FarangTalk

They had them in Iraq. Basically a shoe box with a coat hanger stuck in it. Not too comfy standing outside your armored SUV at a checkpoint while illiterate police wave the thing around and not a dog in site. I think Iraq spent about 60 million on them, probably mostly US tax money.

Thailand is the biggest spender on the GT200 Detector

Source?

Bangkok Post article. There's also the Wikipedia article I linked to earlier that details the per country procurement spend on the device. Thailand has spent $21 million on the devices to date according to those sources.

Exports of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan were banned several years ago.

Washington Times says they spent $30 million on it: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f23_1344627085 during Abhisit's tenure.

However, I suspect you will still deny the numbers posted here included deaths within 30-days of an accident.

You are now being obtuse. Thailand does not include deaths within 30 days of an accident and only records deaths at the scene as confirmed by multiple sources on the internet.

what else do you excpect, cuddling and exchanging phone-numbers with the younger ones?

That's exactly why I fly Air Asia.

On the bright side, his penis enlargement surgery is now a go.

I simply stated that it was wrong to state the vehicle death rates in Thailand don't count those who die within 30-days of an accident.

So you keep saying yet you provide no proof of that.

And we have the official FCO website from the UK saying the Thai statistics are calculated differently and only include those that die at the scene of an accident.

Who to believe?

Cambodia has an excellent 3G network and already has started rolling out its 4G LTE.

I'm on DTAC 3G in BKK and never get decent speeds.

From the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office official website.

An International Driving Permit or Thai driving licence is required to drive in Thailand.

In Thailand 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents between 2000 and 2010 meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period. In the UK there have been on average about 3,000 deaths from road traffic accidents each year over the past decade. In any comparison of these statistics, you should note that there is a difference in the method of calculating statistics for road deaths in Thailand (at the scene of the accident) and the UK (within 30 days of the accident). The risk of death or injury on the road increases if you travel at night.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/asia-oceania/thailand#roadtravel

Keep 'em comin' Nisa, I'll keep knocking 'em down.

Remember those stats only include those that die at the scene of an accident, not those unfortunates that die as a result of their injuries.The Police have admitted numerous times that the road death tolls are vastly under-reported, and are probably double what the stats show.

That is actually false and you can find numerous links on ThaiVisa to Thai stats and how they are derived and they are not only deaths at the scene. I forget the exact time but believe deaths are up to 30-days after the accident.

No, it is absolutely correct.

According to the World Health Organisation, the death toll from road accidents in Thailand is among the worst worldwide.Officially, between 2000 and 2010, an average of 12,000 people were killed on the country’s roads each year, but as police record a death only if it occurs at the scene of the crash – rather than within 30 days as is accepted practice in most other countries – these figures are widely accepted to be distorted.The real figure is estimated to be closer to 20,000 annually.This compares with 3,000 deaths a year in the UK – a country with a similar sized population.The British Embassy in Bangkok confirms that last year 17 British nationals died in road traffic accidents in Thailand and a further 36 were seriously injured.Most back-packers are aware of the risks of riding motorcycles or scooters, but few are aware of the hazards of travelling by buses.According to the Thai travel industry’s trade publication TTR, coach operators plying their trade on Highway 1 are notorious for speeding and bus drivers are often under the influence of alcohol, pep pills and drugs.There are frequent accidents and highway police take little or no legal action against the companies that are usually owned by elite or powerful members of the Thai society who consider themselves above the law.

http://www.wordsonli...hailands-roads/

there is no "Driving Test" and the closest comes to a fake gas and brake pedal to test reaction/reflex .. no aiming or steering.

Wrong again, there is a practical driver's test in an actual motor vehicle. I had to do it.

The Thai driver's test consists of; reaction tests, eyesight and colour blindness tests, video followed by written test (will vary depending on office), and practical test using a motor vehicle.

They made us drive around something that resembles a go-kart track. There is a hill start, stopping near a kerb and a reverse parallel park (which 70% failed. On observation, 95% were incompetent at this maneuver and just got lucky on the day and that is no exaggeration).

Looks to me like Malaysia is being honest whilst India and Thailand have faulty calculators.

Bang on the cash son.

Remember those stats only include those that die at the scene of an accident, not those unfortunates that die as a result of their injuries.

The Police have admitted numerous times that the road death tolls are vastly under-reported, and are probably double what the stats show.

I would assume the number one reason for car accidents here (possibly excluding alcohol) is driving/following too close.

It's speeding and drunk driving according to the Thai Police.

Drivers are actually fairly skilled here (at least in Bangkok) in terms of driving as well as being alert

Nonsense. The skill level required to pass the drivers' test is extremely low as has been discussed previously. I see no evidence on Bangkok roads of high skill levels of driving, but instead witness stupidity and dangerous driving on a daily basis.

