VIDEO: Speeding Thai minivan driver rages at foreign tourist who told him to slow down

[swanny321]

It's OK for the driver, if there's a fatal accident he''ll be re-incarnated.

[JAZZDOG]

13 hours ago, Xonax said:

My Thai-wife always complaints about my way of driving, mainly because I use the horn and don´t let anyone cut in front of me, when there is no space.  But when we sit in a taxi or minivan and the drivers behaviour is reckless,  she always refuses to translate for me, and tell him to drive safely.

Not just a Thai thing. My wife is Brazilian, just finally got her license a few years ago. I have driven 45 years, less tickets than you can count on one hand and at fault in no accidents. We drive mainly in Brazil which is as crazy as LOS except in Brazil the level of training is 10x higher. Although everyone in her family drives like rats on meth, the always got to be first or all is lost mentality, she constantly is on my ass about my driving. It does no good to tell her I have forgotten more than she knows about driving. Pisses my off she never says squat when we have to drive with family on suicide missions.

[bergan]

3 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Not just a Thai thing. My wife is Brazilian, just finally got her license a few years ago. I have driven 45 years, less tickets than you can count on one hand and at fault in no accidents. We drive mainly in Brazil which is as crazy as LOS except in Brazil the level of training is 10x higher. Although everyone in her family drives like rats on meth, the always got to be first or all is lost mentality, she constantly is on my ass about my driving. It does no good to tell her I have forgotten more than she knows about driving. Pisses my off she never says squat when we have to drive with family on suicide missions.

Good to know it's not just me. The biggest danger when I'm driving is the person in the seat next to me. I've actually pulled over before, telling her that she can drive herself and forget about asking me to drive her around in the future.

[JAZZDOG]

39 minutes ago, bergan said:

Good to know it's not just me. The biggest danger when I'm driving is the person in the seat next to me. I've actually pulled over before, telling her that she can drive herself and forget about asking me to drive her around in the future.

Amen, I actually resist driving with her. The constant bickering creates distraction and angers me to the point that it is unsafe to drive. SOOOO nice driving by myself with the tunes turned up!

[Tailwagsdog]

Van driver says

Thai people don't worry, why you scared?”, he added.

  ...and you should.'t worry becos you will die and be reborn again. ... maybe as a mangy stray soi dog.  LoL

[tigerfeet]

20 hours ago, rgrdns said:

Unfortunately enough yes....afraid if violence can arise!

the easy way around all this and for the police to make more money is to put governors on all public transport  and hgv s make it part of the mot and bring them in each 6 months for the test.give the police the power to administer it and he ho if they are happy then who knows may save a few lives

[IvanLaw]

20 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Typical Thais. They agreed with the driver. 

"Many of the Thai passengers also complained the driver was rude, bad mannered and had they had been overcharged 150 baht for the journey. "

Sorry but I am registered as dyslexic, explain  the above please?

[JAZZDOG]

Really the only option with a driver like this is to get out when you first realize he is unsafe. In his little mind he is a professional driver, period, nothing you can say will change his behavior and will likely make it worse. Not that big a deal, you can find another ride and tell the new driver there is 200 baht extra if he keeps under the speed limit and off the phone. 

[TrueOrNothing]

I was with somebody I know, speeding on the national road under a stormy rain with absolutely no visibility and a few cm water on the road (with my wife and children in the car) and I had the same mocking reply: "You fear ?... :-D" .. He did not slow down at all,  proud of his douchebag's indisputable and invincible amulets and tatoos, good karma and courageous driver's skills.

Like my wife says: "what can do ?"

 

Maybe one day they will compute time vehicles go from point 1 to point 2 using cameras, GPS and computers and send fines automatically, with jail time for extreme speeds or in case of non-payment like in Switzerland. ?

 

Until then, good luck crap...

[oldlakey]

6 hours ago, bergan said:

Especially when it's convenient to "not take sides", so things can escalate and they can take control as a result.

Its a useful tool if you are feeling a bit on the non committal side, or the  "Bottle" has been misplaced

[Spidey]

36 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Really the only option with a driver like this is to get out when you first realize he is unsafe. In his little mind he is a professional driver, period, nothing you can say will change his behavior and will likely make it worse. Not that big a deal, you can find another ride and tell the new driver there is 200 baht extra if he keeps under the speed limit and off the phone. 

