Shawn0001

I was unfortunate enough to see something similar to this, multiple cars hitting a body in the road, but it was in the UK on the M25, I will never forget that sorry scene.

I don't know what all the fuss is about,when you think about it most of the deaths are a result of drink driving or reckless driving.so after song krans natural selection process the roads will be that little bit safer for the rest of us.rip the innocent.

When a drunk driver kills someone from a different family, regardless of whether the drunk dies or not, the phenotype difference found in the innocent victim which is then removed from the gene pool has no positive effect as they did not make the mistake, thus this is not natural selection at all but actually just a damn shame.

If you take road deaths per 100k people indeed Thailand is in 2nd place.

If you take road deaths per 100k vehicles then Thailand is a long way down the list with about 75 deaths per 100k vehicles

Guinea has about 9,500 deaths per 100k vehicles per year

Thailand averages 25k road deaths a year, India has almost 240k

Just a bit of perspective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

I noticed that compared to the UK, by number of people, Thailand has 12 times as many fatalities, but by number of vehicles has 14 times as many.

you can play with stats all day and make them do just about whatever you like - if you thing stats are "facts" then you are seriously misled.

What you CAN take from the WHO stats is a reasonable commonality and the comparative view on some sets of road stats....it is reasonable to deuce that Thailand has an unacceptable road death rate.....trying to decide who is 1st 2nd or 3rd is pointless anyway and even simply stating that the higher the numbers the more dangerous the roads is not necessarily true.....as you can see when you factor in such things as number of vehicles, mikes of road, vehicle miles driven etc etc......

it seems far too many people are content to base their judgements on one single stat or to see that stat in isolation...this is the case with the Song Khran stats - the media blasts out the number of deaths every day...uses vocabulary like "carnage" and we all are made to believe that the death rate over Song Khran is higher than normal.

This was what I was getting at, everyone goes on about one set of stats because these make Thailand look worse, I was trying to get a little balance by quoting deaths by 100k vehicles not just by population.

And what I was getting at was that who is top of the list does not really matter, when comparing the countries many of us come from, Thailand is still proportionately just as bad in this respect, in the case of the UK, even worse.

If you take road deaths per 100k people indeed Thailand is in 2nd place.

If you take road deaths per 100k vehicles then Thailand is a long way down the list with about 75 deaths per 100k vehicles

Guinea has about 9,500 deaths per 100k vehicles per year

Thailand averages 25k road deaths a year, India has almost 240k

Just a bit of perspective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

I noticed that compared to the UK, by number of people, Thailand has 12 times as many fatalities, but by number of vehicles has 14 times as many.

"They only have to have blind faith and believe whatever their "good book" tells them and follow the flock, make no waves and question nothing."

Your statement demonstrates a poor understanding of the revolutionary that is known as Jesus and the many rather tricky questions he left his followers to ponder, it may fit some blind followers but it is certainly not the general idea of the religion, which is all about going against flow when that is what is correct, thus making waves and about questioning everything particularly yourself, but granted, this is probably practiced by a minority of Christians.

Well I'm sure you feel that you are right.

As a child I was brought up as a Christian - a protestant.

Thou shall have no other God but me!

Have a little read in the book of Job.chapter 15, verse 5 onward

In fact the whole book is quite interesting.

Yes, I am familiar with it, the Book of Job is found in the Old Testament, it is part of the Torah, it also forms the basis of Sharia law, it is of no real use to a Christian other that as a point of reference to all that Jesus was fighting against, not that there are not a great number of Christians who disagree with me.

This guy was a fake and that's that. The following question doesn't concern him.

I've always wondered about the "possessions" thing. Most Thai males spend some time at various times in their lives as monks (and many females as nuns). It's not a permanent thing. They conclude their limited time in the monkhood, perhaps 3 months, and then go back to their normal lives. This most definitely includes the rich and most prominent members of Thai society. At any given point in time therefore, I'd expect a certain percentage of the monk population to consist of these "temporary" monks. Surely they're not expected to abandon all their money & possessions, including cars, while serving these short periods in the monkhood, as the lifelong monks are. But if not, then what are the rules for them?

Ah, maybe I understand a little better now.

The other day in a mall in BKK with my Thai wife and her adult son, sitting eating ice cream.

