[saalaa]

You're suggesting Thai people loose their sabai-sabai "attitude" but doing so can not come without major cultural changes since it's rooted in philisophical traits. What you're suggesting is that, essentially, Thai people stop being Thai people.

[bsaul]

Every culture "improves" and moves on. Usually it's only after a huge trauma, once a civilisation is on the brinks of collapse.

French used to believes kings were chosen by gods themselves. Then they realized they're just humans, and there's no reason for noblemen to own lands simply by being born.

They didn't stop being "french", they just added another flavor.

[derriz]

I agree fully but the linked-to "driving guide" is a bit more problematic than that.

I stopped at the sentence for example: "According to international traffic rules, you have to check your mirrors and do a shoulder check when you change lanes, make a turn or in other circumstances, but because Thai people are inherently lazy, most of them fail to do that consistently."

I don't find accusing a group of people of being "inherently lazy" at all helpful. Firstly I don't believe it to be true - even if it could be measured - but worse it suggests that the failure is innate and incurable.

[stephenr]

You're kind of right. I don't believe Thai's fail to check their blind spot because of laziness. It's ignorance.

Not long after my then gf, now wife and I came to Thailand, we went somewhere with her mother. I had a Intl. drivers permit and she asked if I wanted to drive, so fuck it why not. Within a few minutes, she asked my gf "why is he turning his had, can't he see in the mirrors?".

She is a retired school teacher, and she had zero clue about the concept of a blind spot in a car. I can count the number of times I've seen her wear a seat belt, on my fingers (in 8 years).

[saalaa]

Precisely. So Thai culture, as we know it, would have to evolve into something else. And that's a job for the Thai people, not someone on an internet forum pointing at one aspect of it and saying that this is wrong and should be dropped.

[stephenr]

Are you really suggesting that giving zero fucks about even the most basic safety/precautions is key to Thai culture?

[stephenr]

I'm pretty sure s/he's just suggesting that Thai people find at least a single fuck to give about road safety. I'd probably just say safety in general, but road safety is a good start.

[refurb]

Thai people can keep being Thai. No issues with that.

But the axiom of “I should avoid doing things that harm others” still stands. We should all (globally) work towards that goal.

[kzrdude]

You can reuse this argument for almost any large scale behaviour change, can't you, no matter which culture?