If you want to talk skill levels Germany followed by the UK in that order. Lane discipline, manners, and good vehicular control. Three things notably absent on Thai roads.

what so you expect, bunch of incompetent minsters are running the county

As opposed to the fictional competent ones?

They had them in Iraq. Basically a shoe box with a coat hanger stuck in it. Not too comfy standing outside your armored SUV at a checkpoint while illiterate police wave the thing around and not a dog in site. I think Iraq spent about 60 million on them, probably mostly US tax money.

Thailand is the biggest spender on the GT200 Detector to the tune of $21 million.

What I don't understand is why after so many years the lowlife who sold them is still not in jail.

On 12 July 2012, Andrew Penhale, Deputy Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Central Fraud Division, authorised charges against six individuals, including Gary Bolton, for the manufacture, promotion and sale of a range of fraudulent substance detector devices[25]. Bolton was formally charged at the City of London Magistrates' Court on 19 July with one count of fraud by false representation and one count of making or supplying an item for use in fraud between January and July 2012, and pleaded not guilty to both charges.[26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

Most Malaysian drivers are more relaxed than Thai, but I found that there is category in Malaysia that drives like maniacs, speeding, tail-gating, ignoring each and every rule in the book. Hardly ever see such crazy mofo's in Thailand.

Driving in Malaysia is far safer than in Thailand. The stats don't lie.

The infrastructure is better and the drivers are far better mannered. Laws are enforced better, there is less corruption and miscreant drivers are usually punished.

Even after 10 minutes in Malaysia (nowhere near the Thai border) and this was obvious.

Most Thais I have been around are very hygenic...and yes every once in a while there is someone who does have body order, but they are

far and few between.

No better or worse than any other nationalities.

We have to add "and despise the pedestrians."

You can love the motors but respect the laws and the walking people.

In Bangkok, the pedestrian is the enemy! License to kill or at least to scare.

Absolutely.

We have a zebra crossing with our stop lights outside our Bangkok soi and their arrogance is astounding. The majority of drivers just ignore the lights if they can't see someone crossing, often not even slowing their speed. Some drivers don't stop even when there are pedestrians crossing, even young children. Scooters are the worst though, most completely ignore the lights and try to weave or just drive straight through. I've so far resisted the temptation to administer a shove to these arrogant SOBs.

The culture of arrogant impunity among Thai drivers is the biggest hurdle they face in reducing road accidents IMO.

all smelly farangs that fail the test should be stripped and scrubbed with scouring pads before being allowed entry.

You're lucky, smelly Thais can't afford to use the BTS.

The thread is about denial - and the point is? Stop trying to drag up rubbish - who gives a dam_n who ordered what and who shot who. If Reds had not laid siege to Bangkok there would be no deaths, no phantom men in black, no question of rubber bullets, no orders to do what had to be done and no setting Bangkok alight. I have NO sympathy for the Reds or motor mouth stage idiots. This is soooo constantly boring and it achieves absolutely nothing. Stop wasting taxpayers money and get on with solving important issues like corruption, or is this all making you too busy to handle that?

If there were no Yellow Shirts there would be no Red Shirts, if the Yellow Shirts were properly dealt with originally etc...

I believed and still do believe Abhist was and is still the best man for the job. I do how ever not like him and his handling of those barges was one of the reasons I dislike him. Just turning it over to the army who were the instigators and guilty of caring out the deed is like giving the key for the hen house to the fox to guard the chickens.

Abhisit initially defended the GT200 device then when it was proven to be a fraud he said it was entirely an Army issue for them to deal with.

Too weak to condemn the military, too ineffectual to seek recompense against those that sanctioned the purchase but not stupid or arrogant enough to deny the device is bogus.

The GT200 is used extensively in Thailand.^[27] Reportedly, some 818 GT200 units were procured by Thai public bodies since 2004. These include 535 bought by the Royal Thai Army for use combating the South Thailand insurgency and another 222 for use in other areas, 50 purchased by the Royal Thai Police for use in Police Region 4 (Khon Kaen), 6 bought by the Central Institute of Forensic Science, 6 by the Customs Department, 4 by the Royal Thai Air Force and 1 by Chai Nat police.^[28] Other agencies such as the Border Patrol Police Bureau and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board use a similar device, the Alpha 6, procured from another company.^[27] According to the Bangkok Post, the Royal Thai Air Force first procured the GT200 to detect explosives and drugs at airports, followed by the army in 2006.^[29] According to Lt Gen Daopong Rattansuwan, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Army, each GT200 bought by the army cost 900,000 baht (£17,000/$27,000), rising to 1.2 million baht (£22,000/$36,000) if 21 "sensor cards" were included with it.^[27] In total, Thailand's government and security forces have spent between 800–900 million baht ($21 million) on the devices.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

The device has been proven to be bogus and they will never admit they were conned.

Just watching them squirm and look like complete idiots has given me some pleasure.

But they are still using the device! Their arrogance and incompetence knows no bounds!