As I travel around my adopted hometown of Krungthep, I sometimes see things and think, “Oh, that is so very Thai.” These things usually seem innocuous enough at first glance, but I think they illustrate the differences between Thai culture and other cultures. Four-way intersections are a good example.
When I drive in the US (or pretty much any “developed” country), there are rules and laws and signs and to some degree, everyone follows them. Very little is left entirely to human nature and the good will of the drivers.
Italy seems to be an exception, actually…
Anyhow, here in the City of Angels, we have many uncontrolled intersections. Much of this is a result of how the network of roads and streets developed out of a network of canals and waterways. What worked well for boats isn’t always so effective for cars.
Whether a major street like Sukhumvit or a small, twisting back soi, you encounter these intersections where the drivers’ best behavior is all that governs right-of-way.
Most of the time, it works alright. In fact, like the use of traffic circles, drivers are forced to be more attentive and drive slower because there are few rules to rely upon. Other than the occasional marks on the ground, spray-painted by an insurance company investigator after a crash, there are few signs that the uncontrolled intersections are really a problem.
Here’s a 90-second video clip (set to pleasant music) for you to see the above intersection in action:
In a chicken-or-egg dilemma, it is unclear whether these types of social confrontations (uncontrolled intersections) work so smoothly because of the Thai people’s culture of patience and friendliness towards others, or is the culture a result of having to negotiate these types of confrontations in everyday life?
In either case, it is interesting to observe and even more interesting to experience firsthand as the driver behind the wheel!
christao408 
I never drove when I was in Thailand…I don’t think I would have survived!! I would have never made it across the intersection…since I would have been too afraid to stick my nose out there !!! I must say the taxis look MUCH nicer and MUCH cleaner than they did when we were riding in them back in the 70’sRuth Ann
I need rules. I color inside the lines. I was holding my breath the whole video! It seems to work but I’d be too nervous to move!
whatever works!
wow. they’re so smooooooth. they function as ANTS because they naturally create their own pathway without recklessly hurting anyone. this concept is the same as this.
You are right! It is similar in Indonesia, India, Nigeria, and many developing countries. That is why I let you do the driving when I was in Bangkok last year. I have trouble walking across the road, let alone me trying to drive there. I am amazed that you even ride bicycle there. If I were Tawn, I would have sold your bike long long time ago, lol. Teasing you.
pretty cool! it’s like you just “get in where you fit in” without the road rage. i think this would never workout in the U.S.A….too many lawsuits and road rage. other countries never seem to be much of a rush anyway.
Wow!! People here can’t seem to drive courteously around each other even with controlled intersections. That was really interesting to watch.
Chris! See this video and let me know what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Doy_7sOoM This is a rather common scene on the Indian roads. PS: City of Angels? I thought that was LA?
@Dezinerdreams – Unbelievable! Driving is juggling! Thanks! I can’t help laughing when watching the film.
@Dezinerdreams – You made my day.
Chris, after watching Dezinerdream’s film, what do you think?
i would be scared to drive in asia, i won’t even give it a try
@Dezinerdreams – @choyshinglin – You sure that wasn’t shot here in Bangkok? =) They cheated a bit, though, and sped up the video. It makes it look crazier than it is. Although I did consider speeding up my posting, too…
@christao408 – I failed to notice that the film was speeded up. It would not look so crazy if it was not speeded up. The moral is: don’t believed what is shown on films.
Wow, I can’t imagine that I would do too well driving over there. I would be so nervous. That’s great and so refreshing that all of the drivers are so polite to each other. I live in the land of aggressive drivers (driving on the beltway here is still scary to me; my parents wouldn’t let me drive it until I was in college). I hate how people drive here!
that was interesting-I didn’t ask if my brother was Thai because he loved it there but I asked if your partner is Thai? jilly
Asia can be like that, and yet surprisingly there are not as many accidents as there should be, thanks to the slow speed everyone is moving at.
I was going to say, India is just like that, except people in India don’t smile when they are crossing the intersections.They ALL think it is their God-given right to make it through that intersection before any one else does.However, Chris, I have seen streets in Paris with similar chaotic problem. Yeah not too different from Italy.
I guess the amulets provide some level of protection after all. Sometimes when a traffic light stops working, I get very paranoid as I gingerly negotiate crossing the intersection.
