Bigfarang1948

Analyse risk factors and recommend solutions.

Drink driving

Excessive speed

Failure to comply with the rules of the road in general

Poor road design

No helmets

Underage/undertrained drivers

No traffic law enforcement

This is not an exhaustive list, but could you just deposit my fee direct. Job done.

So much drivel from the Ministry. I give no credence to their comments and less to their intention of doing anything that will cut down on the number of people killed and maimed along Thailand's highways. This talk is the same as it has been since I came here 7 years ago and undoubtedly, for many years before that. If there are no vehicle inspections, especially for brakes and tires, no mandatory drug testing of drivers, no mandatory seat belt laws enforced, etc., what we can expect is the same carnage to continue. I mean, what is there to study? Speeding drivers overtaking in blind spots, passing when they cannot see clear to do, falling asleep because they are pressed to drive more hours than is reasonable, faulty brakes, etc., are the common threads in this ongoing mayhem. Speed limiters on trucks and buses would surely save lives, This common sense fix would slow the drivers down to the speed limit and to go further, the Minister could reduce the speed limits on long winding mountain roads that are notorious for accidents. Talk is all I expect along with a Post after the holidays proclaiming a successful accident reduction campaign, if the number of deaths is down even by one. Pitiful face saving attempt ahead of the deaths to come......

what kind of visa do you have?

Still working on how to do that. I qualify for a Retired Visa.. more an 65,000 a month and aged 63

I am sure you must have checked all the visa requirements for Thailand. 65K monthly income won't get you the retirement visa unless you have an additional 800K in a Thai bank account for two months before applying or your Retirement visa. I was sure it was 65K a month income OR 800K in the bank, but apparently it is both incomes since I have never been able to convince Immigration that 65 K a month was one of two possibilities for the Retirement visa. That is the BIGGEST obstacle you need a clear answer for. In my opinion, the rest of your needs will not be all that expensive. Clothes are cheap and plentiful, electronics are reasonable, rent is reasonable, if you are in the right area. Be prepared to be charged more as a foreigner, for most everything, no matter how good you are at negotiating. I would not make up my mind, ahead of time, that Thailand is the dream paradise you are hoping and thinking it is. Many foreigners become deluded in the LOS after a short time, becuse of all the discrimination and rules we must abide by, but rules are applicable anywhere so adjusting and having an attitude of comprimise and realizing that you are a guest in Thailand is a key to enjoying your stay here. I will hazard a guess that you will soon run into a Thai lady who will set you up for a big fall in the love/money department. Do not be taken in by her stories of my mama is in the hospital, the water buffalo needs a wisdom tooth extraction, my rubber trees all burned down and my family has no money for food, my sister is sick too and I need 30,000 Baht for her care, etc. The tears will flow like river water so get a hard heart before you come here, else some Thai beauty will empty your wallet and your bank account before you have been here 90 days. Take this advise to the bank with you and good luck to you.

Oh dear! I'll humour you. Not a bar worker, next.

Worst topic I have ever seen to start trolling about. Does this reinforce your opinion that most, or all Farang's Thai wife has been a bar prostitute; call it sex worker if you like?

You have run out of useful things to post about. SIGNED Farang husband of a Isan farm girl

Prayers to those onboard.

Looking at the weather map of Indonesia on TV just now. It looked like torrential rains over the entire region. I do not know how current the radar weather was but weather could have played a part in whatever has happened to the plane. My prayers for all onboard and for theirt families.

The rubber tappers obviously have never heard of saving for a raining day,

while the prices were very good they must have thought it would go on forever,

which anything rarely does, so now its pouring down they turn to the Govt. for

help.maybe the Govt needs to open a Ministry of how to manage your money,

on second thoughts that would not work,as Governments are worse than people

at managing the budgets.

regards worgeordie

We started our farm almost 7 years ago and next year we will tap for the first time. For now, my family taps rubber trees for other farmers at a 60/40 pay rate. We make barely enough to cover expenses and if it was not for my retirement income I would hate to think how bad it would be for the family. My wife is worried that we will barely recover the costs we have incurred when we do start cutting. Our land is not level enough for planting palm oil trees so I guess we are stuck in a bad situation as are thousands of other farmers. Those who suggest the farmers should have saved for a rainy day obviously have not had to worry about paying their bills, putting food on the table daily, paying medical expenses, paying for food, paying for school, paying for gas and paying for utilities, paying for fertilizer for the trees, paying for labor to keep the underbrush cleared, etc. , but your hard heart is noted anyway. What happened to the Government raising the price of raw latex to sixty baht per kilo?. We sure could use it after selling rubber for less than 30 baht per kilo recently. My heart aches for these farmers and I am not holding my breath for a Gov't subsidy.

