ATF

Obviously not my cup of tea. Nothing like the roar of a V-Twin to get the juices flowing. However an electric car or M/C will be much faster because there are no gears. Current is increased or decreased as required. As batteries get smaller and lighter they will be a viable alternative, but a demon without a roar?

On the subject of whose fault a road accident is when it involves a Thai and a Farang. I recently knocked a lady off her bike. The lights had just turned to green so I slowly started to move forward. This lady came up on my inside and then decided to do a sharp right angle turn directly in front of my car. Of course I had no time to stop and she was pushed off her bike.

The police attitude was that it was my fault and I did not need to worry because my insurance will pay for all her compensation and hospital treatment, so they could not understand why I was still maintaining it was her fault.

This went on for some time till my insurance representative arrived and demanded to see the video recordings from the cameras at the junction. When it became clear my insurance rep would not give way the police suddenly decided it was all her fault. Fined her 400 baht for dangerous driving and then wanted to know how much I wanted her to give me for my inconvenience. They were most put out when I insisted I wanted nothing and they had to let us both go without getting any money. Three hours wasted by them and no tea money!

Sounds OK till I tell you that on the way out of the police station a policeman followed me and whispered that I had to give him 500 baht for his time! He was hungry and wanted to go buy food. TIT.

ATF

Ok understand why you are puzzled. If there is a dispute in a motor vehicle insurance claim and the Police get involved the party proven to be wrong must pay a fine of 400 Baht and all associated damages. Which is exactly as you said. Now the reason the Policeman asked you for money is because you made him think you were some sort of raving philanthropist throwing money around so he might as well have some free money too.

Next time I suggest you throw a $1000 baht to the motorcyclist and tell him/her you know the Chief Inspector (Sarawat Yai ben phuen pom) at the local Cop Shop BEFORE the Police arrive, and you will be merrily on your way. Instead of hanging around in Police stations for hours.

I know it is "wrong" but 30 bucks and you're on your way, you've made merit, the Thai lady would have told all he friends what a gentleman you were and you can write off the $30 as a charitable donation and have a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

No, the lady would not have told her friends how much of a gentleman he was, more likely she would have referred to him as a "sucker", it's Farangs who do as you are suggesting, that's encouraging some Thais to always try and exploit situations when it involves a farang in order to make a financial gain. The TV poster "lor" did exactly the right thing, good for him.

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Well I'd rather be the Biggest Sucker in the World than hang around a Cop Shop for hours and be labelled a "Falung Kee Nok". God Bless.

Nearly happened to me a couple of nights back. At the traffic lights on a cross road, lights just turn green and I'm just setting of, then a Thai raced through from another direction with no lights on, completely disregarding the red lights, luckily I managed to stop in time, then proceeded along the road that he had taken, after a few hundred yards I see him getting of his M/ bike and go into a well know drinking den. So yes he was doing something different to what I would do, and it had nothing to do with him being poor or not. I'm just very lucky I did not hit him, if I had, I know who would have been made to take the blame.

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Unfortunately there are crazy people in every Country and there's not much you can do about it. However I would find it highly unlikely that you would have to take the blame unfairly. The Police are not stupid. They have probably had 10 times the experience of interpreting the rights and wrongs of traffic accidents than your average Western Copper. What is very important in such a situation is that you show sincere signs of remorse. Say you're sorry, cry even better especially if you killed him, even though it was blatantly his fault and call your insurance asap. They will sort it out. That is why you should always have Ist class insurance in Thailand. The Police will probably request that you admit you are wrong so that your insurance can pay for the funeral or hospital bills. Again I know it is wrong but go along with it and you will come back as a billionaire in your next life.

On the subject of whose fault a road accident is when it involves a Thai and a Farang. I recently knocked a lady off her bike. The lights had just turned to green so I slowly started to move forward. This lady came up on my inside and then decided to do a sharp right angle turn directly in front of my car. Of course I had no time to stop and she was pushed off her bike.

The police attitude was that it was my fault and I did not need to worry because my insurance will pay for all her compensation and hospital treatment, so they could not understand why I was still maintaining it was her fault.

This went on for some time till my insurance representative arrived and demanded to see the video recordings from the cameras at the junction. When it became clear my insurance rep would not give way the police suddenly decided it was all her fault. Fined her 400 baht for dangerous driving and then wanted to know how much I wanted her to give me for my inconvenience. They were most put out when I insisted I wanted nothing and they had to let us both go without getting any money. Three hours wasted by them and no tea money!

Sounds OK till I tell you that on the way out of the police station a policeman followed me and whispered that I had to give him 500 baht for his time! He was hungry and wanted to go buy food. TIT.

