Road Rage

The recent road rage shooting fired by an SUV on a Bangkok motorway reminded me of a near-harrowing incident on one of our trips back to Bangkok from a weekend getaway a few years ago. Thinking about it still sends shivers down my spine.

It was sometime in the early afternoon, and Silver Bullet was cruising at an acceptable, but leisurely speed on a highway heading towards Bangkok when suddenly, a beat up pick-up truck started tailgating us. It was not a very busy road that day, but somehow, this little prick of a pick-up decided to also start driving dangerously, zig-zagging in and out of the lane in which we were in. They were cutting corners and over-taking dangerously. It almost seemed like they had a death wish.

They were at it for a while, almost causing Silver Bullet to crash onto them.  That was when a super annoyed Silver Bullet (and a very stressed out me sitting next to him!) flashed his headlights and honked rather loudly at them. Within seconds, the driver overtook us and the 2 guys who were sitting at the back of the pick-up truck gave us angry stares, ready to fight. As a passenger sitting next to Silver Bullet, I saw everything clearly as the pick-up was not driving too far from us. We were probably less than a meter apart.

I recalled that one of them started to quickly rummaged for something from underneath his side, his enraged stares never quite leaving us  I was unsure of what was happening, but soon enough, the other guy sitting next to him was seen, almost as quickly, trying to restrain the other guy by putting his hand on the other guy's hand. All that time, Guy #2, was making a "calm down gesture" to the other guy who seemed adamant to  want to retrieve something from where he was.

It was at that point that my heart started palpitating, convinced that he was about to pull something on us.For all I knew, he was about to pull out a gun and get trigger happy at us while we were still driving.

That image and action threw me off and I shrieked to Silver Bullet in horror to slow down and lose them. I must have said it a hundred times in 2 seconds. I was not sure if Silver Bullet saw what I saw at that time,  as Silver Bullet's main concern then was making sure that he was still driving safely and checking his mirrors and his blind spots amidst such an encounter with frickin' morons of the nation.

I was, on the other hand, scared shitless.

It is after all, Thailand and we all know too well what could happen if one offends a Thai - even if the person in question was clearly in the wrong.

I could not imagine, for the life of me what might have happened if...and all I could think at that time was for us to lose them. And quickly. I don't think I have ever felt so scared in my life before. I was still quite traumatised way after we lost them.

That was when I realise: In Thailand, life is cheap.