We've all been there, finishing a hard day's graft, looking forward to something to eat and a quiet night in front of the TV with the wife and kids, you leave work, it's pouring with rain, and you get stuck in a humungous, great traffic jam!
Rush hour traffic can be intolerable!
And with that very phrase on their lips, a number of drivers in Bangkok last Friday, decided not to tolerate it, and abandoned their vehicles where they were.
Thais are characteristically tolerant, to an extreme, and seldom allow themselves to show annoyance. When their tolerance limits are breached, however, anything can happen, and usually does.
The trouble flared when traffic began to get particularly heavy in the downtown area at the intersection at Sukhumwit Road and Soi Asoke. Cars, buses tuk tuks, motorcycles, and lorries ground to a halt for no particular reason other than it was rush hour, but kept their engines running.
After about 30 minutes, however, drivers became irritable, and one man showed this by getting out of his car, and walking away from it. Others watched as the man climbed the steps to the Asoke BTS Skytrain station, and disappeared.
Several more drivers decided they'd also had enough, and turned their engines off. They then followed the first man up the BTS stairs. Suddenly, there was a mass exit from vehicles as tolerance levels hit rock bottom, and a crowd pushed its way towards the Skytrain.
One man said:
"Traffic is too much. Come back get car tomorrow."
