bheard

Looks like the van driver wasn't too worried, his brake lights obviously worked, but after that scary moment when the car shot across in front of him he just kept on going . . . didn't immediately apply his brakes.

Even the people in the village here use this time of year as an excuse to burn any rubbish they have lying around in the backyard.

It's a type of collective insanity.

They don't even know why they do it, it's just the done thing.

It's like Spring Cleaning in the west. (They don't even know why they do it, it's just the done thing)

Except here it's not spring and it's not cleaning.

Did the bridge have a sign about load rating?. Obviously ignored it if it did.

This case is going the way of other Thai cases - so many twists and turns that eventually everyone gets bored and forgets about it.

Which is the desired outcome of course!

Haze. First thing first. Have the govt seriously eradicate burning in farmlands that causes most of the haze?

Factually incorrect. The vast majority of haze comes from burning forests to use the land for farming, principally corn planting.

I read that in the BKK Post, so it must be correct!

Does sound reasonable.

However, the practice of burning stubble in paddys - seen on Thailand - should be discouraged as it takes away valuable organic matter to help regenerate the soil. The stubble is a valuable resource, but many Thai farmers prefer to see that resource go up in smoke . . .

WOW a AUSSIE named PETSCHAUER.

What strange world do you live in? We have names from every country in the world here in Aus.

How about the pushbike rider he passed - he'd have been freaking out if he saw the bear I'd reckon . . .

no but he can stop secondary smoking by ENFORCING no smoking in public places and bars

Public places are fair enough.

Bars belong to bar owners and are not public.

If I walk into a bar that is filled with ladyboys, I don't like it, so I walk out.

If you walk into a bar filled with smokers, and you don't like it, you can just walk out.

Being a transvestite, and or liking transvestites is a personal choice.

I don't care for guys that want to be girls, but a smoke, in a bar is something I do like.

Can you see the paradox?

Would you be cheering if they started persecuting gay people?

I personally think two men having sex is disgusting, but it's none of my damned business.

Don't get me started on what I think about ladyboys. I will say this though. They are more dangerous than cigarettes.

I don't see where the government should have a say in either situation.

Smokers should smoke outside and respect other folks that don't like it, OR go to bars where the owner says it's OK.

I know the owner of the TQ in Pattaya would never allow a katoey thru the door, but I can smoke in there.

I'm fine with that. It's HIS bar.

Blanket laws that restrict personal choice I disagree with.

You need to understand what it's all about. Health and who pays ultimately for the hospital treatment that smokers receive. That's right, the taxpayer has to pay for it. Blanket bans on smoking are about reducing the burden on the health system. Your comparison withlady boys is apples and oranges.

"concerned about all concerned"

In order:

1. The brown envelope recipients

2. The developers

3. The gypsies.

This is the quote that got me;

It is better to use a Thai teacher who has studied English directly than a European teacher who might carry the wrong accent,

That quote is a CLASSIC for sure!! Extreme Thainess!!

Five year old on a bike in Thailand, probably no helmet? Parents should have had more sense, but maybe they did not know Thailand is about the most dangerous place in the world to ride a motorbike.

Yeah well done, just what the parents need at this moment in time. Finger pointing!

You right, on this parents not helping the finger pointing, but those hundreds, not only Thais who take children to motorbike (sometimes couple of month old children), maybe they thinking after this. But i don't think so.

A lot of people are missing the point here, having a 2, 3, 4 or 5 year old as a passenger on a bike here in Thailand is quite normal - what you are missing is that they do not have an option, the motorbike is the only family transport, they do not have the luxury of SUV's and strapped in child seats, just real life here for the majority of people.

Oh, come on! A young passenger on a motosy is indeed 'quite normal' here, but that doesn't make it sensible. How about 4 people on a motosy, that's quite normal as well, but totally stupid. No matter what your economic circumstances are, it's still stupid!

Very sad to hear about this girl's death, very sad indeed. Pity we don't get to hear details of all the other children dieing every day on Thailand roads, maybe the authorities would feel they need to do something.

When faced with REALITY : SUE!

A typically purile response.

It's not a lot of money per individual, but when the bounty is divided up into brown envelopes the cream will be mmmm, luverly!