A monk approached us and asked where the nearest and best shoe shop was.

Our lad suggested a shop.

The monk then asked for money to buy his shoes.

I asked him about the monks precepts and that shoes were not worn by real monks and sent him on his way.

He just smiled and went to the next mug!

IMO, Thai people are brainwashed from birth to give to monks and the Wat - for good luck.

The more given - the better luck both in this life and beyond!

IMO all religions or cults, call them what you will, are all scams and cons and responsible for much of the troubles of the world.

It's a pissing contest - my religion is better than yours - if you don't change to my religion you will be killed....

From the Romans, the Crusades to ISIS, not forgetting the Egyptians, the Pharaohs etc.....

The Druids, Pagans............

This hardly sounds like legitimate behavior for a monk. I'm not sure it's a reason to condemn all religion. A reaction like that is not terribly well thought out and tars with a supremely broad brush sincere believers who make tolerance and the pursuit of peace & goodwill a real part of their daily lives. I'm not religious myself, and am as critical as anyone of a certain religion that has reduced itself to an excuse for global instability, cultism, unrest, and violence, and would agree that historically organized religion has a lot to answer for, but I can't see just dumping all religion, and all believers everywhere, into the same bucket. Religion, like anything else, can be turned to a bad purpose by men. Blaming on religion what is really the doing of selfish, power-drunk men, without realizing this, is terminally simple-minded.

I have the feeling that our ideas are not that far apart in many ways.

You said "This hardly sounds like legitimate behavior for a monk. I'm not sure it's a reason to condemn all religion."

I do not condemn all religions because of this silly Monk.

I condemn them because Religion is a Man Made Creation, It is really the doing of selfish, power-drunk men" as you said.

IMO, religion is helpful for those who don't want to accept the responsibility for thinking for themselves.

They have been given rules and guidelines on how to behave and they have a God who loves them as long as they toe the line.

They only have to have blind faith and believe whatever their "good book" tells them and follow the flock, make no waves and question nothing.

I'm also not religious myself, the only truth that I believe is that none of us are getting out of here alive!

I am fine with those who choose to abdicate responsibility for a belief, but like you, I am as critical as those of certain religions that have reduced themselves to an excuse for global instability, cultism, unrest, and violence,

I actually think that the Earth is self healing and cyclic.

Every so often there is a Natural Disaster which removes or reduces to a minimum, the plague that was "hurting" the planet like dinosaurs, people in the great flood etc.

I loved the TV series Ancient Aliens, very thought provoking..

I also like Science but I don't have blind faith in it.

Scientists are also "Men" and can be corrupted as any man can be.

I don't have a tin foil hat and I am not a preacher of doom, just an ordinary bloke of 74 years experience.

A couple of failed long term relationships and now, finally a good one.

Shame that I am a slow learner and it took so long to get to here LOL

If you have free time, YouTube for "The Ring of Power", an excellent documentary on who is really in charge and controlling everything.

Have a great day.

"They only have to have blind faith and believe whatever their "good book" tells them and follow the flock, make no waves and question nothing."

Your statement demonstrates a poor understanding of the revolutionary that is known as Jesus and the many rather tricky questions he left his followers to ponder, it may fit some blind followers but it is certainly not the general idea of the religion, which is all about going against flow when that is what is correct, thus making waves and about questioning everything particularly yourself, but granted, this is probably practiced by a minority of Christians.

After being in Tokyo during the 2011 mega quake, Japan has the most well equipped infrastructure to cope.

I'm Californian, lived through multiple earthquakes, but I was on the 22nd floor of a building in 2011 when the magnitude 9 hit. The fact that all the utilities stayed on, nothing collapsed, in fact I was IM'ing my boss back in the States throughout the whole event, is a tribute to the Japanese.

I hope that this events doesn't result in too many fatalities, but again if any country on this planet is prepared, its Japan

It is true that Japan is leading the world in this respect, but I wonder how equal these measures are across the archipelago, there are of course some very poor people in Japan who perhaps do not have the best quality of construction within their homes.

What they really want to look at if they want to improve the banks image is the attitude of the staff! When the wife would go into the Big C branch Sukhumvit Rd and Phattaya Tai branch or Central festival their body language was enough to convince me we weren't welcome. We found the TMB to be a slight improvement!