@Redlegsix – A few years ago, the government mandated that all taxis switch to compressed natural gas for fuel. This went hand-and-hand with a mass updating of the fleet, so most of them are relatively new Toyota Corollas.@murisopsis – “color inside the line” – LOL That’s hard to do here. No lines but lots of color.@yang1815 – What’s the expression? “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”@iso_whiteSnow – Interesting comparison. Yes, viewed from above, it does kind of look like a colony of ants hard at work, flowing smoothly around each other.@stevew918 – Interestingly, it is this uncontrolled chaos that makes bicycling pretty safe. All in the all, the drivers really do pay a lot more attention and have a lot less of this “this lane is my rightful space” attitude that I find in the US.@XXKimPossibleXX – That’s eactly how to describe it. Make room where there is room, yield to someone who has already started to cut in front of you, and don’t lose your cool. You’ll get where you are going.@lil_squirrel4ever – My experience, though, is that Canadians are a little better on the roads (just a teensy bit) than their American neighbors. Generally, speeds seem slower up there. My first trip to YVR, a drive up from San Francisco, I was pulled over in downtown for making an illegal left turn. They left me off with a warning, thankfully, as I was a lost tourist.@icebladz – C’mon… it will be fun! @TheCheshireGrins – With your nice personality, I’m sure you’d do just fine driving here.@Jillycarmel – Yes, Tawn is a native of Bangkok. We’ve been together more than nine years now.@Wangium – That is what really amazes me, Jason. There are so many fewer accidents than you would expect. Sadly, when Thais get out on the open road, their inner speed demon is unleashed and there are some horrific results.@ZSA_MD – I like to say that my training for driving in Bangkok was a week spent driving in Milan. =)@ElusiveWords – Yes, it is the amulets. See, you’re getting past your farang-ness. =)
@christao408 – Not knocking it though.
I thought with the name Tawn he might be. So you have been there how long now? my brother loves it over there and would live there now if his wife would agree.
@Jillycarmel – It will be four years in October. Life here is quite good. Of course, I suppose it wouldn’t appeal to everyone.
4 yrs is along time. My brorher really likes it and wants his wife to go over there to visit since she just retired recently. We had a cousin over there but for years but he’s recently moved back to the states.
I can’t help but notice there are not too many motor bikes present in this video, wonder where this neighbourhood is?
it’s all about what you have to do. Some people are naturally assholes, but they are a minority everywhere. I live in a place where there’s lots of traffic. Being foreign ot there (still in the US), I was frustrated for the first month, but everyone around here is just so used to it being blocked off that they don’t get upset. Some do, and we allow them to drive on the side of the road because it’s obvious that they either have someplace to go, or they are assholes. Not everyone jumps on the chance to drive on the shoulder, trust me.
That’s pretty cool! I think some people here in the U.S. would be able to handle it, but I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be some fender benders haha.
So interesting!
That’s so interesting!:)
hahaha that’s unique! wow i’ve been to bangkok and phuket and never saw this happening
Home! I never considered any of this, haha. Pretty interesting, really. Good post. 🙂
@curry69curry – Near our place. The main street is Thong Lo Soi 13. Don’t know the name of the cross-street. Yes, there aren’t too many, but then compared with Vietnam, there aren’t as many motorbikes here.
@freetobedumb – Thanks for the comment. Yes, thankfully not everyone gets worked up over the traffic. I suppose you just adjust to the new “norm” over time.@Roadlesstaken – Yes, I suspect people from both LA and DC (number one and number two in traffic in the US, right?) would be best-equipped to handle it. We need a driver exchange program!@black_lie – There are probably examples of it but it wasn’t something you were looking for. This particular intersection is a bit off the path of most tourists, but not all. Thanks for stopping by.@nahoa – See? Sometimes it just takes an outsider’s eyes to notice these things. Ha ha… of course when the outsider is a farang, it usually sounds like complaining, though. LOL@ItsWhatEyeKnow – @eucharis12 – Glad you found it interesting.
@christao408 – oh, no, I’m used to it. I bring a book to read now.
yikes!
wow that looks insane. it’s also totally unfair because one line of cars waited for a long time while car after car just turned, not even caring that those people had been waiting longer.idk, i personally don’t think i could deal with it. i wanted to jump into the video and put stop signs so it’d be a 4-way stop!