Ok understand why you are puzzled. If there is a dispute in a motor vehicle insurance claim and the Police get involved the party proven to be wrong must pay a fine of 400 Baht and all associated damages. Which is exactly as you said. Now the reason the Policeman asked you for money is because you made him think you were some sort of raving philanthropist throwing money around so he might as well have some free money too.

Next time I suggest you throw a $1000 baht to the motorcyclist and tell him/her you know the Chief Inspector (Sarawat Yai ben phuen pom) at the local Cop Shop BEFORE the Police arrive, and you will be merrily on your way. Instead of hanging around in Police stations for hours.

I know it is "wrong" but 30 bucks and you're on your way, you've made merit, the Thai lady would have told all he friends what a gentleman you were and you can write off the $30 as a charitable donation and have a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Drunk driving is a criminal offense and killing someone whilst driving is manslaughter at least. Put the two together and they are culpable homicide. In the States or Europe you'd be looking at a 7-8 year stretch. Thailand probably 2-3years or a big payout before it got to court. Anyway I'd rather do a couple of years in a Thai prison than live in Russia for the rest of my life. The Russian Embassy will know who these people are and I am confident there will be resolution. Russian investors in Phuket or Thailand don't need the bad press.

Killing someone while driving is in now way automatically a.manslaughter offence. Have you ever driven in Thailand?

Drive 5 miles in heavy traffic and there can be 100 opportunities to hit a bike and be in the legal right. Undertaking, overtaking, weaving in and out, illegal uturns, no signals, no helmets, no lights, there is barely a legal motorcycle driver in Thailand by western standards.

I have driven in Thailand for 25 years and as you know the law is not always fully enforced. Do you think they drive with no lights because they want too? They are poor people that are paying for you to have your Western standards. I have lived here too long to judge by Western standards but I understand it must be shocking for you seeing people do things differently. Kill an well connected Thai kid and you'll soon find out what is and isn't the law. Anyway what are Western standards? Social despotism?

In my mathematics 9 + 14 = 23 As the article states that nine were killed and fourteen others were hospitalised it cannot have been a minibus unless it was grossly overloaded. Please see "Legal definition of a minibus"

http://www.minibuswebsite.com/htm/definition.htm

Most vehicles suffer from poor braking when loaded to maximum capacity. Only vehicles such as Range Rovers and Bugatti Veyrons that have enormous ventilated disc brakes can be trusted to stop. Budget quality vehicles that only have drum brakes can be very very iffy (guess how I know?). OK if the vehicle is only driven on level ground at moderate speeds drum brakes will be OK. The problem arises on hills as there is a vast amount of potential energy to dissipate.

Say we have twenty people on the minibus each weighing 75 kilos. That is 1.5 tonnes of people. Lets say the minibus weighs 2.5 tonnes empty, we now get a total weight of 4 tonnes. Now imagine that the minibus has to descend a hill that is 100 metres high. In its descent it will lose 4 Megajoules of energy. Assuming that the gradient is a mere 1 in 20 the 100 metre drop will involve 2KM of road. Now here is the interesting part, lets assume that the brakes are used to prevent the speed from rising above 60 KM/H. At this speed the 2KM will only take two minutes so the power dissipation from the brakes will be 2 Megajoules minute or approximately 33 kilowatts. (this dissipation is for a moderate gradient that is descended at a moderate speed) Note that with drum brakes the entire 33 kilowatts has to make its way through the cast iron brake drum so overheating and brake fade is likely. At 120 KM/H which is now a fairly standard highway speed in Europe, the brake dissipation on such a grade would be about 66 kilowatts and this is just to stop the speed from rising. To actually brake to a standstill the vehicle's Kinetic Energy also has to be disposed of. Nice big heavy duty ventilated disc brakes will do this easily but undersized drum brakes can be very iffy. This is especially the case with soft high-friction brake linings which do have the cost advantage of not requiring a brake servo. The de-luxe Ferodo VG95 brake lining resists brake-fade very well but unless one has legs as strong as an elephant's, a brake servo is essential.

Of course it is possible to use a "Jake Brake" or a Telma Electric Retarder but these cost money!.

Always remember the golden rule "Never start something unless you can stop it!" Over in the UK standards are SO much higher as at one MOT test the tester was quibbling over a brake force of 800 kilos per wheel on a Range Rover! (Allegedly he has now been sacked!)

RIP for all the victims and I do hope that the injured get well soon.

Again another person who doesn't understand Physics. Gyroscopic force is what takes you around a corner, not brakes. Again refer to Newton's 1st Law Inertia.

Whatever vehicle you are driving brake or shift down a gear BEFORE entering the corner then increase acceleration at the apex to use gyroscopic inertia to pull you through. Works every time.

So where is the road rage tie-in to this post? The newsletter emphasizes road rage but apparently it is a bogus reference. Is tis not disrespectful to the nine Cambodian souls that perished?

