Siderides

Bangkok sidewalks belong to everything that has wheels

I have written lots of stories about bad motorcyclist behaviour in Bangkok.  The last big one was in June 2015.  Walking on Bangkok sidewalks is a bit of an adventure, as one has to be vary careful that motorcycles speeding towards you from either side don’t make contact.  That would be bad.  Over the years, I have learned to be careful about how I walk on Bangkok sidewalks.  I generally don’t wear earbuds like I do when I walk in Toronto, as it’s important to hear what might be approaching, particularly from the rear.

I bring all this up because a couple of days ago, I saw an article in the Nation, a Bangkok based English newspaper, about a western guy who got into a fist fight with a sidewalk motorcycle rider.  I guess the walker didn’t want to cede space to the rider.  I don’t know about the stand and fight strategy.  That seems like it could hurt as there are a lot of tough motorcycle guys in Bangkok, particularly amongst the motorcycle taxi crowd.  My strategy has always been to move out of the way.  95% of the time, I get a thank you and a smile from the rider.

The fact is that riding motorcycles on sidewalks, while illegal, is commonplace and will likely not stop, unless Bangkok traffic improves, which is also unlikely.  To me, watching out for riders zooming in from all directions has become second nature.  I am not planning to get into any street fights over who owns the sidewalks or as they should be called in Bangkok – the ‘siderides.’ Anyway, the good news is that after the fight was over, the two guys shook hands and gave each other a hug.  How nice.

The bottom line is that Bangkok siderides belong to everyone – even cars – as is pretty clear in the last two photos.