That's what the bother is - will the collection system be squeaky clean? On past record you'd have to say no. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of knowledge here about what 'squeaky clean' is. And is there any possible way the tourist will benefit from his/her donation? I don't imagine so. Can't see the farang/Thai pricing structure being rectified for example.

none of that makes sense to me

You mean:

The thorough checks of 50,000 CCTV cameras and about 10,000 CCTV poles follow a recent incident when an unidentified man was electrocuted near a CCTV pole which was found to be leaked.

followed by

As for the dead victim, he said he had no idea how he was killed after mechanics checked the scene and did not find any power leakage.

wasn't clear to you?

I'm still waiting to hear if they perform an autopsy on the guy. It should be pretty easy to establish whether or not he was electrocuted. If he truly was homeless, I have my doubts that anyone will care enough to do that.

Quite so, what did kill him? Given that the mechanics found no leakage (of course they would find that).

After the CCTV debacle during the bomb investigation, I thought the headline was misquoted - Operational being the requirement .

This elephant has killed people before.

Time for it to be put down.

if true ... it needs to go where no humans are about.

Or how about the humans just get the heck away from it's habitat. We're the transgressors, not the elephant.

Unfortunately your arguement is a dud. If it were not then you yourself would have to absent yourself from where ever you are as before you and all of us came there were wild animals about. We forced them out, now there is not enough room for them and us.

However, not to worry, there are now too many humans on the planet, let alone wild animals, and population implosion is on the way!

The salient word here is DEVELOP.

Will the ministry do some proper scientific development and make the results transparent?

If Thai culture is anything to go by, any 'results' of research will first have to go through the FACE filter, in which case the results will be meaningless.

Better for the ministry to spend it's budget on improving outcomes for all Thai people. Initiating an appointments system for outpatient visits would save a huge amount of time for people. Start right there.

Instead of reading the posts of clueless fools, try being nice to the dogs. They're far easier to win over than the scum posting in this thread.

Try being nice to one with rabies and let us know how you get on, or ask them nicely not to bark all day and night, stop crapping all over the place and stop fighting and weeing up your tyres, I'm sure they will respond in the proper manner

Absolutely. How do you know if that lovely friendly dog running after you is not rabid?

Come on Thailand, catch up to the rest of the world and tackle this public health problem!

By way of comparison, I just paid $435 (11,000฿) for comprehensive ins. in Aus for my 8yr old Falcon.

Expensive, and that on a write-off payput of market value, probably no more then $10,000.

Conclusion is that your insurance here is not so expensive.

One half of myself likes the idea of law and order while they address the social issues on hand while publically agreed upon needing to be addressed.

Thailand is amongst a long list of countries that are trying to be all the more diligent and vigilant about the contentious social issues regarding alcohol use and alcohol abuse and the social ramifications of wide spread alcohol consumption and everything entailed....including the contentious social issue of drinking and operating a motor vehicle of any kind while intoxicated.

Alcohol and motorcycles and motor vehicle operation are common place everywhere in the world while the public at large and or the government authorities more or less rely on the participants to carry on with a practiced degree of accountability and or responsibility and certainly all the more caution.

However, it does not work that way all too often and the ramifications begin to effect all too many other people and eventually there develops a need for some attitude adjustment practiced upon the percent of people that are obviously conducting themselves in a far too liberal way and all too often ruining it for the rest of the citizens with their brazen and often irresponsible conduct.

On this one I support the Police as these existing laws and the law enforcement efforts of police forces around the world are very active and very diligent ...and for good reason....while Thailand is not doing anything unusual while many other countries have been enforcing the same laws for 50 years now.

There is no room for argument or excuses on this particular contentious social issue.

On the other hand, this is going to be a significant money maker for the numerous police officers that are assigned the task of apprehending those that do drink and drive and street race as we all know well how good intentions usually run amuck here in Thailand.

Cheers

All very good points. Saying you are going to start enforcing existing laws, and doing what needs to be done, to make sure existing laws are enforced, are gulfs apart. This administration is world famous for its proclamations, declarations, announcements, and clampdowns. All are in word only. Very few actually see the light of day. Very few are even stated with intention and volition. Very few are implemented, and the few that are implemented do not seem to be followed up, a sign of weakness, incompetence, lack of will, lack of intention, and poor planning. So, while Thailand is continually embarrassed internationally (second worst road fatalities in the world, air safety issues, etc.) they continue to jawbone, and rarely act on the words. Words that are not followed up by action is a cry in the wilderness. They do not mean anything, to anybody.

