Right of way

Chuck Borris · Post by **Chuck Borris** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:24 pm

As many of you have already noticed, Cambodians dont look right and left, check for other vehicles when they come from the side road. They just turn right to the main road and drive slowly in front of you. I had to break hard few times although I drive really slow and always expect some kamikaze will jump from the side road. If heavy truck with dodgy breaks would be instead of me? Splash.
I asked once my Khmer friends, just got laughs. Why? Any logical reason? Amulets? Buddha? Stupidity? TIA.

nemo · Post by **nemo** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:08 pm

They are exercising their freedom. Why should they have their rights taken away by government imposed rules?

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:40 pm

Someone once told me you can tell everything you need to know about a society by just watching their driving habits. The way they drive is like holding a mirror up to all the other aspects of their lives.

If you look at cultures around the world I think he's right.

Post by **Clutch Cargo** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:57 pm

xandreu wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:40 pm Someone once told me you can tell everything you need to know about a society by just watching their driving habits. The way they drive is like holding a mirror up to all the other aspects of their lives.

If you look at cultures around the world I think he's right.

Oh

come on. More of the mantra 'they drive like dumb fcuks so they must be dumb' right?

Never mind:

. you don't need a licence for under 125cc
. even young kids drive motos
. licence tests are not onerous/difficult and subject to 'moolah'
. road rules are largely not enforced

Hello, it's a developing country. Ever thought how it would be in our home countries if those factors similarly applied?

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:58 pm

Chuck Borris wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:24 pm As many of you have already noticed, Cambodians dont look right and left, check for other vehicles when they come from the side road. They just turn right to the main road and drive slowly in front of you. I had to break hard few times although I drive really slow and always expect some kamikaze will jump from the side road. If heavy truck with dodgy breaks would be instead of me? Splash.
I asked once my Khmer friends, just got laughs. Why? Any logical reason? Amulets? Buddha? Stupidity? TIA.

It's actually in the law that they can pull onto the road from the left in front of you (depending on the lights/junction). If you hit them you're responsible. Some French-inspired weirdness I believe.

sigmoid · Post by **sigmoid** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:12 pm

They learned it from the Vietnamese?

Anyway, it's the way things are in these parts. They used to call this "culture shock".

The main rule of culture shock is: If something annoys you, ignore it or accept it instead of trying to change it.

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:19 pm

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:57 pm
xandreu wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:40 pm Someone once told me you can tell everything you need to know about a society by just watching their driving habits. The way they drive is like holding a mirror up to all the other aspects of their lives.

If you look at cultures around the world I think he's right.
Oh come on. More of the mantra 'they drive like dumb fcuks so they must be dumb' right?

Never mind:

. you don't need a licence for under 125cc

You don't need a licence to do pretty much anything here and if you do, there are ways and means...

. even young kids drive motos

There doesn't seem to be any 'age of responsibility / adulthood' here, like 18 in Europe or 21 in the States is.

. licence tests are not onerous/difficult and subject to 'moolah'

Nothing is difficult here if you have the right amount of 'moolah'

. road rules are largely not enforced

and other rules are?

Hello, it's a developing country. Ever thought how it would be in our home countries if those factors similarly applied?

My point exactly. A society's customs are largely reflected in their driving habits. I'm not making a dig at Cambodia. You can say the same about any country.

Chuck Borris · Post by **Chuck Borris** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:39 pm

I am not trying to change nothing. But... it not comes to the edge of my mind not to check left and right every time, everywhere in the world. Even if everybody would say it, it is ok to do so. I still enjoy my life, even if I am not Keith Richards.

Bubble T · Post by **Bubble T** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:41 pm

Having lived my entire adult life in Cambodia and learned to drive there, I recently had to take some lessons to do my test in England. My instructor kept asking why I was edging into one way streets as if there might be oncoming traffic and giving way when I had the right of way at junctions, I told him it was just a habit from learning to drive in Cambodia where that stuff means nothing.

Kammekor · Post by **Kammekor** » Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:06 pm

Right of way is extremely overrated in Cambodia, unless you're driving an airplane in a designated area (airport?) or the largest lorry in the country.

Any vehicle lighter than 1 ton should forget about the concept all the time. That's somewhere between a Camry and a Prius.

Anything heavier might experience right of way sometimes.
Anything lighter should forget about the concept and instead focus on the concept of 'giving way'.

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