Some people are prejudiced, can you think of any reason why someone might prejudice your wife? Revealing dress, visible tattoos, low education level, etc? I am not saying she does or that if she does that this is in anyway acceptable to treat her differently to anyone else, only that I have seen each of these things seemingly result in the cold shoulder by some rather horribly conservative people.

I thought that the retirement age was to be increased from 55. This seems to be in direct conflict with such musing.

Sounds more like a redundancy payment than a pension as it is a one off payment, I don't know when they will start getting their pension, it doesn't say.

Quote: "Do you have anything to bring to the conversation or do you only want to bore us with your attempt to belittle?"

Reply:

The truth is I read this too quickly and misinterpreted the first sentence.

No worries ... carry on ..

Ah I see, you misread my mention of the Dali Llama, the God King, no worries, panic over, and I must admit, you did have me a little worried there!

When was the last time the cops checked Khao San Road for countrified documents right under the over-sized billboard of the BIB?

If you have ever looked at them, they are not actually copies of the real thing, they are not just bad copies they are actually designed to be different, I don't know but this may be a way of staying legal.

Thankfully he landed on no one...

Unfortunately, one day it will happen

That's why in Europe or Japan they would have nets ..

In malls like the MBK the railing at the escalators is also very low, i'm surprised people don't fall off them often.

That's right, I may be abnormally tall but the damn thing barely comes over my knee, and being afraid of heights I am terrified to go on those things, I somehow doubt this short conversation is going to help that matter though, it's making me feel sick now and I am sitting by the pool!

Well if we never mention it things will never change. A Thai has no idea what it is to be a tall farang. Those railings are low and scary if you stand on the escalator from the 6 th floor or so. The railings are too low or don't exist at all.

Yes, it needs a mention, but that is not what I meant by it won't help, I meant it wont help my fear!

Some people may argue that almost all monks are fake, so where do you draw the line.

I have lived here years and have studied Buddhism for decades and have yet to find many Buddhist's in Thailand who do not mix in Animism, Hinduism and all sorts of shenanigans into the pot they call 'Buddhism' here.

There are probably real Buddhists (maybe some forest monks?) but you won't find them in the local Wat selling amulets or sprinkling you with Holy Water

None is more mixed with animism that the Tibetan Buddhism that many seem to believe is the "real" Buddhism due to their God King. Anyway, they are not exactly mixing the two but keeping the old deities in the background as Dharma Protectors. Some like to ask things of them, but this has nothing to do with Buddhism, it is perhaps more akin to a Christian dropping a coin down a wishing well. In Sri Lanka, some Buddhists have taken to asking things of Mary, they remain Buddhists, they are not exactly mixing the religions, they just don't quite get the fact that Buddha told them not to pray for personal gain, but then Buddha was an inclusive chap, he didn't have much of a problem with anything people wanted to do, he just wanted to help people and give them some advice. And there really are "real" Buddhists in Thailand, some living as hermits in the forest, others as nomads, you will see them occasionally walking on the road, they tend to be a lot skinnier and tired looking than the ones seeking alms around the town, and they never ever ask for anything, they survive off what the world brings their way, they don't seek to influence that.

More expert Farang insights.

Yawn.

Do you have anything to bring to the conversation or do you only want to bore us with your attempt to belittle?

Some people may argue that almost all monks are fake, so where do you draw the line.

I have lived here years and have studied Buddhism for decades and have yet to find many Buddhist's in Thailand who do not mix in Animism, Hinduism and all sorts of shenanigans into the pot they call 'Buddhism' here.

There are probably real Buddhists (maybe some forest monks?) but you won't find them in the local Wat selling amulets or sprinkling you with Holy Water

None is more mixed with animism that the Tibetan Buddhism that many seem to believe is the "real" Buddhism due to their God King. Anyway, they are not exactly mixing the two but keeping the old deities in the background as Dharma Protectors. Some like to ask things of them, but this has nothing to do with Buddhism, it is perhaps more akin to a Christian dropping a coin down a wishing well. In Sri Lanka, some Buddhists have taken to asking things of Mary, they remain Buddhists, they are not exactly mixing the religions, they just don't quite get the fact that Buddha told them not to pray for personal gain, but then Buddha was an inclusive chap, he didn't have much of a problem with anything people wanted to do, he just wanted to help people and give them some advice. And there really are "real" Buddhists in Thailand, some living as hermits in the forest, others as nomads, you will see them occasionally walking on the road, they tend to be a lot skinnier and tired looking than the ones seeking alms around the town, and they never ever ask for anything, they survive off what the world brings their way, they don't seek to influence that.