There is a lot that can be done to improve traffic safety here, something that is NOT taken seriously by either the police or the government. Some real effort in that direction, by a means other than hollow proclamations, would be appreciated by most of the population, and would go a long way toward saving a lot of lives, that are destroyed by the mayhem, and near chaos on the roads. I believe the best place to start is by sending hundreds of highway patrol vehicles out onto the roads, and beginning by issuing speeding tickets and reckless driving tickets, and getting serious about drunk driving, with real fines, and mandatory confiscation of the vehicle and jail time, for people engaging in very reckless driving, like I see almost every day on the roads. The word would get around, that the police are finally getting serious about traffic safety, in no time at all. People would talk. People might be less careless, out of fear if nothing else. A deterrent can be a very good thing for a society. At the moment, there is little in the way of a deterrent, on so many levels of Thai society. And it hurts the public. It hurts the morale of the people. It tears at the fabric of society.

All good.

My take on all this is that for the police to get tough on the roads and actually make a difference, they have to know how to do it. I believe the average Thai police administrator doesn't actually know how he wants his police force to behave on the street to get a result. Just looking how they handle a helmet 'crackdown for example - they set up a station on a main drag and start pulling in lots of riders, they take fines and let riders ride away still with no helmet - I've seen this in Korat. Meanwhile, weeks pass and no further action, and I've never seen cops setting up on minor roads around Korat - while I have seen cops sitting idly while pleny of helmetless riders ride by - many many times.

Reckless driving - I don't believe the cops know how to even define this, because I have seen plenty of reckless behaviour on the roads by Thai cops. Seems to me that the first part of a serious attempt to apply the current laws should be to educate the police force - just what it is that they are trying to do and how to go about it to get a result.

Another good example of ineptness is the example given earlier - the very drunk driver being allowed to proceed after paying a fine - this obviously is a sign that the cop involved does not know how to do his job - presumably he doesn't understand how to handle a situation to make a credible improvement in driver behaviour.

Of course to have an effect on the overall picture, the police need to want to make an improveement - this seems also to be a problem. A current popular phrase that comes to mind: attitude adjustment. . . .

"Sansern said the government was already aware of slavery in the industry before the AP report was released Dec. 14. "Authorities found it first," he said."

OMG these people are impressive. How do thay say this stuff with a straight face??

Never heard of boiling clothes.

No sweaters left over from last year?

What ever happened to hand-me-down's?

I had 3 older brothers & my parents never seemed to run out of clothes for me.

Never heard of boiling clothes?

Boiling clothes in a 'Copper' in the back yard was the standard method of washing in years gone by - that is the years before washing machines were invented.

However, don't boil your pure wool items, you'll never be able to wear them again, although pure wool in Thaialand would be non existant I would imagine.

Hideous, the irresponsible nature of Thai bus drivers is notorious. I have been in buses racing each other.

Thai roads, square metre for square metre, must be some of the most dangerous real estate on the planet!

Not one person explored the idea that her husband, also being pissed and perhaps ticked off concerning his wife, "helped" her off the Tuk Tuk when it went into the curve. Nice way to rid himself of a possible nagging wife. All it would take was a little push. The article did say they were arguing prior to taking the Tuk Tuk.

Now now, keep that imagination in check!

The first two posts immediately jump on the tuk tuk driver. How about this? The woman was drunk out of her mind, did something stupid and FELL OUT of the tuk tuk. You notice the tuk tuk driver didn't so a runner, but stuck around till the cops got there. Not the actions of a guilty man.

Good response. Probably on the mark.

What was that evidence from his wife though that the cops took notice of? Was she present?

Thai roads - must be some of the most dangerous real estate on the planet!

" Methiya Jaenprachakorn, 25, who was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court, reportedly confessed to police that she and some friends were duped in the same manner in 2012 - so she decided to do the same to others."

This is the pay it forward the Thai way, I got screwed before, so, I'll do on to others what have been

done on to me... and this is how crime is reborn out of malic...

Just as likely to be a complete fabrication - to try for a little sympathy . . .