cikeda

Sonkran death toll rises to 236 after four days

BANGKOK: -- The death toll from road accidents in the first four days of the seven "dangerous" Songkran holidays stood at 236, officials said.

A total of 786 accidents occurred on Saturday, the fourth day of the monitoring period, killing 67 people and injuring 886 others.

So far, 3,182 people were reported injured in road accidents from Wednesday to Saturday.

Most accidents were caused by drunk driving, officials said.

-- The Nation 2007-04-15

Any statistics on non-holiday accidents? Would be interesting to compare.

I will definitely look for the new hybrid and give it a try when I'm in the Kingdom next month. The turian odor can be overwhelming but is (presently) a signature that comes along with the fruit.

A few fresh fruits are available for purchase periodically at our local weekend market in Hawaii. Complete sales is usually over in under 30-minutes as the supply cannot meet the demand. I'd like to learn more about the farming and yield and research more the possibility of providing fresh turian and turian products to our market place.

I'm not familiar with the electronics and system configuration of the SEA outdoor warning system that was installed thus am unable to provide a definitive response to the news release. But what I do know is the system that is installed and configured for use in my state and at my local level in the USA.

TESTING. It is not good enough to "silent test" the system or standalone devices (Note: The article makes me believe that a SCADA system or something similar is used). Run a "full test" and actually sound the devices instead of going on the presumption that it should sound because it passed the silent tests. My recommendation is to do a monthly test on the same day each month at the same time with test notification to the public sent via the media a day before each test.

WHY TEST?

- Ascertain the local device and system is operational. The outdoor devices exposed to the elements will eventually corrode and electronics deteriorate with or without a maintainence program. Anything can go wrong at any time!!!

- Public Education. Properly planned and implemented, the public and visitors will be aware of what to do when the outdoor warning system is actually activated or when a test is conducted. Expand the public education program --- I saw one article after the Phuket tsunami that quoted a resident from my State saying that his life was saved because he knew what to do after feeling the quake and headed for higher grounds, a bullet from our local tsunami public education program. Public confidence is increased and it saves lives when a good program is in place.

[The above only addresses "TESTING" of the devices/system and not public participation during a test].

It is one's own responsibility to survive. Wherever it comes from, it is with information that a decision is made. The ultimate decision to a concern is made by the individual ... not government, not your friend, not your family, but the individual.

I am a devoted reader of everthing I can read online about Thailand. Information gathered online and from resources within the Kingdom have increased my awareness and will place me on a high level of caution when I'm in places that tourists gather. I will continue to travel to Thailand but you can bet I will exercise a higher level of alert during my stay.

A handful of friends and I are in the same boat as you guys. We visit Thailand much more than 3 times a year and stay for a week at a time and average at least 200K BHT per visit ... we can afford it. Too bad this had to happen but we'll abid by the decision of the country. We talked about visiting other ASEAN countries and I guess now we'll be actually visiting instead of talking about those visits. Good luck to LOS on their decision.

If you spend 200k per visit, then I'm sure the 1000 baht fee for a tourist visa before you come will be no problem.

If all it takes is an expenditure of 1K BHT for a toursist visa to extend beyond the 3 visits per year, it is no problem.

I come to Thailand for pleasure each month. Sometimes 1 week sometimes up to several weeks depend on my schedule. According to what I read here, people like me can come for pleasure 3 times only and cannot come for 90 days?? This policy is just too rediculous, must be out of some monkey brain. Because I know many friends, European expats in HK, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, ect, come Thailand for pleasure every month, some people only work a few days a month, and spend their big chunks of money in Thailand for pleasure. Are we in this group also affected??

Like you, I come to Thailand every month as I've moved to a more lucrative market, HK. I am in Thailand usually for a few days, sometimes as much as a week. So I am only allowed to come 3 times then I have to take a 3 month break?

To hel_l with that.

A handful of friends and I are in the same boat as you guys. We visit Thailand much more than 3 times a year and stay for a week at a time and average at least 200K BHT per visit ... we can afford it. Too bad this had to happen but we'll abid by the decision of the country. We talked about visiting other ASEAN countries and I guess now we'll be actually visiting instead of talking about those visits. Good luck to LOS on their decision.

Use Don Muang as a freight terminal. Keeps the inports/exports and domestic transfer of goods in one primary area without adding to the traffic of ground haulers.

Drill deep wells and chlorinate; usually does not require filtration as the natural properties of the earth takes care of the process. Commonly done process. This now allows us to drink from the tap.