Keep writing in this manner, and you may find yourself with 15 years to meditate about it.

Woah, what? Have I been offensive, have I committed a crime? All I am doing is repeating what some very devout Thai Buddhists have said to me, what is wrong?

Thankfully he landed on no one...

Unfortunately, one day it will happen

That's why in Europe or Japan they would have nets ..

In malls like the MBK the railing at the escalators is also very low, i'm surprised people don't fall off them often.

That's right, I may be abnormally tall but the damn thing barely comes over my knee, and being afraid of heights I am terrified to go on those things, I somehow doubt this short conversation is going to help that matter though, it's making me feel sick now and I am sitting by the pool!

Some people may argue that almost all monks are fake, so where do you draw the line.

I have lived here years and have studied Buddhism for decades and have yet to find many Buddhist's in Thailand who do not mix in Animism, Hinduism and all sorts of shenanigans into the pot they call 'Buddhism' here.

There are probably real Buddhists (maybe some forest monks?) but you won't find them in the local Wat selling amulets or sprinkling you with Holy Water

None is more mixed with animism that the Tibetan Buddhism that many seem to believe is the "real" Buddhism due to their God King. Anyway, they are not exactly mixing the two but keeping the old deities in the background as Dharma Protectors. Some like to ask things of them, but this has nothing to do with Buddhism, it is perhaps more akin to a Christian dropping a coin down a wishing well. In Sri Lanka, some Buddhists have taken to asking things of Mary, they remain Buddhists, they are not exactly mixing the religions, they just don't quite get the fact that Buddha told them not to pray for personal gain, but then Buddha was an inclusive chap, he didn't have much of a problem with anything people wanted to do, he just wanted to help people and give them some advice. And there really are "real" Buddhists in Thailand, some living as hermits in the forest, others as nomads, you will see them occasionally walking on the road, they tend to be a lot skinnier and tired looking than the ones seeking alms around the town, and they never ever ask for anything, they survive off what the world brings their way, they don't seek to influence that.

Conning people out of money, pornography, private car?

They should make him the head of an order somewhere.

He sounds ideal.

Pity he hasn't a plane, but I'm sure he could work on that.

I bet you've never spent time in the monkhood.

He's a FAKE monk. Real monks don't do this.

I assume you are trying to make a poor joke?

And how many times do we hear of REAL monks, usually senior, up to their necks in questionable behaviour, more often than not involving the aquisition of money and other assets ?

Unfortunately for Buddhism real monks do should things.

The REAL monks around where I live charge 600 Baht per chant at a deceased person's wake. Five chanting sessions until the cremation, not bad. And then there is the "the family needs to buy the wat a big tent so the deceased will be happy." Of course the tent maker just happens to be a relative of one of the monks and the price of the tent is three times the regular price. It's all a one way street into the temple. Never any assistance going back to the people. At least that's the way it is here. Nothing but a racket to take advantage of the people.

There is another kind of monk, the kind you might have passed on the highway, walking alone and often without shoes, these monks are on the path and probably what most of us casual observers would consider to be "real", they certainly better fit our western appreciation of what a monk should or shouldn't be.

@ Shawn0001

You

With so little information how could anyone criticize with any degree of truth or have a justified opinion regarding fault? To do so would be actually have to be bashing. I would have thought someone like you being such a bastion of human rights, would get that. Sad is the word.

Me

As I have already said my original comment wasn't about the story but rather a type of phrase I see in some posts.

My response to Tchooptip was aimed solely at those who see no wrong, I see this attitude as being no better than those who see nothing but negativity.

I do not recall anyone "seeing no wrong" but I continuously see some people bashing and others who do not appreciate their childlike generalizations, you want to support them, good for you, but don't expect to be taken seriously when claiming to care about what is 'right', for you haven't the first idea.

You don't read so well, do you.