@TheCheshireGrins – the beltway?!?!?!haha omg i know what you mean, the beltway is killer! when there’s a traffic jam, people go into the lanes that are ending in 100 feet just to cut other people off and get further ahead! i’m terrified of it. 😦
The egg came first. There’s fossil proof. I think humans can stop using that term now.
i believe in America, with such an individualist mindset (and such a large geographic area!) people become selfish. I can’t even get off the train in the morning without almost being stepped on. This kind of driving would work in a small town, with people who have a similar culture and language. But with all the different personalities and cultural mores in America, legislated driving rules are the best way to go.
the stop sign was invented in 1915 in michigan. why won’t they use it already?!?
That’s amazing. I can’t for the life of me see that happening in America. Not yet anyway. I would be highly dumbstruck if I were to see drivers that courteous here. Maybe there is some hope for humanity.
i don’t even know what’s going on in that video! O_O if you’re not going to have a light, than at least put in some stop signs. although that’s kind of how the driving is in chicago…
@christao408 – nah…i think i’ll pass…when i visited china, i got scared riding in a car, let alone drive. even though my cousins did offer to let me give it a try 🙂
Wow, interesting observations. It would probably make me nervous to drive there though. (Driving in Rome and Paris almost scared me to death.)
Thais are friendly and hard workers and somewhat shy. Speaking as a female Thai, cant really say I’m patient. Had to develope that over the years….lol….Having children helped and now I consider myself very patient…except when it comes to US drivers! lol Interesting how no one in the video ‘started’ forward, hit their brakes, then shot through the interesection real quick, as they would here in America. Very smooth.
I live in Bangkok! =DAlthough I’ve traveled abroad, I’ve always lived here…can’t imagine anything different. It still made me laugh though, I see it all the time – but never in this perspective.
I drive about an hour each way to work on Los Angeles’ 405 freeway which is notoriously bad. Also, I live next to the ‘Orange Crush’ which is also notorious. Most drivers know the limits of the freeways by their routine and things run smoothly, but sometimes drivers don’t get it. Usually, they are late and try to make it up driving too fast in steady traffic. In Thailand, I would never drive. First, I would naturally try to drive on the right side of the road. While in Kohn Kaen, my host would constantly adjust to traffic conditions, using every lane on the city streets. Every driver did the same. Back in Bangkok, on Sukhumvit, the taxi drivers will drive in alleys, driveways, and cut through parking lots if they are in a hurry; anything to avoid the street. I stood on the skytrain bridge and watched the lack of progress myself, it would take about 15 minutes for traffic to move one block on Sukhumvit.
@PenaltyLife – You wanted to jump into the video and bring order to the chaos? That’s funny! It is almost like some personality test, I think. Wonder what you can discern from people’s reaction to the video?@YouKnowI – But it is a fun expression. No need to retire it just yet.@brownize221 – That’s true – in small towns this wouldn’t be that exceptional, except that traffic wouldn’t be so heavy. The town my grandparents grew up in had – and still has – just one light: a four-way red flasher in “downtown”.@xocomaox – Michigan is a long way from Thailand…@zionlover – The problem is, if you saw that behavior in the US, you’d be so shocked that you would stop dead in your tracks, thus causing an accident!@RandomxBlinkingxLight – Nah, if you put in stop signs people would just ignore them…@bendecida83 – The good news compared to those two cities is that here in Bangkok, people are quite forgiving. No horn honking.
@armnatmom – Hard to be patient about US drivers! Funny that you learned patience from having children. That will do it…@philosophicthoughts – It is interesting to see it from an outside perspective, isn’t it?@Ricardo98 – If it is paved, the taxi drivers here were try to drive on it. That’s for sure.
A person just has to consider… how many stop signs and traffic lights do they find inside a shopping centre? Not the parking lot – inside the mall, inside the department store – yet not too many broken noses or bruised shins. Of course speed, manoeuvrability and attention mean a lot as does expectation. Rules are needed when people tend to take advantage… if a large enough group of people started running through shopping malls, then regulations about running would have to be put into place as well as enforcement of those rules… which would become at some point laws… but of course I am just supposing… I don’t have studies to back me up. I am just going by personal observation which might be flawed. (and going through a bit of sleep deprivation at the moment doesn’t hurt. …should be a law about typing while impaired… LOL)