hobz

50 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Surely that depends on wether or not it constitutes dangerous or reckless driving... in this case, it appears to be dangerous/ reckless driving, causing an accident, which could well have injured other road users

 

actually, im quite amazed that it didn't.

 

its also amazing that no charges were laid, because everyone had insurance.... what the hell has that got to do with it? Since when has that been a litmus test for liability?

 

I would be upset if my premiums went up, post accident, because some fool decided to brake suddenly and recklessly.

 

but then.... I'm also amazed that I'm amazed! Amazing Thailand.

But you have to keep a safe distance. There's multiple valid reasons for sudden break. There's no valid reason for staying too close.

And yeah the police decision is baffling. And i too am baffled that im baffled. Tit.

Just now, SaintLouisBlues said:

 

Generally that's a one-off thimble-and-pea trick, you can't go on getting away with it, election after election

Yeah, there's a reason the red shirts wins every election here... it's because they focus on various schemes to help farmers etc... but hey... what choices do the farmers have here? Do you think they feel represented by the bangkok elite? Do you think the bangkok elite would care if they all starved to death? 

Just now, elgordo38 said:

Geeze at least here they are promised cash. We are promised change. Been waiting 60 years for that. 

Well, technically i think they were not promised cash, they were promised various populist things that would save them money,, like free healthcare and subsidies for rice etc and various other "schemes" i bet :D

3 minutes ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

I'm wondering how long my response will last before being taken down. Chidchob is one of the money men of NE Thai politics. He was a leading player in the Thaksin governments. However, seeing which way the wind was blowing he threw in his lot with the Democrats and by all accounts spent considerably more money vote buying in the NE than the Thaksin forces in the last general election. Nevertheless his largesse was in vain; the Thaksin forces triumphed in the region, and Chidchob's party was reduced to a rump. It's a salutary tale for all those who believe that the only thing that matters in Thai politics is money, and the Thaksin parties only win because they spend the most money on vote buying. If you google "newin chidchob newmadala" you'll find plenty of reading matter

Yeah, there's two ways to buy votes from poor people. 1. give cash upfront. 2. promise more cash after election (rarely paid out)

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

Jog his memory - it was round about the time he deposited a huge sum of money in his account.

Oh you mean that time... :D

A perfect opportunity for the RTP to fine people for driving too close... it's part of the danger everywhere on thai roads.. pushy drivers too close ...  the police useless as usual

1 minute ago, malt25 said:

Absolutely !

Considering the possibility of human casualties, the life of the snake isn't even a consideration.

In many western countries the first driver would be guilty of dangerous driving.

Yes, the snake is majestic, but it's only a snake.

But don't you have a right to break at any time? The cars behind must keep a safe distance.

5 hours ago, Don Mega said:

"All of the vehicles had insurance so police decided to take no further action."

 

Why were the 4 drivers behind the first pickup not given a ticket for driving to close ?

 

 

That would be for the police to decide... oh wait.. 

On 12/27/2016 at 3:16 AM, cncltd1973 said:

Boggles the mind that police suggest marriage as a punishment to the pedophile. From what a poster said, the law forbids sex with a girl under 15 years. I guess saving face trumps again.

Can you prove any of this? Can they get married at age 12 here in thailand?

Hmm, so if the girl had invited the boys out then the rape would had been her fault or? Is that some weird old law here or?

On 1/20/2017 at 7:05 PM, timewilltell said:

There was an article in the BP the other day about the Rolls Royce airplane engine corruption scandal which involved 100's of millions of baht over several years. It is being investigated apparently. Alongside were several other corruption stories from the past all of which had been 'investigated' and arising from courts outside Thailand - in countries where the courts are dependable - yet I did not see reported that even one person had been imprisoned or brought to justice.  There was also the case of the Tsunami charity funding that was stolen in Phuket. 

 

These people are traitors to Thailand yet there seems to be zero effort to punish even when caught. In such circumstances how anyone can stand up and say there is ANY effort to fight corruption here is an amazement  They clearly don't care a hoot because the beneficiaries areally usually thise in power. Strange that corruption brings the most corrupt to float on top and perpetuate the rape of their own countrymen. Traitors every corrupt one of them.

Everyone knows that in star wars the dark side of the force is the strong one. It takes some kind of miracle to win against the evil empire.

And here i actually thought the PM had cleaned up somewhat... I guess the money just went into different pockets if not the same. Tragic. See little hope for this country ;(

I see it clearly now. The checkpoints maximize the statistics and the tea money. RTP will always prefer the checkpoint over actual enforcement on the highways etc. They gotta ban the checkpoints and force the RTP to go out looking for the tea money elsewhere.

Once the RTP is out patrolling and pulling people over constantly (they could pull people over one after the other without much effort all day, i see violations every 5 seconds or more) we will start to see a change. 

On 1/19/2017 at 8:30 PM, ianf said:

Typical J Head article that really says nothing partly because he knows nothing and understands even less.

Thai driving: They do not have driving lessons; They do not understand road markings; The police do nothing whatsoever to police traffic. The country is too corrupt; Thais with money think they own the road, ie an attitude problem; In most cases cars are dangerous and unsafe (blacked out windows, illegal but applied to 95% of the cars on the road. They can move cars but cannot drive them. And the police do nothing at all. As for motorcyclists: They won't wear helmets; they weave in and out of traffic as if they are playing in the school playground; they have no road sense and no awareness of what's going on around them, they drink, they overload their motorbikes with whole families; they allow 10 year old kids on the road driving by themselves. In short: Nothing will change because the underlying attitude is wrong and the police are grossly incompetent. If Head had any nouse he would have explored some of these issues.

