FBlue72

I would assume that the trees are at their strongest state after the wet/grow season.

After this time we'll see the leafs falling from the trees. Getting ready for the next rainy season.

I'm actually happy to see proactive maintenance work done here, instead of waiting for the branches to fall to the roads.

That is not maintenance, it's butchery and there won't be a leaf to fall for some time, if ever.

Are the trees dead after this treatment or do they have enough reserves to grow up again? Or will they just die and rot until they break and fall on the street.

They will put out sprigs maybe, these trees are in a high heat low moisture setting, I guess that stunted look is the aim of this it's just criminal why cut them so drastically. And it was dozens, not just eight

I remember 6 or so years ago when hundreds were completely chopped down to put in those sugar palms. I always figured someone made out supplying the new trees

It makes sense to, after at first getting very strict on the rules, relax them a bit.

But I really don't trust this vice governor, his actions so far seem to indicate a self interest.

Is there any official who isn't self interested? Seems to be a fairly standard attitude.

Don't arrest suspected serious criminals as it might upset them. Sums it up. FM

Well, some of these "suspected criminals" have connections. Perhaps, one phone call from an arrested rioter, and the arresting officer is transfers to an inactive, and less lucrative post.

Everyone now knows the mafia controls Phuket, to the detriment of the whole tourism industry here.

There is no law and order on Phuket. Only corruption, corruption and more corruption.

Not just tourism- I shut my business down when the local permit department tried to extort from me. My Thai lawyer told me " You pay once, you'll pay every month...I recommend you get out of this country- it's rotten as it gets."

I've got a new neighbor killing me with roosters at 4 am onwards The police told him to shut them up at night and early morning- he just ignores them. There is just no respect for law and civil rules here. You have to decide that is acceptable if you wish to live here without a major level of stress. Is it like this all over Thailand ? I have such a nice property so unbelievably cheap, I hate to leave, but maybe Phuket is just past hope.

If you were going to denigrate and expose a society for its sheer incompetence and breathtaking idiocy, this is the kind of story that would be perfect.

Flip-Flop. Flip-Flop. Flip-Flop. In two months- after a couple of dozen couples make plans for weddings, it'll change back to being banned.

How do you explain the damning road fatality statisitics for Phuket, which only include those who die at the scene, not shortly after, in a hospital, not to mention road accidents with serious injury?

The most accurate statisitcs, which can be relied upon, come from the various Embassies and Consulates in Thailand, on the death of their citizens in Thailand.

These statistics show road death is a major killer in Thailand, with Thai officials admitting Phuket has the highest fatality rate.

Low level of drivers using safety belts and helmets. Dangerous to themselves not to anyone else.

^

I've noticed a lot of Phuket expats seem to think enforcing helmet laws is a safety issue. I've always thought it is the ultimate in nanny state controls and affects no one but the non- helmet wearer. Police efforts would be better spent stopping speeders, which do endanger everyone.

Personal opinion is just that- personal opinion. Presenting personal opinion as fact does not make it so and neither does repeating it incessantly whilst comparing cliffs, bike lanes, pot- holes, honking drivers or helmet wearing with road fatality stats.

Phuket is the most likely place in Thailand to die on the road. Thailand is rated second n the world and with its dubious fatality statistics in question, it may well actually be first place or close to a level as Libya, rated number 1.

Therefore, Phuket is extremely likely to be the most likely place on the planet to meet your end in a road accident.

Incidentally Thailand was 3rd last time this UN survey was conducted, so it's gotten worse. As long as building wider faster roads is seen as a solution, and not part of the problem, this dismal fatality rate will increase as will general road congestion. Build it and they will drive on it.

You don't think wearing helmets/seatbelts effect road fatality numbers?

For me I don't care if people wear seatbelts or helmets...up to them if they want to die.(unless in my vehicle)

According to Rebecca B. Naumann, MSPH, Ruth A. Shults, PhD, Div of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC:

Helmet use is estimated to prevent 37% of fatalities among motorcycle operators and 41% of fatalities among passengers (4). NHTSA estimates that in 2010, helmet use saved the lives of 1,544 motorcyclists, and an additional 709 lives might have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets (NHTSA, unpublished data, 2012). With motorcycle ownership at an all-time high (8.2 million registered motorcycles in 2010, compared with 4.3 million in 2000),†† motorcycle-related deaths and their associated costs are expected to remain at high levels unless more effective protective measures are implemented (10). Helmets are proven to save lives and money, and universal helmet laws are the most effective way to increase helmet use (3).

Yes absolutely I do think the fatality numbers are affected by wearing helmets and belt, and I always make the personal choice to use them.