OH ... so Belarusians are farangs. Ok it's clear now.

What is so strange about that? If you aren't Thai, then you MUST be a FARANG, or am I missing your snide point??

It would seem easy enough to see if Mr Diver is still in Thailand, that is, if the Thai authorities care. I wonder if this is a strong enough case for Thailand to honor an extradition request?

Common sense...a possible vote losing move avoided.....

Are those kids some sort of 'rent a model citizen of the future' troupe?

The lad second from the left looks like he's already got outside a few cold ones and is well on the way to being stocious....

Further studies are needed before banning alcohol sales during this perriod, because many people will be impacted. Really? What about the impact to the dead people's families? There is not much blood money going to be paid becuse someone drank a quart of local whiskey and died behind the wheel of a fast moving car or motorbike. And, please give the kid on the second row a break; just because he was looking away from the camera when the photo was snapped does not make him look like a stoner or a drunk. Shame on you. This whole proposal was such a sham as to deny any attempt at taking this proposed ban seriously. I think they have a file of Things that must get on TV before every holiday, so it looks like they care. I bet if one could go back to the Thai Visa way back machine, one would find a similar post before these holidays for many years. Same Same. I love LOS......

This is a trgedy on both sides, but nothing any of us here say will ever make a difference. You cannot always seperate the good from the bad based on background checks and previous expedrience in their present position.,Good cops and crooked cops can become a kiler in a moment just as we have seen here. We will never know more so we should not ask more. This has absoutely nothing to relate to any women being date raped and beaten by anyone. Get a grip on reality for a change

.Is this a wonder to anyone? I know some women date raped and beaten by RTPs upper echelon. So why not a killer also. Too many police weree given jobs in high places simply because they had connections. Something really needs to be done to get the gangsters off the streets and get real police here to protect the people and uphold the laws.
I am in no way saying all police here are bad. They are not and some are even acquaintances. But the PM needs to do something about them. Poor girl only 21 and her whole life ahead of her. So sad she met her end at the hands of someone who is supposed to protect.

SSSSHHHHHHHHH Quiet pease. WE do not want to disturb President Obama while he is caving in to the demands of Castro. He is gonna give them billions in aid in exchange for some cuban rum, sugar cane, cigars and all the poor, unemployed people there who have family here in the USA. When commercial flight restrictions are lifted between Miami and Havana, the flights coming into the US will be filled with people carrrying a one way ticket. They will disappear into the Miami population, demand political asylum and then we will be only too happy to give them everything they want for FREE, just like we do to illegals from Mexico and Central America. I bet it will get so bad, we set up an immigrant processing center at Miami's airport where they will be given a green card, a social security card, a drivers license and more money than they have ever seen in their entire lives. I don't blame the people for taking advantge of a weak American president who knows no more about bargaining power than Jimmy Carter did.

I wanted to watch the movie...

Sony has pulled the movie and will not be release on the 25th... I'm sure it would have been a good one

I think I need to take a nap. At first read, I thought the question was, which sex toy can I buy with my 690 baht voucher. LOL I need new glasses maybe. I needed the laugh....

Will only show endless <deleted> TV, my voucher is filed in a draw until June, if anyone is buying a TV I'll try to flog them the voucher for a few hundred baht.

Nice to see that you are so focused on the intent of the artlcle as oppposed to words that describe where the drugs are centered; centered meaning the hub; it's a good word with a common ring to it, but I think you have already gone to a thesarus to find something that does not grate on your raw nerve. LOL

Please.....! Can't these guys use a new word? Anything but "hub" or "probe"....

I have a diffferent story on local insurance in Thailand. I am 66 years old, and married to a Thai. We looked at mny places for health insurance and the only company who would cover me was an international company that wanted $500 a month to cover me for up to about 3 million TB. Since I cannnot afford that amount of money I have decided to stay back in the States and, sadly, visit my wife and family in Thailand only when I can scrape up enough for a round trip ticket. When I do go back for a trip you can bet I will have the best insurance policy I can buy. I wish I had some way to contribute money to helping this man get back home

Some insurance companies do not insure people driving motorbikes in Thailand and it voids there insurance

All Insurance companies void insurance if the person doesn't hold a valid motorbike licence, or is drunk on on drugs.