A tourist on her own, in a strange country, in the middle of nowhere and no idea where she is? Probably safer to stay in the van.

 

Totally agree though, 200 baht would have definitely worked.

 

I once jumped in a taxi at Suvarnabhumi, and offered the young driver 100 baht if he could get me to my hotel in 30 minutes. He made it in 25 minutes. Gave him 200.

[TrueOrNothing]

Welcome on planet Thailand where expressing disagreement and anger only make things worse.

 

Losing temper is losing face and makes thai witnesses despise you, even if you are right...

Forcing somebody else to lose his temper (his face) is not well seen neither and is to be avoided by all means (things left unsaid, lies, wai-smile-maipenrai).

 

It can easily get you kicked or killed before you start worrying about it: a thai national will usually not stay much in jail for killing somebody in such rightful situation if he is able to wai, apologize and pay.

[Farrows3399]

41 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Really the only option with a driver like this is to get out when you first realize he is unsafe. In his little mind he is a professional driver, period, nothing you can say will change his behavior and will likely make it worse. Not that big a deal, you can find another ride and tell the new driver there is 200 baht extra if he keeps under the speed limit and off the phone. 

Here is a better option : Do not ride with these whackos, take a full size bus. So what if you have to wait an extra hour. 

[TrueOrNothing]

Maybe the bus driver would have slowed down if he had payed for it, but only for a few minutes...   I agree the only solution is to get out and find something else...
 

[oldlakey]

3 hours ago, Tailwagsdog said:

Van driver says

Thai people don't worry, why you scared?”, he added.

  ...and you should.'t worry becos you will die and be reborn again. ... maybe as a mangy stray soi dog.  LoL

Yes he could be somebodies uncle 

[TrueOrNothing]

1 minute ago, Farrows3399 said:

Here is a better option : Do not ride with these whackos, take a full size bus. So what if you have to wait an extra hour. 

Happens in most big buses too, the airport's buses are more controlled though.

[Spidey]

Just now, Farrows3399 said:

Here is a better option : Do not ride with these whackos, take a full size bus. So what if you have to wait an extra hour. 

Needs must. Had a girl waiting in my room for me. She was getting impatient.....and so was I!

[JAZZDOG]

2 minutes ago, Farrows3399 said:

Here is a better option : Do not ride with these whackos, take a full size bus. So what if you have to wait an extra hour. 

One other perk of USA is I always have a rental reserved and drive wherever I need to go and return the car there. This is a problem everywhere with over confident hire drivers. Question; Do you think you might have better luck with Uber or Grab?

[oldlakey]

7 minutes ago, Spidey said:

A tourist on her own, in a strange country, in the middle of nowhere and no idea where she is? Probably safer to stay in the van.

 

Totally agree though, 200 baht would have definitely worked.

 

I once jumped in a taxi at Suvarnabhumi, and offered the young driver 100 baht if he could get me to my hotel in 30 minutes. He made it in 25 minutes. Gave him 200.

You were in a hurry then, not exactly the point of this thread, unless you are the driver of this particular van

[Spidey]

Just now, oldlakey said:

You were in a hurry then, not exactly the point of this thread, unless you are the driver of this particular van

The point was that money talks with these guys. If she'd offered the driver 200 baht to stick to the speed limit, he would have taken it. Problem solved.

[TrueOrNothing]

5 minutes ago, Spidey said:

The point was that money talks with these guys. If she'd offered the driver 200 baht to stick to the speed limit, he would have taken it. Problem solved.

only for 10 minutes (based on a true story...)

[Spidey]

Just now, TrueOrNothing said:

only for 10 minutes (based on a true story...)

Possibly a lot more than 10 minutes. On a previous occasion, I'd made the same journey and insisted that the driver put his meter on (as you do). He took me on the grand tour of Bangkok, to run the meter up and the same journey took over an hour.

 

Yes, a true story and I can assure you that it was well worth the extra 100 baht! Lovely girl!

