richard_smith237

So your anecdotal information is proof that every 7 year old can get out of a parked or locked Van ? My Son is 8... If he were locked in our car I’m not sure he would know how to get out. There is a ‘flip switch’ on the door handle but I’m not sure if he knows about it - its not something we’ve ever discussed - the child lock is engaged on the side he sits/ Would he know how to get out of a parked Van with locked ??? I’m really not sure. do vans have child locks to prevent children from opening the door while the van is in motion ? I’m not sure if a child would know where to find the lock, or to climb into the front seat and try and find those locks. I’m not sure he’d think to hit the horn, would the horn even work if the van is locked and powered off ? He wouldn’t have the strength to smash the windows... I’m not sure if the windows of the van slide open (some are locked and can’t). Lots of question... but the assumption that any 7 year old can get out of a locked van is flawed, the reality is probably that some could, some couldn’t.

Agreed... it definitely depends on location. If trying to get a taxi in the Soi 11 area at midnight to 1am... the 5:95 (yes to no) ratio is realistic. If trying to get a taxi down anywhere along Sukhumvit after 5pm the 50/50 ratio is realistic. If trying to get a taxi in Lad-Prao at 2pm in the afternoon 90:10 (yes to no) ratio is realistic. I am sometimes in busy touristy areas, I’m sometimes in busy areas, I’m sometimes in non-busy, non-tourist areas.... I’m in a non-Tourist area now... I need to go 15 mins down the road at 6:45pm... its been raining. If I go out to the main road I don’t know if I can get a taxi immediately, or wait 15 mins with repeated no’s. I’ll call a grab or get the wife to take me !!! First world problems !!!

I definitely prefer Grab in Thailand... but it depends where I am, what I’m doing etc. Sometimes its just easier to walk out of a pub and flag down a passing taxi... but sometimes at the wrong time of evening or imperfect location we’ll get the repeated ’no go’ response which can be annoying....

Agreed.... but while Thailand makes the announcements that it is struggling for tourists the Optics of such policies are pretty hideous as it tells ‘potential tourists’ we don’t value you, just your money. At least they are honest - but ‘demanding money’ rather than ‘earning’ money is part of this which is has a whiffy stench of greed...

The open an account here and make online transfers as and when needed.

Start by removing some of the walls you have erected yourself. You can have two bank accounts - a second account does not cost any extra. You don’t need to ‘set up an automatic payment schedule’... You can transfer money across to a Bank here as and when you need it...i.e. every few months (many people do this). Forget money from credit cards, as you say, circus of horrors and the rates are extortionate. Simple solution: Open a Bank account here... transfer the money when you need it.

Perhaps it wasn’t so preposterous over a decade ago....

I think everyone is quite happy to see the Taxi drivers receive a deserved and fare increase to their tariff to bring their rates back into parity with the cost of fuel and living. This is especially good for the many honest hard working drivers out there who deserve a break. Now those drivers who cheat customers, refuse fares, quote higher rates or run up the meter can’t use the ‘low rates’ as an excuse.... what will their excuses be now ???

What would people do without your advice ??? You clearly have this conundrum cracked !!.... amazing stuff... ’stand on the same side of the road as your intended direction’.... Spectacular... wisdom has clearly chased you your whole life... well done for outrunning it !!!

Is this on a ’takes one to know one’ basis where the driver will immediately recognise his own kind and refrain from rejecting the fare ?

OR... the new owner can take the following: - Signed power of Attorney form - Signed transfer of ownership form - Signed Copy of Passport (of seller) And ‘probably / possibly’ avoid having to go back to the DLT a second time.

You sign: - Power of Attorney form to give the new owner authority to transfer the vehicle without your presence. - Transfer of Vehicle Form (singed proof of transfer) - Signed copy of your Passport as proof of ID. (To sell a vehicle you do not need proof of address or Visa ) The new owner does everything else. Forms in the thread linked below: https://aseannow.com/topic/1147974-power-of-attorney-to-sell-car/ How to fill out the power of attorney form in the thread linked below: https://aseannow.com/topic/928104-how-exactly-do-you-fill-in-the-power-of-attorney-form-for-transferring-a-motorcycle-or-car/

Not really, if you know Bangkok, you know how, where and at what time to get around to avoid the worst of the traffic. But... IF you are trying to get somewhere between 5 and 6pm, expect gridlock (5-8pm gridlock on a Friday at the end of the month !) Travel anywhere between 9am and 4pm and you’ll generally be fine unless there is something going on (event / road closure etc).