If you are living long term here you can buy locally sold medical insurance at reasonable rates .

Or if you don't buy insurance, you make sure you have access to cash/credit card to pay medical bills/repatriation.

Indeed, sweeping changes are needed in the Thai Royal Police Force, in the face of rampant corruption. A comprehensive reform will take some time, but still, there is no way to be sure that the new Police will be any more honest than those who have bought their positions already. I applaud the initiative, but remain very skeptical that it will ever move beyond the talking stage. It is a huge undertaking and those in command positions now will not go away quietly after so many years of being on the take.

Am I correct in thinking that this was just a 'Proposal', perhaps one of many?

Not a dictatorship......yet but sounding much like freedom of speech is eroding and military control is becoming more the law. I am sure moving the time slot for Buddha's teachings would appease both Buddha and the cops. Can't we all get along in the LOS?

' Must ' air all official announcements.

' Ordered ' to broadcast the P'S weekly ' happiness ' speech.

DR'S expressing their own opinions, what nerve !

You've just got to love this free speech thing, luckily this is not a dictatorship.

First place to check. The wife. Especially an absent one.

Yup. It must be the wife; she left several weeeks ago, then hired a hitman from home to off her hubby for partying with friends and unknown white substance. Suicide makes it nice and tidy for the coroner and cops, doesn't it?

Behave yourself ! OK !! OK !! Don't work with uneducated idiots! We wish it would, try having a go at one of them in a restaurant when they have finished food and start spitting it everywhere. They know no diffrent !!

Unacceptable behavior in any country but still happens and nothing can stop it besides serious financial penalties and prison time after threatening to bomb a flight and assaulting a crew member. Their slap on the wrist fine will not be a deterrent and the every day Chinese tourist is not impacted and will not suffer loss of face. These thugs actually demanded a letter from the airline saying the accusations against them were false, and the airlines complied. WHY??? Sounds like the culprits held the airline company officials to their demands and got what they wanted. Prison time for the one who hurled the scalding water at the flight attendent would be justified....

Cant disagree with you more about experiences in Cambodia. I spent several months there a few years ago, trying unsuccessfully to make it as a bar owner. Corruption and payoffs were rampant as were the thefts by the local gals working my bar. The city was what I called a dead zone. I likened it to Pol Pot killing the spirit of the country along with 2,000,000 minoirity residents he is said to have killed. The final straw was when a underged girl was brought to my bar and posed dancing on the bar top with the bar logo clerly visible in the photos. The cops came back thee next day and told me I had 72 hours to be gone from their counrty. I was more than happy to oblige. Now I am having similar thoughts about the treatment I have to endure as a foreigner, married to a Thai and always getting ripped off for everything we purchase because her ID card has a Farang last name. This treatment by business owners has just about sapped the life and spirit out of me and I too wonder if I will go back to Thailand other than to visit my wife every year or two. I have given up on my dream of retiring there for many reasons, not the least of which is no health care insurance and not enough money to cover hospitilaization long term. I love the people of Thailand but am tired of being taken advantage of because I am foreign. I wish you well.

discoverd Laos and Cambodia. And generall have found the Cmabodia to be the nicest most courteous people in Asia.

Bet you said the same thing after your first visit to Thailand as well. As the old saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt". Looking forward to your updated posts about Laos and Cambodia in a few years!

Stop and search is not allowed in Thailand. Someone better tell the cops and the Army troops about this. Since the Coup, life in our small village has been dominated by crooked Military guys extorting fines from eveyone, includingmy wife and family several times, These bandits demand on the spot urinalysis, search our truck, house, ransack our dressers and wardrobes and demand money. Thailand is close to becoming a police state, if not already there.

I don't know why this is news. Been happening for years and years.