[lvr181]

22 hours ago, jouec said:

Not sure your average Thai would even know that tbf

"tbf"(?), they wouldn't care anyhow! 

[SABloke]

14 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

The worst thing about is not that a likely poorly educated, minimum wage worker acted like this. The real issue in this country is that 98% of locals would react similarly. Whether educated or not, the culture is the same.

 

They cannot tolerate responsibility or being told when they make mistakes. 

 

And, this is how you end up with a disfunctional country that can never hope to advance beyond where they are. 

Yesterday, my wife got out of a taxi in front of my house in our security village. She told him that he needs to make a uturn (cul-de-sac) and walked around the back to us. I was walking up the road behind with my two kids and my mother. Next thing I hear my wife scream - the <deleted> had reversed into her. My wife berated him for not looking. He then opened the door and said these exact words (in Thai):

 

"I'm sorry BUT I only saw the kids in the mirror".  He didn't even ask if she was okay, or ask if her shopping was damaged (He did crush 300 Baht's worth of cake). He just closed the door and then started reversing again. My mother was so confused. She said, "But if he can see the kids in the road, why did he reverse in the first place, and why the hell is he doing it again?" Because most people just don't give a flying <deleted>.

[Fex Bluse]

1 hour ago, JAZZDOG said:

One other perk of USA is I always have a rental reserved and drive wherever I need to go and return the car there. This is a problem everywhere with over confident hire drivers. Question; Do you think you might have better luck with Uber or Grab?

Uber was OK until they were unfairly run out and grab (Asian Uber with Singaporean Chinese at helm) cut questionable backhanded deals in Thailand. 

 

They will be better. Also Profesional FOREIGN managed rental companies like Avis and Hertz can be OK, but expensive. 

 

I would expand on what you said in that it's not just or even mainly overconfident hire drivers. The whole of the population has very similar mentality, though some groupings (like can drivers) are worse than others. 

 

Ever see Thais driving at best expressway speeds on small sois where pedestrians are forced to walk in the road? Ever see Thais driving at dawn and dusk with no lights on? How about people going the wrong way down one way roads? 

 

They are mostly the same. They all learnt the same Thai Exceptionalism. They all cannot tolerate being wrong and especially being told they are wrong. 

[Fex Bluse]

24 minutes ago, SABloke said:

Yesterday, my wife got out of a taxi in front of my house in our security village. She told him that he needs to make a uturn (cul-de-sac) and walked around the back to us. I was walking up the road behind with my two kids and my mother. Next thing I hear my wife scream - the <deleted> had reversed into her. My wife berated him for not looking. He then opened the door and said these exact words (in Thai):

 

"I'm sorry BUT I only saw the kids in the mirror".  He didn't even ask if she was okay, or ask if her shopping was damaged (He did crush 300 Baht's worth of cake). He just closed the door and then started reversing again. My mother was so confused. She said, "But if he can see the kids in the road, why did he reverse in the first place, and why the hell is he doing it again?" Because most people just don't give a flying <deleted>.

This is the kind of experince that foreigners often can't believe until they experince something like it for themselves. 

 

The biggest mistake lots of us make is to assume that Thais are not fundamentally different from us. They are. Not all is bad, but alot is. 

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, Fex Bluse said:

They will be better. Also Profesional FOREIGN managed rental companies like Avis and Hertz can be OK, but expensive. 

I use Hertz here whenever I can. Found them to be the best rental company.

 

However, they are run as franchises. Managed by Thais. No foreign input on the day to day running of the business.

[Fex Bluse]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I use Hertz here whenever I can. Found them to be the best rental company.

 

However, they are run as franchises. Managed by Thais. No foreign input on the day to day running of the business.

Interesting. I've also had good experiences even with their drivers. Fair enough, credit to the local management. 

[Spidey]

Just now, Fex Bluse said:

Interesting. I've also had good experiences even with their drivers. Fair enough, credit to the local management. 

Probably because when the franchise is set up, it uses the Hertz worldwide model. Hertz management systems. Hertz software. It works.

[Cranky]

This, like many other 'issues' regarding road safety, pollution, etc. will never be fixed here unless a total renovation from top-down takes place and starts in the schools from age 2.  Like I said, never.