I don't see anyone taking about road rage. Road rage is when you take out your baseball bat or tire iron and batter someone senseless because they cut you up or whatever.

Anyway I blame the whole problem on uneducated people's poor understanding of Physics namely Newton's 3 Laws of Motion. They should understand the 1st Law, Inertia which means everything moving wants to go in a straight line and the 2nd Law which is Force = Mass x Acceleration.

So Somchai always takes the corner in his minivan at 120kph with a normal load but when the mass has doubled the cornering speed needs to be reduced or he needs racing suspension. Newton knew his stuff if he had been driving this accident would never have happened.

The half a liter of alcohol and the meth in his system is also telling him he can alter the space time continuum, so there is the root of the problem. Teach drivers Quantum Physics!

On a separate note 1000's will drink themselves to death over the holiday and many others will die from drugs.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

This is under the topic of "Road Rage," at Songkrat.

Do the roads really get angry and cause bus-drivers to fly from it, into tress, drunkenly killing passengers?

Maybe they need to use a non-Buddhist pavement?

I wonder if the same thing kills students in American schools, when the gun of a Riddlin using liberal suddenly forces itself into some poor helpless sap's hands and takes over his Obama-dong schlarving brain and orders him to kill helpless children?

Has UCLA or Yale done any studies on this? Maybe they can use left-over funding from the global warming hoax? There has to be SOME thing we can do, as socialist commie leaning brain-dead twerps, to promote this!

Occupy Pavement!

Oooops. Did you say Cambodians? Sorry. My bad.

Twenty odd years ago a friend and myself traveled from BKK to Korat a day or two after the Songkran Exodus. We lost count of the number of blue air-con buses overturned or in ditches along the Friendship Highway. Methamphetamine and alcohol a winning combination.

A year or two ago in Pattaya drink driving was so bad the Police were just stopping cars and telling everyone to get out and sit on the side of the road and sober up. Songkran a euphemism for death. Strange that Songkram (with an M) means war. Stay at home or go to another country. Wonder what the death count will be this year? Usually tops 5k, it's Xmas for undertakers.

Drunk driving is a criminal offense and killing someone whilst driving is manslaughter at least. Put the two together and they are culpable homicide. In the States or Europe you'd be looking at a 7-8 year stretch. Thailand probably 2-3years or a big payout before it got to court. Anyway I'd rather do a couple of years in a Thai prison than live in Russia for the rest of my life. The Russian Embassy will know who these people are and I am confident there will be resolution. Russian investors in Phuket or Thailand don't need the bad press.

A 16 Y.O. wandering about at 1.A.M. No Crash Hat.If the Lad was mine id feel some resposibility.Perhaps im just Old Fashioned.RIP.

What a pathetic comment, wondering about at 1am, so that was ok to kill him?????? he went for some mossie repellent probably for a family member.

I could think of few other names for you besides Ace of Pop.

At 16 I was doing a lot more than just wandering around at 1.00am. Hell I was drunk. Russians have had Christian values bleached out of them.

It doesn't take long for Thai's to label a foreigner now Russians are labelled as <removed>

Does anybody know about Scoyco motorbike gear? I have seen plenty for sale in the Kawasaki shop, Pattaya, but can find very little about it on the 'net.

This is their website http://www.scoyco.com/en/index.html#.U0PG0VeC6So Chinese &lt;deleted&gt;. Go to Paddock in Ratchada in Bangkok if you want some decent gear, or Dianese or Panda Rider. You never told us about your test? Have you bought a R1 now?

Came across these bikes 100% electric. Expensive though but you won't be paying for gas http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

there is a lobby group of influentual HISO Thai big bike riders and politicians who ride also who have been trying for the last 14 years to get the law amended for + 600 cc bikes,, if the big bike manufacturers also lobby it might happen ??? TIT

I have often wondered why the big bike companies and influential Thais don't lobby for this. It would help sales for big bike companies.

Thing is i have seldom seen Thai laws evolve when there is no money to be made by the government. They love new big projects to rip off money instead of changing laws or enforcing current laws to solve a problem. So I wont hold my breath.

Lobbying usually involves "Incentives" these could be financial or otherwise. All Big Bike co's in Thailand spend jack on mass media advertising so maybe they should spend their advertising budget elsewhere. Reason I asked about other countries' policies towards big bikes on expressways is because this would give the lobbyists ammo if Thailand is the only country with such laws. Please be aware influential Thais and Government officials read forums such as these. It takes 50,000 signatures to request an amendment to the Thai Constitution. Maybe Thai Visa's Lawyer could tell us how many signatures would be required to propose a change in the law for big bikes? P.S. I'm not sure if it is actually a law or just a regulation of the expressway company because they were joint ventures with the Thai Government.