I'd just rather the limited police resources were spent on speeders than enforcing a rule that has no affect on my safety when some woman gets on her scooter and decides to not wear a helmet so her brains get splattered all over the road, ( And traffic from such brain splatterings are often from gawkers having to have a good look.)

When a woman gets in her car and goes twice the posted speed limit, then she is endangering everyone. One law affects one person the other law affects everyone. With limited police presence-which law should be enforced- and what law is?

Quality helmets and seat belts are essential road safety components. When I used to drive a m/bike I would never consider not wearing a helmet, eventually I nagged my Thai wife into the same mindset. In the early years I would see her riding off to the market without helmet, excuse being ... oh it's only a short distance, I'll be Ok ..the old mai penn rai syndrome.

Same with seat belts, I buckle up even for a 500m drive. Just very simple safety precautions, might help, might not if a cement truck rolls on top of you .... and this happened to one of my farang neighbours.... dead

I agree, I always wear a full face quality helmet on the scooter, and a seat belt in the car.

My point is another person's choice not too affects my safety in no way. Police spend a lot of time enforcing this helmet law rule on lower income motorcycle drivers, sort of a war on the poor, IMO - when the real danger to public safety is the maniac in the new Toyota going 120 km in a 60 kph zone. Ditto the taxis, and poorly trained truck drivers in vehicles that are poorly maintained.

It'll be a long time before these Devil's Trees emit fragrance, if they even survive this " pruning" as dry season is approaching and they are already stressed being in the hot road. Pics from front of SuperCheap main store on route 4020

They were huge with a large canopy that shaded the road and were in the center of the road and not under any wires. This habit of eviscerating trees has got to be the number one thing I simply cannot understand about Thais.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-861115

Alstonia scholaris (Apocynaceae, commonly called Blackboard tree, Indian devil tree, Ditabark, Milkwood pine, White cheesewood and Pulai; syn. Echites scholaris L. Mant., Pala scholaris L. Roberty) is an evergreen, tropical tree native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Avenue of Idiocy...

Road my motorcycle from Rawai to the airport yesterday. Easy, no incidences, plenty of room all the way there, much of the way two lanes for cars a lane for bikes also.

Get out to Thalang and there are actually two lanes for bikes on top of the two lanes for cars.

To say Phuket "is the most dangerous place in the to drive" is just flat out wrong. Either you are not on the roads enough to come to the conclusion, or you just don't really know as you have not been on the roads in Nairobi,Moscow etc.

Anyway, did you see the Samui video of the tourist being run over? Already a couple of posters have said Samui is more dangerous so not only is Phuket not the most dangerous in the world,it's quite possibly not even most dangerous in Thailand OP.

How do you explain the damning road fatality statisitics for Phuket, which only include those who die at the scene, not shortly after, in a hospital, not to mention road accidents with serious injury?

The most accurate statisitcs, which can be relied upon, come from the various Embassies and Consulates in Thailand, on the death of their citizens in Thailand.

These statistics show road death is a major killer in Thailand, with Thai officials admitting Phuket has the highest fatality rate.

Low level of drivers using safety belts and helmets. Dangerous to themselves not to anyone else.

^

I've noticed a lot of Phuket expats seem to think enforcing helmet laws is a safety issue. I've always thought it is the ultimate in nanny state controls and affects no one but the non- helmet wearer. Police efforts would be better spent stopping speeders, which do endanger everyone.

Personal opinion is just that- personal opinion. Presenting personal opinion as fact does not make it so and neither does repeating it incessantly whilst comparing cliffs, bike lanes, pot- holes, honking drivers or helmet wearing with road fatality stats.

Phuket is the most likely place in Thailand to die on the road. Thailand is rated second n the world and with its dubious fatality statistics in question, it may well actually be first place or close to a level as Libya, rated number 1.

Therefore, Phuket is extremely likely to be the most likely place on the planet to meet your end in a road accident.

Incidentally Thailand was 3rd last time this UN survey was conducted, so it's gotten worse. As long as building wider faster roads is seen as a solution, and not part of the problem, this dismal fatality rate will increase as will general road congestion. Build it and they will drive on it.

that is common in some bars break a glass you must pay.but they want you too pay triple the price of the glass.if I had the a bar I would not worry a broken glass is not worth dying for or getting a profit because of one.but the thai way of thinking back fired for him.he is now dead for a broken 20 baht glass

Read it again, and then maybe a third time. The victim did not break the glass.. and it wasn't even in his club. The killer......oh just read it again[ please.

Everyone is entitled to quiet enjoyment of their property. That said people, including farangs, will tolerate this situation as there is nothing that can be done about it through legal means. You could appeal to common sense and common courtesy for neighbors but my experience is that neither exist here. You could deal with it the hard way and try to lobby to add restrictive bylaws into your moo bahn contract. These work well in the moo bahn that I reside. Or you could do it the easy way and consider having a fox (or similar) for a pet. Nobody is going to blame a fox for being a fox.

