is grim when you are riding on bus that is passing a truck on a blind mountain curve!), here are some excerpts from an old post of mine on driving in the Kingdom:

There are many Thai driving practices to surprise the Western motorist. A red light functions very differently in Thailand. In the U.S. a red light lasts no more than a minute and means STOP. But in Thailand it means STOMP! The light is usually much longer - in Bangkok the red lights are so long that stopped drivers turn off their engines. Consequently, it is very, very important never to get stopped by one. You are motoring toward an intersection - fine. Uh-oh. The light turns red! STOMP the accelerator! You must force your way into the intersection in front of the green-light traffic. If you don't you will get stuck for three or four minutes. There is no particular limit on how long the red-light drivers charge into the interesection, either. If there is any space in front of the green-light traffic they jam in.

What about passing? Good news! It is allowed all the time. Solid lines, double lines, "No Passing" signs? Ha! Decoration, decoration, decoration! Blind curves or oncoming traffic? Whatever! Pass, pass! If a car or motorbike is coming, flash your lights or beep your horn. For the farang (white foreigner) who might have drifted away from the shoulder to avoid mounds of monsoon-washed sand, small children or any of the 8 million stray dogs in the country, this passing-at-will can be a little troubling. One can be biking along, free as the breeze, and suddenly see, coming around the curve up ahead, a slow truck in its lane and a fast car in yours! Or, much worse and occupying a lot more of the road, a slow truck in his lane and a fast bus in yours. Oh my Lord, where to go!? It's OK. No worry, mate. Just squeeze back towards the edge where you belong. But make no mistake, it's up to you. The other drivers are fully committed to what they are doing. Corragio! These roads are for the brave.

Where are the police in all these scenarios, you might wonder? Absolutely, totally, 100% non-existant! In seven weeks I saw no traffic police and no enforcement of basic traffic law. Speed limit is self-enforcing: go as fast as you want. When you kill yourself you won't speed anymore.

Actually, to be fair, I have heard about traffic enforcement. In rare instances, police do stop motorists. The prevailing "fine" is 200 baht for a motorbike and 500 baht for an auto. More if farang are driving. The "fine" is paid on the spot to a policeman who dispenses with the tedium of actually writing out a formal ticket. Remember, paper is expensive in Thailand.

Chok Dee

Zane

[Guest]

Don't forget about when you want to move into the next lane, you indicate and the car behind you, in the lane you want to enter, accelerates to prevent you from getting in the lane ahead of him.

[coops]

First time I was stopped by traffic police, I handed over 500B - I knew this was prob too much, but at least it would definitley be enough... my friends afterwards inform me that 100B (for cars) is the standard, perfectly adequate rate. A chinese/canadian friend of mine who can speak fair thai was stopped once... policeman asked if he spoke thai (in thai). Friend aswered in fluent thai - phuut thai, may daay khaap. may daay.. doh!

the reason for a car accelerating when a bus wants to pull into his lane, is that the bastard bus will want to pull back over where he came from in approx 5 seconds later anyway, and stop half across your lane to take on passengers...

ps if you think thai bus drivers are crazy, try Indonesia.......

 

coops

[Ashman]

There was a TV documentary in the UK about drivers in India a while back. They asked a driver why he didn't wear a seatbelt and the reply was " why I must wear a seat belt if I am not going to be crashing."

Have faith in GOD it's the only way to deal with the reckless drivers. Ohm nama Siva

[Guest]

This is all well and good, but what would be nice is some constructive suggestions for people who cannot avoid taking a bus. For instance, if you're in Chiang Mai and need to go to Mae Sai for visa reasons, you have to go to Chiang Rai, then Mae Sai, by bus. The train doesn't go there. A plane is possible, but a tiny plane is expensive and scary.

My experience was on a regular Thai bus. Do you think the tour company buses, like Sombat and the others, would have better, safer drivers? Thanks for your thoughts.

[Guest]

I guess that either I've been really lucky with the bus trips i've taken in LOS, or I've been inured to bad drivers from my journeys in Nepal and India.

Probably the latter ?

dateline Varanasi, 1998

Driving in a beat up old taxi along the busiest highway in India, in a beat up old taxi, dodging in and out of traffic, playing chicken with oncoming trucks.

The driver's offsider turns to me and says "Sir, Varanasi is a holy city, it is good to die here. go straight to heaven, sir"

no thanks, not yet...besides, I'm not hindu.

On the other hand, I have not encountered any Thai driver that is seriously dangerous

[Guest]

"Playing chicken with oncoming trucks" - That brought back an incident I had shoved way back into my mind. I was in Naples (Now there are definitely no enforced driving laws there) with some mates. Had a few beers then took a taxi home. 3 lanes of traffic ahead of us had slowed right down, 2 lanes were dead and one edging forwards. Our driver swerves off the road and onto the train tracks....I am like "what the fuck?", we decided that trains must have stopped as our driver wasn't concerned in the slightest.

After a few seconds the whole cab lit up cos' there was a bloody train gaining ground on us from behind. Driver switched tracks and we saw the distant lights of another train coming towards us, obviously more than a little concerned we are bawling out the driver who calmly accelerates at the oncoming lights and suddenly swerves back onto the road into a tiny gap in one lane. Describing the move as 'cutting up' does not do it justice, it was far worse.

During all this the driver remained totally calm and tapped his fingers to the stereo. We however were pretty stressed and went for another beer once escaping from his cab.

I am moaning about thai drivers on another post.... but in retrospect