I agree with you 100%. I want to add that everything you said about motorbike drivers applies to cars, pickups, trucks and minivans as well. At least here around chiang mai. I hope that if i get hit its by a motorbike and not yet another speeding vios

8 hours ago, WatUp said:

Aren't motorcycles the vast majority of the deaths? Most of them drive like morons so it's bound to be an issue. Driving a car is fairly safe around here I think.

The car drivers are killing the motorbike drivers yeah. I drive a motorbike and I'm rarely afraid of what the other motorbikes are doing. (Not saying they drive good), the ones scaring me are the cars. Im going to buy a car soon, it must be way safer. 

On 1/19/2017 at 3:46 PM, jimstar1 said:

Alcohol  talking on cell phones got to be first there no driver education Yada Yada Yada 

RTP Solution lets set up road blocks catch the tourist on Motor Bike make plenty tea money

It doesn't even make sense from tea money perspective. Yeah they could make some tea money by patrolling and fining everybody that switches lanes without signaling, people ignoring lanes, reckless drivers etc. But that would require them to actually put in effort.

And cameras would not lead to bribes... So.. Yeah.. They should make checkpoints illegal. Then they would be forced to go out in real traffic instead.. Never gonna happen. Never.

On 11/13/2015 at 1:26 PM, jing jing said:

Exactly right. Assuming that any pedestrian can step onto a busy roadway into the path of oncoming vehicles, and expect traffic to come to a screeching halt so that they can stroll leisurely across, chatting on the iphone and sipping a latte, makes as much sense as trying to repeal the law of gravity or reverse Darwin's Principles.

The results of this misguided philosophy can be seen in my hometown, where an octogenarian may cross town in less time on foot than Lewis Hamilton could do in an SLR.

I prefer the concept of pedestrians crossing quickly when the coast is clear, allowing traffic to flow as it should. Forcing 4 lanes of heavy vehicular traffic to stop at the whim of every oblivious tourist, shuffling retiree, and Starbucks sipping tree-hugger is ridiculous, and effectively puts the convenience of a single arrogant, supremely entitled and pampered individual above the rights of everyone else.

Yeah, the pedestrians should be forced to wait for hours in the burning sun, that ought to teach them

On 11/5/2015 at 6:21 PM, connda said:

I was walking home from exercising this afternoon. We live on a narrow strip of road about 200 meters long with blind corners at the east and west. People haul ass around these corners in excess of 70 to 80 k/h. Safe speed is 40 or under.

Walking home I had just rounded the corner. On the straight-away was a motorcycle that forced me off the road, a car passing the motorcycle, and faster car passing them both fully in the right lane as they all entered the blind corner. When I had started my walk, a car had come around that same corner so fast that it had fishtailed. That would have been the perfect storm had that happened right then. These people are completely insane, and it's culturally ingrained.

Since I've lived here we have had 6 animals killed within 50 meter from the house. They scream around these corners and if anything is in the road it dies. Thank god we haven't had any children or other villagers killed in front of our house. I'm thinking 'just a matter of time, and hopefully it's not me or my wife'. We had one car loose control in the west corner and spin out hitting our retaining wall. Simply insane and no remorse unless caught. Then they bow and snivel trying to get out of a cash 'death payment' or 'property damage' payment. It's obscene.

I just talked to my wife about it. It scares her to walk to the market or to her mother's house on this road for exactly those reasons. She just said, "Someone die on road someday in front of house." I'm not the only one thinking that.

Yeah, people are driving at inappropriate speeds everywhere in thailand. Most farangs too tbh. You rarely see it discussed here on thaivisa neither. I think people driving inappropriately fast (reckless driving, not necessarily speeding) is the single most damaging factor in the death toll. And it's due to a lack of brains and a lack of fear for consequences (due to lack of law enforcement).

Instead of insisting they should just do it and show the results. But hey, talk is cheap.

There was nothing wrong with the existing traffic laws. 

It's the god damned enforcement that is lacking. Adding more laws and regulations won't change anything.

From now on all western men will completely ignore you. And you will create a new thread "why are western men ignoring me?". Future has been seen!

4 hours ago, sahibji said:

you possibly need clearer laws and prompt enforcement to have the ambulances doing their noble work.

I think the laws are pretty clear, the enforcement however.....

I wonder when the police will threaten to arrest reckless drivers.

1 hour ago, disambiguated said:

 

It is, however, wholly Asian.

Explain Japan.

27 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Possibly two main factors for this statistic,
First most EMS crews scrape up the patient and blaze a trail to a hospital, giving no road-side care/stabalisation or life saving practices within the ambulance, they just try to get you to a doctor before you bleed out & expire or run out of oxygen!

Second, blazing a trail on some roads is reduced to a crawl depending on time of the day, ie office hours, school runs etc

Thai people in the most might move an inch but not more, in heavy traffic they either hold their position or simply cannot move!

 

In my home country most police listen to emergency response calls with ambulances, a police car in the area will often attend the vicinity to make sure the ambulance has a clear path.

Having said that ambulances always carry highly trained paramedics and or doctors if deemed necessary, the patient is examined and stabalised at the scene before transporting anywhere, also patient info/condition is radioed ahead to the hospital team so that the correct personnel are in attendance to minimise any delays on arrival!

You forgot the third factor, that Thai people drive extremely selfishly.

*edit*
You also forgot the fourth factor. Thai people believe that the emergency vehicles are abusing the sirens and using them to pass through traffic even when there's no emergency. Not sure how often they are right.