SiamKitt

Apart from the box not being fastened down..we've all seen the way Thai truck drivers just HAVE to swing their vehicles out to pass the vehicle in front..creating a kind of whiplash effect on the trailer being towed..they slew the vehicle to the right (always without warning), to get over to the next lane, then immediately correct the action with an equally harsh motion..then they wonder why 10 seconds later they're viewing the scenery from a sideways angle..

Thailand49's post reflects my thoughts too.

If the bus was going East away from Saraburi it may well have been going uphill, (even slightly)..hence the 78kph..?

I also feel so,so sorry for the bus driver & his passengers, & firmly believe the driver of the bus should not be carrying any blame here.

If.. I say if.. the truck-driver was indeed coming downhill..even only slightly, chances are he would be speeding & taking advantage of good old gravity to help him along. Then IF as the report says, he fell asleep then the truck (in theory) becomes a missile!

Yet again it's way to easy for us all to relate back to Western standards of policing, law, & driving..here the roads remind me of

Mad Max 1..but with more cars. Maybe Interceptors with shotgun weilding officers MAY just make Fortuner-drivers stop thinking they own the road..?? R.I.P. those poor souls.. :-( :-(

For a couple of years now our customers have Blacked Phuket, & opted to visit Samui as a Southern resort-option

from Hua-Hin. Every one of them has come back with horror-stories from that place, & vowed never to go there again! (these are ex-pats, who as far as being 'streetwise' are a far cry from tourists).

Time & time again we see Thai-Chinese Hi-So's crossing the roads in Hua Hin without even hesitating to look for traffic.

We always see groups of 4-5 or 6 'white-faced' Bangkonians walk straight out causing cars & bikes to stop..& they NEVER look at the motorists..just keep walking with heads held high..pure cockiness. (makes my blood boil at their arrogance also).

When I read the story in the BKK Post..& the truck's driver told police he could unable to stop the truck because the fire had burnt through the trailer's brakes..er, excuse me, but I'm sure on a truck-trailer combo air pressure holds the trailer's brakes OFF..so I'm sure the brake pipes/seals would had melted before the fire burnt out the brake linings..causing loss of air & then 8 tyres skidding-along! (or was it one of those braked hubs over-heating that started a fire in the 1st place..??). I still think the driver's telling Porkies..??

The company I used to work for often had large machinery coming in to our place by road & a coupla times the good old UK police planned the route for these large truck/trailers & got it wrong! Nothing dire like in this case, but a Yorkshire town brought to a complete standstill.

R.I.P.the poor pick-driver.. :-(

Anyone wishing to travel to Dan Sinkhon..the turn-off just below the Jtn for Pratchuap Kiri Khan has a BIG green overhead sign to notify you..then look for the Pratchuap Immigration Building on your right not far after the turn. (It is signposted)..The border is another 10+km up this road.

Please do not forget Thailand made it illegal to drive & use hand-held mobile phones..so that meant darker tint needed on the vehicles so the MIB cannot see them chatting & texting, or watching a Thai soap on the dash-TV.

So-so many times I see in Hua-Hin at weekends the BKK Hi-So women in their Jazz ,March, Mini etc. making a turn at a main junction using bottom gear & the window wound down cos they can see f/a..& this is accepted!

(Now add to this what has been said here on previous posts regarding failing eyesight & it all becomes a bit messy).

So we've got 100 MIB on the case..that's alot of policemen..but of course.. Phukkers does not need them to tackle any street-crimes etc does it..??

How do this year's figures so far match-up to last yr's..?? Or do we have to wait till the end of the '7 days'?? (no comparison seems to have been made yet).

Once Chinese car plants are up-and-running, unit sales within Thailand should be easy for the company..never mind the build-quality... just introduce a more attractive finance deal than the Japanese & the Thais will buy..simple.

WHAT??!!..It's taken the Asian institute of technology to work out that drivers of buses, minivans etc can drive at any speed they damn well want..cos who's gonna stop them?? The Grim reaper will get 'em well before any MIB.

Thai driver runs thru' a red-light..many, many of these junctions have cameras fitted above..do any of these <deleted> get fined/repremanded??

Does any member of the Royal Thai Police ever monitor the video tapes? Does any recording ever take place? Somehow I very much doubt it!

R.i.P. the poor innocent man, & I too wish his lady a full recovery.. :-(

The wife & I sat waiting on a red-light tonight at 1 of Hua Hin's main intersections..3 cars continued to come thru' on red, the traffic that had just got the green-light had set off..no collisions, but jammed-up cars that had to finally back-up to liberate the junction..all the while 2 MIB were stood on the corner watching, pointing & laughing..No action was what-so-ever taken against the cars that came thru' on 'Red'..If any of the offending drivers were drunk..Mai-Pen-Rai..MIB are not there to do police-work..it's after 5pm! (T.I.T.)

