After a long dry period of time there is a lot of 'tire rubber' on the road.
Once it starts raining the roads become a few hours slippery. Do they teach that during a driving lesson course?

Posted by Kurt on April 12, 2015 08:56

Great pictures, PW. People here love to see the bottoms of their car. Just put it ups and down, or on the site.
Anyone who can teach me how to put a car in these 'positions'?

Posted by Kurt on April 12, 2015 09:02

I love seeing green plate taxis upside down and crashed. Call it what you want, I call it happiness. Then they are no longer a threat to me or others on the road. Kepp crashing green plates and dont come back.

Posted by Annon on April 12, 2015 10:24

This is normal in the rain in Phuket, imagine if the rain carries on through Songkram with all the drunk drivers! Is this really news we know this is one of the highest death rates in the world on the roads.

Posted by Welcome To Paradise on April 12, 2015 11:10

@ Kurt

It's not really the rubber but oil that seeps up to the surface in the heat. At locations where a lot of torque is put onto the bitumen, like steep climbs, at traffic lights or braking points coming downhill, the surface gets further polished.

Combine that with water and it's almost like driving on ice.

On another note - just drove through Kata, Karon and Patong and so far only water games I could find were on Bangla. Nothing on Nanai or anywhere else so at least around noon it had yet to start in earnest.

Posted by Herbert on April 12, 2015 13:12

@ Ed

Actually certain areas in Kata and Karon have joined in on the 12th in the past few years but elsewhere it has been just on the 13th.

Posted by Herbert on April 12, 2015 13:32

That naughty rain seems to trip up Thai drivers all the time

Posted by slickmelb on April 12, 2015 16:54

@ Mr Herbert, thank you for your information. Well, to be on the safe side tonight and tomorrow,..just stay home, duck in and don't drive Phuket roads. Songkran celebration on Phuket is just 1.5 day. Have your stock at home and relax.

Posted by Kurt on April 12, 2015 18:29

Gotta agree, great to see taxis upside down in a gully. I see a delivery truck as well, another notorious branch of idiots on the road. With wet pavement and the same driving ignorance used in dry weather, we will likely see some more wreckage, and hopefully no fatalities at the hands of taxis/tuktuks.

Posted by Ed Sanders on April 12, 2015 20:20

@ ed and ed saunders, green plate taxis should be required to mount their number plates upside down. Then it is easier to read them, when they are on their roof in a ditch.

Posted by annon person on April 13, 2015 06:07

@Annon, so you're happy to see people injured or dead - taxi drivers, passengers, innocent passers-by? Wow, what a quality human being you are.

Posted by LarryP on April 13, 2015 07:06

What Anon said! Exactly.

Yes less Phuket taxis and taxi drivers on the road = better quality of life in Phuket.

Never happy to see someone injured by circumstantial situations. Plenty of taxi drivers did not flip their cars and end up in ditches.

And as the article said no deaths or serious injuries. So knowing one less speeding, reckless and or unskilled taxi driver is on the road that = good news.

Posted by Vfaye on April 13, 2015 15:02