Are foxes even native to Thailand? If you are going for the kill on the sly, let loose a monitor lizard but you'll want to keep any cats inside and don't get bit yourself, it kills with bacteria.

It is illegal to make nuisance noise in the early hours and with a whole lot of perseverance I recently got police to get a new neighbor to move roosters far enough from my home I could not hear them any more. It's a real turd of a neighbor to subject anyone to that racket. Don't put up with it if you reside here legally.

I can relate. I live in an upscale suburban area. No farms, no other livestock but <deleted>' roosters all over the place.

Are fireworks effective against roosters? I mean just the sound from the explosions, not as a means to incinerate them.

I was this close to buying a ferret I saw at a market today, at least with that running around the neighborhood the chickens would be feeding the ferret instead of making more damn roosters.

I wonder if foxes make good pets? My fox ate all your fowl again,... again? mai ben rai

Go native -Monitor lizard

Listen to this guy, pissed myself laughing

Bangkok driving is much worse than Phuket. Multiple vehicle deaths per day, Phuket is about 25 - 30 per month. Phuket is Ok for driving except for high speed idiots like minbus and taxi. Just keep out of their way, let them by right away, but what can you do if the cross over and hit you head on - just your luck.

I've driven in Cairo, Egypt - much worse than Thailand.

Many more road deaths per 100,000 in all area outside of Bangkok than in Bangkok, for one simple reason, there is so much traffic the speeds are much lower and accidents or crashes as they should be called are not as severe as outside of Bangkok so lower amounts of deaths per 100,000 , many more crashes in Bangkok than out side of Bangkok but less severe , can easily Google it many articles about it on the internet.

Driving habits in a country I believe expose the social fabric of society... And I therefore am of the opinion that Thais are some of the nastiest people on the planet...the nice face they put up is a facade... as soon as I can hide behind anonymity in a vehicle (often with dark tainted windows) their real personality comes to the front... they will do anything as long as they can get away with it... they are a bunch of insular and arrogant people that comes from their lack of command of the English language as a result of which the only thing they know is Thailand...

Wow! What a load of crap! There are plenty of <deleted> drivers all over the world and it has nothing to do with their "lack of command of the English language." How's your command of the Thai language? What a racists comment! As they say; if you don't like it here, why do you stay here, especially with an attitude like that towards the Thai people...

Read it again- The insularity and arrogance is from lack of English skills, not the homicidal driving, that's from lack of common sense and courtesy.

^ The truth is getting out. No amount of censorship can keep it in- not with Facebook's anonymous community pages.

Lex Talionis, on 15 Nov 2015 - 10:32, said:

Somtamnication, on 15 Nov 2015 - 10:05, said:

Time to leave, mate.

Sure. Freedom of the press be damned. Just stick your tail between your legs and head on back down under.

When someone say freedom of the press, do they mean the press can wright what ever they

like and with, which they do on many occasions,,, most articles in nowadays news papers

are mostly rubbish, half truth or very askew truth to suite the publisher or a group of power

full people, nowadays new papers are nothing but a empty rhetoric and one sided opinions,

again, depend on the whims of the editor and the newspaper owner, so the ' freedom

of the press' while sound good, in practice worth nothing.....

This particular "editor" has, on numerous occasions, altered readers comments, to suit his own agenda, then has the cheek to critise the commenter, so as for "freedom of speech" perhaps he deserves what he gets. One suspects if he knew the consequences he never would have published the extract from Rueters. Having said that, it will be a pity to lose the website.

It wasn't the republishing of it that did Morison (and Chutima ) in, it was not crediting Reuters for the story (until later when it was added- after SHTF ) That's why Reuters left them hang out to dry, and rightfully so but unfortunate for Chutima, who did contribute a lot to the Reuters story. Will she ever realize Morison's ego cost her shared credit of a Pulitzer?

"...a passenger plane for high-ranking and prominent persons."

Yes, because that's what these guys need; more pampering paid for by the tax payers. All hail Uncle Too for steering Thailand onto the correct path!!

The bird was ordered in 2013.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Defence-wins-Bt3-4bn-budget-for-Airbus-ACJ320-jet-30209122.html

Indeed, All Hail Auntie Poo for steering Thailand onto the correct path!

But then, she had a guiding predecessor who also liked Airbus:

Thaksin's costly air taxi

Thailand recently took delivery of a customised Airbus A319 jet liner, which has been fitted out so that the premier and his 40 cabinet ministers can discuss urgent matters of state in comfort while hurtling through the skies.

