Driving in a foreign land (2)

I never believed that all women drivers are bad drivers, even though I agree that most men-drivers seem to have better precision skills when it comes to parking in tight places or maneuvering the car. But I’ve changed my mind since I came to Chiang Mai; it seems to have the worst kind of drivers I’ve ever seen in my entire life and almost all of them are women – old women, young and fashionable women, mature and business-like women, all kinds of them. 

These women stop or slow down at anywhere they like on the road, at any time, without a care who is behind or besides their car. Just this morning, we were driving along a busy market area and this old woman suddenly slowed down in the middle of the road, pointing out the shops in the market to her friend in the car, not hearing the horn while being oblivious that she was, in fact, blocking the road and our car was in a very tight position besides hers.

Many a time I’ve also seen women drivers who drive at a very slow speed on the far right lane, not looking into the rear mirror, not having a concern about how many cars have overtaken hers using the left lane. I wonder whether those women even know the correct usage of the left and right lane. To be fair, I have to add that even men-drivers do that but there are fewer of them committing that mistake. 

In general, I am surprised at the way people drive and tolerate each other in this city. I don’t hear anyone cursing or swearing on the roads. Neither do I see people pressing on their horn much; they occasionally do when the situation really calls for it. When cars are parked way out on the roads, people just slowly swerve their cars and drive along. No complaints. Whenever two cars end up in a tight spot on the road, they just patiently wait for each other to move along. No competition of who goes first. Whenever a car is trying to park in a tight spot, blocking the rest of cars, they will just wait patiently for the car to finish parking. No complaints. In that sense, it is really quite peaceful to drive here.

With such tolerance and patience, I, as a new driver, certainly feel relieved to drive in this city; no one is there to pressure me or swear at me on the roads. But I do remind myself not to be complacent and commit the atrocious driving habits like those bad drivers. I still keep to what I was drilled to do when I was taking my driving lessons in Singapore: check blind spot, keep to the left lane, overtake on the right lane only, not changing lanes abruptly, always signaling, checking my rear and side mirrors often, always on the lookout for brake-lights, etc. 

Still, my driving lessons did not cover on how to drive in Chiang Mai’s kind of situation – a mixture of bikes, bicycles, people and cars and having to drive through tiny lanes at times. Traffic accidents do happen here but do not seem as fatal as the ones in Singapore. Maybe people are always on the alert. For me, I usually drive slow and steady, making full use of what Chiang Mai offers – people’s tolerance and patience. And I’m proud to say that so far, I have not hit or been hit; and I definitely intend to keep this record.

Driving in a foreign land (1)