The fallout from any N. weapons does not reconise country borders..so in the event of the proverbial hitting the fan, many,many people will suffer for a long time over an ever-expanding area..including S.Korea,& part of China..if this idiot Kim won't back down then action needs taking directly at HIM.

When the 2nd (offending) boat passes the pier..it's looking to me like the driver/skipper is hell-bent on passing the previous boat..is there ANY regulations/laws with these boats..do they have numbers?..if so did the driver know full well that the camera on the jetty would not pick up his boat-No. that is painted on the back..??

Bit of a no-brainer really..Tuk-tuk Mafia charge 5-10x normal rate..& have got pretty damn smug about doing so..they're not gonna back-pedal down to 'normal rate' for a Farang fare now are they..?

But wait a mo..in comes our Red-Star boys..the soviets will offer the same transportation at the real (fair) price..everyone jumps on THEIR buses from the airport etc..leaving the Tuk-Tuk drivers (who, if truth be known,very few hail from the island & have come down to get their slice of the Farang-funded cake)..left on street corners stewing & promising retaliation.. yes, revoke the licences of the militant drivers, slim the 3-wheel menace fleet down to half, then let's see how they fair then..???

But on Pukkers this is unlikely to happen as the MIB, T.T.owners, & Jet-Ski operators seem to run the resort, & the T.A.T. has no chance of making the tourist's 2 weeks any better. (Rant over).

I wonder if Songkran may be extended this year..??

...for all these tourists flying in for the Water-Festival who will inevitably still be queuing at Swampy's immigration desks till about April 15th..555!

R.I.P. this poor man..to get to the ripe-old-age of 75, then to pass away like this is very sad indeed.

I've also thought many times that when there's an accident on the road..the MIBs simply use their torches to look around with..they could do with tooling-up same as many Western Countries with vehicles that have 'light masts'..to really light up the area, plus oncoming vehicles would (maybe) see this from a distance and (again maybe) slow down & pass by with caution.

Getting back to the news report..it says local officials will START conducting raids..I thought (in todays world of crime suppression)..that a 'raid' was something done WITHOUT prior warning to catch as many suspects as possible..?

Nowt like giving the Russians a head start, so thet can become 'unavailable' this next week or so. T.I.T.

Why put any liner in a Thai helmet at all..??

They never fasten the strap so in the event of an accident the helmet hits the road 5m away from where the victims head makes contact..!!

We all know every Thai driver seems to be lacking in the brain-cell dept. when it comes to driving, but wait on..

How many times have we seen a Farang couple rent a m/bike, then wobble off down the Soi (going the wrong way down the 1-way St.)..all this while he's wearing nothing except a smile & his flip-flops/thongs + shorts, she's no better with a bikini-top, shorts & plastic sandals..the single helmet the rental cowboy offered them is now in permanant residence..nice & cosy in the basket..they're still giggling away when after 5 mins of riding they've managed to slalom around 6 on-coming vehicles,..5 minutes! What about the rest of the day?, what about when these 2 muppets meet the main flow of traffic? Oh <deleted>! Yes we hear many horror-stories about tragedies abroad, but hey..wait on..many could have been avoided with half an ounce of common sense..something many Tourists seem to leave behind when they go on their Jollies.

Once we're all buckled-in onboard the plane, maybe just after the 'Oh <deleted>** we're gonna crash' video, the airline could then run a 'Dipsh**s abroad' video highlighting the aftermath of road accidents..such as amputated limbs, or the Embassy contacting the next-of-kin..Shock-tactics MAY hit home..?? (sorry to be quite blunt about this folks).

Rusians, Chinese & Indians..??

Well I only know a handfull of Russians, good people, they live here & are embarrassed by the exploits of their fellow countrymen here.

Chinese?..how many tourists can there be?..most of 'em are here already! they've owned & run this country for years!

Indians??..nah..don't get me started!!

Following the trucks up over Rama 9 bridge is the same now as it's been for the last 10yrs..just a filthy black/brown cloud of fumes belching out of these vehicles as they slog up the incline.

I'm also a firm believer that the 'Testing Stations' here are as corrupt as any other government body...so the testers will be taking their share to award a 'pass' on these trucks each time, so despite many new clean-burning trucks on the Thai roads, there's heaps & heaps of crappy ones with tired injectors & worn rings being allowed to haul daily.