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just turned red, you will have a long wait. Thai people deal with this by assuming a yellow light means only 5 or 10 more cars can go through. If you stop for a yellow light, you will get rear-ended. People don't want to wait for that long red light. To make this doubly exciting, motorbike riders who see their light about to turn green will sneak into the intersection and get hammered by cars running the red. This could be a tiny flaw in the system.
Seven: If you're rich, no rules apply. So it's like most other countries. There are horror stories of rich people in Mercedes plowing into crowds or hammering motorbikes and getting off with a fine.
Eight: In America, if you flash your headlights it means, "Go ahead, I'll give you the right of way". In Thailand it means, "Don't even think of entering the intersection, I'm coming through fast".
Nine: Helmet laws. Thailand has helmet laws for people on motorbikes and motorcycles. Foreigners scream because lots of Thai people don't wear helmets but there are reasons. If you're a really poor person, you might have the choice between buying a helmet or feeding your family for a month. I don't know about you, but I'd go for the food. Also, Thailand summers are very hot, so I'm thinking a helmet in intense heat is like putting on a crockpot and feeling your brain boil. Finally, if you're a woman and you've spent a lot of time getting your hair just right, say, for a job interview, would you put on a helmet? It's a complex situation, and the obvious rebuttal to those people who don't wear helmets is death. Good hair or death? Not a great choice.
You also have random police checkpoints where they catch the people without helmets and fine them. There are two reasons for this. Safety, and the fact that the police are paid very little money. It's understood that this is a way to augment their income and a lot of those fines go into pockets. As I said, it's a cultural thing.
Ten: I have never, ever seen a car on the highway pulled over by the police in Thailand. It must happen, but I've never seen it, so the highways are kind of like the wild west. The only time I've seen cars stopped are random police checks for drunk drivers. Caution. If you are drunk, it's a big deal and you have jail in your future. Unless you're really rich or know the chief of police. Side note: This is not just a Thai thing. I just remembered being on a ship pulling into Acapulco and on a cliff overlooking the harbor were two huge mansions. I asked the local guide who they belonged to. She said one was owned by Sylvester Stallone. The other by the chief of police.
Eleven: There are no driving rules for motorbikes. They will go anywhere at any time and it's your job to dodge them. If it's faster to go the wrong way up a one-way street, a motorbike will do that. I had a friend who was walking and got hit by a motorbike going the wrong way on the sidewalk! If a motorbike wants to