Before acquiring his very own "Air Force One" Thaksin had to make do with rather basic air force jets. The new aircraft, with its on-board cabinet meeting room, is reported to have cost Bt1.1 Billion of taxpayer's money.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73451d48-006b-11d9-ad31-00000e2511c8.html

This new airbus cost 3.2 billion baht. The base model is 2.7 billion ( about $75, million USD ) Pretty luxury for humanitarian usage.

"Reputation Over Substance"....Should be the nation's motto. Criticism is vital in a heathy, growing, and mature society. Just proof number 46,828,355 that Thailand is anything but.

These criminal libel laws should be addressed by the UN as human rights violations.

Not just dangerous but the most dangerous in the world- as in most likely to die on- not have your alignment knocked out from a pothole, be honked at continuously, or have someone in front of you not stay in their lane and all the other comparatively petty annoyances in these example countries.

And the widening of roads to facilitate high speed travel (so taxis can get to the airport faster? ) is a factor, IMO.

In all countries, the "safer" a road is, the faster people will drive on it. Indeed the only way to stop the carnage on Phuket roads may be to make sure traffic can never reach speeds above 50 KPH.

"Indeed the only way to stop the carnage on Phuket roads may be to make sure traffic can never reach speeds above 50 KPH." - another way is to reduce traffic.

Currently, everyone on Phuket has to have access to a vehicle, or they are at the mercy of the transport mafia here.

Less traffic results in less accidents.

The terrible loss of life, the injuries and accident statistics, are largely caused by the lack of proper public transport here.

The Thai military will not address the situation, so I can only see further carnage on the roads here and a shrinking western tourism market, especially if they are serious with the drink driving crackdown.

I don't think so, this reducing of traffic to curb fatalities seems rational, yes- but only works in places where drivers have a working knowledge of inertia with a good understanding of consequence of action.

Reduce traffic and most drivers in Thailand will take the opportunity to just drive faster. As long as fatalism is the modus operandi of the vast majority in Thailand, nothing can change.

I bet, and I really cannot prove it but I bet fatalities increase when roads are widened here. I think the airport road might be a good example. How many deaths before the widening? A widening which was completely unnecessary, there were no traffic jams, but taxis were impeded a bit in reaching mach 1 speeds. Now seems like every other week there is a horrific crash with grievous injuries because taxis are becoming airborne with regularity.

Should it be required equipment mini vans have air spoilers installed?

Unfit to wear a police badge.

Ideal opportunity for the so called PM to wield the big stick but ... !

The big stick is only wielded against political rivals in the north, Phuket is firmly yellow- belly land.

Phuket police on prevention alert prior to Pai rape

Screen Shot 2558-11-07 at 7.06.02 AM.png

PHUKET: Phuket police reassured the community that efforts to enforce closing times of nightlife venues were already in full swing, prior to the directive issued by the Royal Thai Police, in the wake of a British woman being raped.

Royal Thai Police ordered officers this week to renew efforts in ensuring that all entertainment venues are closed on time, following the rape of the 30-year-old British national by a Thai man in Pai, in northern Thailand, on October 25.

We are of course following orders. However, we are already on top of the issue and doing our best to ensure nightlife venues are closing on time, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teeraphol Thipjaroen confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today.

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-police-prevention-alert-prior-Pai-rape/62305?desktopversion#sthash.AJkvKQ64.dpuf

-- Phuket Gazette 2015-11-07

I think its a little late now for this because UK press are having a field day with the way the RTP came out saying it was the girls fault let see how this will effect people plans for the Christmas holidays this year ..

No effect what so ever.Trips are booked,the just want to get out of the cold,a rape and closing times arn't going to stop that.When Thai women start closing their legs,that will slow the 2 week millionaires down.

And isn't that really what the nation offers, and why it can get away with all and sundry inept and irresponsible governance and suffer little for it? Foreign males on apparently all consuming sex quests enable this.

Thailand, THE center of the universe.

We have solutions for the world problems, from rapes to drugs to corruption to wars to refugees.

You forgot ebola.

And HIV

The entire island from the airport to Phuket town had traffic halted for the opening of a hospital?

^ Agree and something I've found trying to make complaints to govt officials is they welcome following up on it as it presents an opportunity for a hand-out from the accused.

Phuket seems relaxing after driving on Samui.

The drivers seem more orderly and the passing is less lunatic fringe.

Not to say Phuket is safe, oh no, but safer than Samui.

That's interesting and has been remarked upon repeatedly throughout the thread. I've not been there so cannot remark but I wonder does it have long straight roads where high speeds can be achieved?

It seems high speed is the universal killer on roads in any survey.

But knowing of Samui, and the mafiosa in place, I would not be surprised if fatality statistics there are manipulated downward quite a bit.

So, shall we say Thailand's two resort islands are -collectively, the most likely places in the world to die in a road accident.