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In Bangkok there millions of
motorcycles buzzing around on the streets and they go
everywhere, in between the cars, on the sidewalks, up the road
in the wrong direction, and they really don't mind ignoring the
traffic laws. Five or ten years ago I read in the Bangkok Post
that there are 35 traffic fatalities per day in Bangkok, and
that 34 of them are on motorcycles. When I worked at a school on
the west side of Bangkok we got into a discussion about who
among us had been in a motorcycle accident within the last year.
There were 40 of us working at that school and I was the only
one that didn't ride a motorcycle. Every rider had been in an
accident within the last year, and one rider had been in three
accidents within the last year. Later I moved to a different
campus where we had the same discussion with the same results.
Everyone but Adam had been in an accident within the last year, Kalfee had been in three.
And it wasn't because
Kalfee was careless. Adam, who had followed behind him and
witnessed each accident, vouched that it was because people
driving cars would do crazy things, like turn directly into Kalfee. I
witnessed a mishap like that one day just across the street from
where I live. A motorcycle was on the inside lane. From two
lanes out, without even getting into the left lane first, the
driver of a car decided much too late to turn into McDonald's,
quickly veering 90 degress left, hitting the motorcycle. The
rider flew through the air in somersaults for about 50 feet
smacking into the back of a bus. He was out cold for awhile and
I thought he was dead. I was utterly surpised when he picked
himself up off the ground and gingerly began walking. Recently I met a foreigner who has been bicycling all over
Thailand for about a year now. When someone asks him if he has
been in an accident he responds, "What, you mean in the last two
days?" In such a short span he has already experienced 10 accidents.
The obvious question from me was, "And you continue to ride
here?" So, for all of those who have asked why I don't get a motorcycle
here in Bangkok, now you know. A motorcycle might get me through
the traffic jams more quickly, but I deeply treasure being able to walk and
run and move about without the assistance of a wheel chair. |
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