Could be because its WRONG ands who ever you are you have rights>

possibly because the military are supposed to be stopping this rubbish ...this is racial profiling and Stop & search in thailand by police is not allowed

Relations between blacks and cops will never get ny beter as long as blacks continue to break the law, then refuse arrresting policeman's orders. It is blacks doing the majority of the crime, blacks resisting arrest, blacks burning their ghetto businessses down and calling or others to burn them down too. Blcks are the only ones seen to loot and riot ater a black is killed by a white. White's don't act out when a cop arrests them and they don't burn the neighborhood down and loot markets and steal everything they can carry off, when a white man is shot by the cops. Hispanics dont do this lawless behavior either, so the black question is why do you do it and then blame it on the cops. Until blacks become law abiding citizens insteead of law breaking burning and looting thugs, and until they respect the tough jobs the cops do every day, race relations will continue to fester and race baiting blacks like Al sharpton will continue to stir the pot.

I agree with the majority of Americans that do not think that race was a major factor in either of the grand jury rulings, but I do think that some sort of charges should have been prosecuted in the Eric Garner case. However, I think that their is a good chance that the police would have been acquitted.

Charges? Well, Garner would have been charged with selling untaxed cigarettes and resisting arrest (not unlike his other 30 arrests) but he died from a heart attack in the ambulance (due to his total disregard for his own health and life, not from a chokehold as you mentioned). However there was one charge loosely connected to this case. The videographer was found in possession of an illegal handgun last week and charged accordingly. I would like to charge you with the responsibility of arresting a man intent on not being taken into custody who is 6'3" and 400lbs. Until you do that, you can just start thanking police for doing a job that must be done by someone with guts enough to get it done.

And remove your pinned quote about sleeping under the protection of brave men while your at it because you obviously don't really believe it.

Isn't this the usual annual meaningless talk by the ministers to make it look like they care that Thai's will somehow still not get drunk and kill through violence or vehicle accidents? Aside from the bar crawling drunks and other tourists out to tip a few, if the Thais cannot buy alcohol during this time, I am sure they will stock up before hand just like most Westerners will if they feel the need to have booze during these holidays. The small village markets will undoubtedly have enough behind the counter to get the party in full swing and the cops are not likely to be out in the villages to see who is drinking, are they? This is an empty attempt at showing concern, meanwhile I expect the vehicle death carnage and violent deaths will not abate at all because of any proposed or implemented ban. Life goes on as usual, in Thailand.

Usually these proposals are made to cover up something else going on behind the curtains. I wonder what that was this time ..

Isn't this a recurring theme just so the ministers look like they care who gets drunk and kills others through violence or reckless driving? It is really a pathetic attempt at showing they are concerned about alcohol related deaths on these holidays only. Aside from the bar crawling tourists, the Thais can stock all they want well ahead of the holidays and the mom and pop markets will have plenty even though it might be illegal to sell alcohol during this time. I expect nothing will be done and the drunken mayhem will go unchecked

Usually these proposals are made to cover up something else going on behind the curtains. I wonder what that was this time ..

We haven't given even one tenth measure of torture back to the terrorists; water boarding is a justifiable means of extracting information from these scumbags. When we start beheading, then they can call it equality of terrorist tactics. Until then, I do not give a darn what we do to kill these terrorist murderers and all their buddies in the Middle East, but for liberals in Washington to publish our interrogation tactics is just wrong and our muslim president does not care who he puts more into harms way. The only way to defeat terrorists is to keep killing them, but we will never kill them all; just too many of these haters around the world.

What goes around comes around.

Won't make any difference to the hundreds of thousands of expats here, will it? I will just go on paying 4X what Thais pay for dr visits and meds and pray I do not have a serious health problem. Neither My US military retiree insurance nor my US Medicare insurance is good in Thailand and I surely cannot afford the $500 a month one international insurance bandit quoted me. No matter though because I still do not grasp the intricacies of Thai healthcare for eve my wife;s poor family, who seem to have to first see the local doctor and then get a written referral before they can go to the next larger hospital. The only service I know my wife and her family get for free is teeth extraction

Good article from the Nation newspaper. This is the type of stuff that Thailand needs the Nation to print. Yes, a newspaper that is calling for the same standards for EVERYBODY. Same standard of healthcare available to all. It might not happen, because Thais who have got money might start saying "I pay more into the system, why should I subsidise people who are poor".

And good to see that the Nation has thrown in politics into the situation. The Nation actually wrote "since the junta-led government is promising real reforms, will it be able to set a standard and ensure quality healthcare services for one and all ?"

If the junta was to actually carry this out, then yes, they will win the next general election. Let's all urge the junta to actually carry this out. Massive credit for the Nation for bringing this up.