The lycra-clad menace on Bangkok’s roads
Play
Although we are used to Bangkok’s congested and undisciplined traffic, driving has recently become more dangerous and stressful because of two-wheeled road users.
Drivers now have to watch out for an increasing number of bourgeois cyclists sporting expensive bikes and Olympic outfits and who seem to think they are cycling on the streets of London.
We also have to stay alert for big motorbikes – powerful machines with thick wheels that criss-cross the road, veering into our lane from nowhere and appearing by our side without any notice. Some of them even carry a passenger perching behind as if riding on horseback.
Authorities provide no specific lanes for the cyclists and no licensing restrictions on the powerful motorbikes. As a result drivers – and especially senior citizens like me – can only shake their heads and lower their speed when they spot a two-wheeler nearing.
Yingwai Suchaovanich