Benz Rules! Remember about six or seven years ago a lunatic driving a Benz mowed down a bus stop full of people because he had an argument with the bus driver?

Moo Ham.

One of the grandmothers he drove into died.

After many years of freedom he finally had to go to court only about a year ago and face justice.

Of course he was found not guilty due to 'Affluenza'. As he was a rich spoiled kid he couldn't tell the difference between right or wrong and had an uncontrollable anger when he didn't get what he wanted. Not Guilty, all charges dropped.

Recently remember the 16 yr old girl who killed NINE on the expressway when she was one her phone and rear ended a minivan. Of course her name was Na Aydthaya so no punishment at all.

Almost safer on the public roads on a bike than daring to be on the territory of those who know they can kill and get away with it.

I thought he killed more than one person but he should have been put in an asylum. The girl who knocked the minivan off the tollway was only 16 and was the daughter of a cop. Most Thais are taught to choose a lane and stick to it. That's why they don't move over when a faster car comes behind them. The list goes on and on. Anyway stay ahead of the traffic! Don't mingle.

Benz Rules! Remember about six or seven years ago a lunatic driving a Benz mowed down a bus stop full of people because he had an argument with the bus driver?

Unless it has escaped your observance Thailand is a very class conscious society. Transport wise you have Public Transport Class, M/C Taxi Class, Taxi Class, Scooter/Small Bike Class, Pick Up Class and Private Car Class. Top of the heap being Benz Class. There is no Class designation yet for Big Bikes. Most Thai's are still trying to understand why someone would pay 2m Baht for a Panigale when they could buy a Benz. Put that together with the fact that the expressways were only started in Bangkok just over 20 years ago and you can understand the predicament.

Scooters and small bikes cause enough mayhem on normal roads as it is, letting them on expressways would be suicidal. 5 people on board, no license tax or insurance it would be total anarchy.

Most people who ride a big bike, let's say 500cc plus, for arguments sake, have taken the time to learn to drive it properly and it's basically a toy. Not a practical form of transport. You wouldn't go to Tesco's in your Ferrari or Panigale to do the weekly shopping.

My old Thai car license used to allow me to drive a car and a bike now they are separate. I would suggest a proper big bike license so people can ride their bikes on expressways.

The horn needs to be moved, the electric connection on the rear brake done better and put some padding in the seat for the pillion. ...otherwise it looks good!

Instead of going potato potato at idle this one will be poppadom poppadom!

Not a V Rod but a V Indaloo! 50hp from a 750cc engine am I missing something here?

58hp at the back wheel! That's not bad for a baby Harley.

OK 58hp at the back wheel isn't too bad considering it's dragging 250kgs wet.

The horn needs to be moved, the electric connection on the rear brake done better and put some padding in the seat for the pillion. ...otherwise it looks good!

Instead of going potato potato at idle this one will be poppadom poppadom!

Not a V Rod but a V Indaloo! 50hp from a 750cc engine am I missing something here?

ATF: A CBR250 is a little less than 250 cc actual displacement.

VocalNeal: Yep! I'm on the 'wrong' side.

Actually, I'm highly skeptical that the powers-that-be would implement anything so sensible.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

I would imagine if it says 250 on the bike it would be accepted as 250. Doubt it would cause any problems. Plenty of BIB have CBR 250's. It would however create a massive increase in sales for 250cc bikes. I'm not aware of many current bikes that fill the gap between 250-650cc but it's probably my ignorance. Not too keen on the idea of big scooters like Forza's on the highway. Never driven one but they look unstable and their wheels are really small.

'"Big bike" being anything larger than 250cc.'

I guess that would leave out my CBR250.

Rats.

I'd like to visit Kanchantaburi, but getting through BKK on the surface roads is too slow/complicated/stressful for me.

I would expect it to mean 250cc and over. That's why I made my comment about the CBR's flying off the Express Way!

I can't really see the difference between the 795 and 796. The wheels are different and obviously the paint. Is there anything else ?

The 795 is a 696 with a 803cc 796 engine. It is only available in Asia to my knowledge. Don't know if this has anything to do with certification issues but I also believe the Ducati Corse which is a 796 made in Thailand is only available in Asia also. Both bikes have the same BHP and speed but the 796 has a SSSA ,wider wheels and is taller sharing the same frame with the 1100/1100EVO. The 1100 EVO has been discontinued since AUDI bought Ducati however the BHP difference to the 796 was negligible considering it had an extra 300cc's. The 796 is still made by Ducati because it is so popular and probably the best and most reliable Monster made, even in light of the new Monster 1200 which is aimed at mid-life crisis males. The 796 is a hooligan bike the 1200 isn't.