Well, you are ‘in’... so you only have to worry about that on your next visit, assuming you ‘visit' here a couple of times per year rather than ‘live’ here all or most of the year. Options for next visit: Apply for a Tourist Visa in your home country before travelling. Or, get a Thai Elite Visa. Options to remain here: Get a Thai Elite Visa (plan an exit and return on that). Get married and enter on a Non-Immigrant O Visa based on Marriage !!!! (why can’t you do that - its a simple cheap option.. unless you really don’t want to marry)

It definitely depends where you are and what time you are using them. But, in the past I’ve been without a car for a few weeks, with my Wife and Son, trying to get around with Taxi’s and it was utterly ridiculous.... after a few weeks of this I had a horrible opinion of taxi drivers. IF I am going to take a taxi today from Sukhumvit road I know that there is a 50/50 chance I’ll get a tool.

Dream on... Yeah right... Exactly this.... Their behaviour of those refusing fares is inherent. Its not going to alter with a 5 baht increase in flag-fall rates. Taxi drivers facing points !! .... do they have licences and are they ever checked ??? I support the increase in flag fall fare for the taxi driver - its only fare. But to suggest this will improve any behaviour of the drivers who cheat, refuse to use the meter or run up the meter is ridiculous... the spots on those leopards are fixed.

Photoshopped.... along with the ‘baby in the bucket’ photo....

Kids are kids... they’ll just pile out of a van... it is not unfeasible at all that kids will just climb out of a van and forget about or not notice one left behind who fell asleep. Kids get left behind all the time.. it happens. How many times have you been out with a group of friends and one gets lost or left behind somewhere?... And.. IF the doors and windows were locked, how does a 7 year old get out ??? How do the doors of the van unlock from the inside? I don’t know.

Agreed.... the issue is of course the distrust in the police. In the UK you get a £200 fine and 6 penalty points (you’re maxed out at 12) if you hold and use a phone, sat nav, tablet, or any device that can send and receive data while driving or riding a motorcycle. In Thailand you argue with the policeman, call up a friend, friend tells them he knows someone more powerful... etc etc... Or just argue you were not... who’s going to believe the policeman who just wants his 200 baht bribe ??? OR... you are caught on camera and receive a fixed penalty notice... Big deal... it seems only a handful of posters on this forum are worried about those. Everyone else bins them !!! The ’system’ has to be respected first, and for the system to be respected it has to be honourable, and for it to be honourable it has to be incorruptible and function with honesty... this is somewhat of a challenge in a country where corruption is endemic.

You’re not the guy who blocked traffic stopping in the middle lane on Sukhumvit rd the other day, are you ????

Wouldn’t it be amazing if these laws already were in place...

Exaggerate much.. ?? A country which is intelligently and well policed for the protection of society is not a ‘Police State’, your use of that phrase attempts instills and Orwellian fear (1984) or generate impressions of the Stasi’... stopping people from putting innocent lives at risk is not ‘over policing’ as your ‘police state’ comment implies. (nearly) Everybody, Thai’s included want Thailand to be a safer place for their family, loved ones, those they care about and everyone else those they care about care about.... ... If this this means the lowest common denominator of stupid selfish people riding and driving while looking at their phones, while drunk or jumping red lights etc attracted police attention and fines that is fine with me, I support it... That does not make a police state, No !... it would make Thailand a country in which the police make efforts to protect the community - those efforts are currently lacking.

Does that lead to ‘bleeding’ ?? there were reports of blood. [She was face down, pale, with blood coming out of her mouth] How many of those 20 to 30 negligent van drivers who forgot children in vehicles served prison time for their criminal negligence ???? He should have also noted that she should never have needed to... How should a 7 year old respond to being locked in van in a car-park, especially if everyone has already deserted that car-park? Does a 7 year old know how to open the windows? could the windows Open? My Son is 8... IF our car is locked, he can’t get out, at all. At the ‘very least’... so there is already scope for slack.. Does the horn even work in a locked vehicle ?

Bingo.... the predictable ‘crack-down’....