A: I said there is no difference between those who are nothing but negative and the apologists who defend everything, whose paranoia sees bashing in everything they don't like. I support neither as they both have no sense of perspective in their posts.

B: The apologists are all over these threads.

C: Your final 6 words...ha ha ha.

D: I don't care if you take me seriously or not. I really don't care at all.

I read perfectly well, I just do not agree with you, the posters who you refer to as "apologists" are actually just opposed to the childish generalizations and seek to provide balance, there is a difference between someone making a bigoted comment and someone pointing that their comment is merely a generalization, obviously. It is the latter you seek to bash and the former you seek to apologize for, as was the entirety of your initial comment and you may hope to pretend that your comment was out of disdain for the ending of the comment you replied to seemingly inviting the bashers to bash, but your entire comment was one big apology for bashing, you are not fooling anyone.

@ Shawn0001

You

With so little information how could anyone criticize with any degree of truth or have a justified opinion regarding fault? To do so would be actually have to be bashing. I would have thought someone like you being such a bastion of human rights, would get that. Sad is the word.

Me

As I have already said my original comment wasn't about the story but rather a type of phrase I see in some posts.

My response to Tchooptip was aimed solely at those who see no wrong, I see this attitude as being no better than those who see nothing but negativity.

I do not recall anyone "seeing no wrong" but I continuously see some people bashing and others who do not appreciate their childlike generalizations, you want to support them, good for you, but don't expect to be taken seriously when claiming to care about what is 'right', for you haven't the first idea.

I am seriously worried about these Big Bikes spreading all over Thailand now. Thai drivers are not mature enough to ride these bikes, not to mention educated enough. Most Iv'e seen drive them like they were the little 90cc thingies, just about 5 times faster in a four lane express way dodging in an out of lanes and passing in between cars just like they do with 90ccs. I will not take long until further carnage...

Someone dies on a Thai road on average every 20 minutes, but it has little to do with big bikes and much more to do with a lack of training, road safety awareness, and even in some cases, complete acceptance of 'fate'.

Wishing one and all a speedy recovery.

Before the bashing begins...

So are you implying any criticism of the one at fault here, be it the bike rider or tuk tuk driver, is bashing?

Tell me, what positives can be said of a rider who rear ends a tuk tuk?

Unless of course the tuk tuk driver was at fault in which case what positives can be said of him?

You can trust Bluespunk's word, as a professional of negative comments he knows what he is talking about

Amazing how many apologists find the truth and opinion to be negative things.

Sad as well.

Actually, just sad.

With so little information how could anyone criticize with any degree of truth or have a justified opinion regarding fault? To do so would be actually have to be bashing. I would have thought someone like you being such a bastion of human rights, would get that. Sad is the word.

Big bike ran into back of Tuk Tuk so police breathalise the driver, but apparently not the big bike rifer.

They have to check to see if he's rich or connected before they can do that. Don't you know the laws here?

I couldn't help but notice that no-one declined to be breathalysed. I'm still puzzled as to what the law is here.

Unless there are two laws, one for the rich......

The law used to be that declining the breath test was met with a 1000 baht fine, that changed a couple of years ago and now carries the same penalties as failing the breath test, maximum 20,000 baht fine and/ or 1 year in prison. That may be why their compliance with the test is mentioned, rather than the problems with application of the law.

Do you have any evidence to support this claim or is it just your opinion?

Another wasted and useless safety campaign.

And to think Songkran doesn't officially begin until tomorrow.

Most Thais have taken the entire week off. (Outside of tourist areas)

The result, if true, isn't too bad.

The numbers as usual are skewed for face saving. Thailand has the second highest road kill in the world at about 80 per day.

Thailand reported a higher road death rate than any other country apart from war-ravaged Libya in a report published last year by the World Health Organization (WHO).

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-traffic-idUSKBN0UJ10I20160105

Isn't that figure in the ball park for the daily average, in fact it may be a little lower.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

Over the years I can find on the internet the average has varied from 40 to 70, it is within the daily average, it is every year and I imagine they only do these campaigns every holiday season to try to hide the fact that they are not actually doing anything about the real issues that are resulting in so many road deaths throughout the year.

None of the refugees plan to stay in Bulgaria as it is a country even poorer than where they are from, all they want is to travel through on their way to Germany, why would anyone stop them?