Wiggy

55 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

500 baht fine?

That's a bit harsh.

44 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

Aircon on, but drawing air from outside rather than recirculating cabin air should fix it.

You should have a selector for that.

I just can't do that in Bangkok. The cabin gets full of diesel fumes and other unpleasant odours. 

IIRC, a small vent on each end of the dashboard on my Ford Focus was fixed in the direction of the side windows and also on the Civic I now have. Good for temperate climates, but not in the tropical climate we have here. My side windows often fog up. I have to raise the internal temperature to resolve it, but I can't do much more as the vents cannot be redirected, which is a bit of a design flaw.

22 hours ago, transam said:

You do have the A/C set to bring air in from the outside and not recirculate....?

Difficult in Bangkok, Trans. The outside air is so polluted it would probably cause CO poisoning. Lol.

5 hours ago, Ossy said:

So, what do you do; stand your ground, knowing that you've got right of way, in a gesture that all will see as aggressive? I don't believe that you would do that and that, like the rest of us, will shake your head in disbelief at t'other guy's stupidity and let him/her through. There's no way they can reverse out of your way, even if there was the space.

 

Like with Pilotman, it's the rock and a hard place situation, as it stands, and the only way it can be improved is by better driver tuition, EDUCATION and testing.

It is a rock and a hard place, I agree, but I very often stand my ground. Obviously if it's at high speed then it's not an option. Most situations where I've stood my ground the other party has backed down. I don't like it and am not proud of it (my wife goes mad), but I just hope that they might think twice about doing it again. Just my way of trying the education bit.

19 minutes ago, Ossy said:

Both these references are the 'Code's' advice, in order to keep out of harm's way in the quite likely event that there is some idiot, breaking the rules of good driving; first, an oncoming idiot, overtaking and 'coming at you' on your side of the road . . . yes the Code is stating the obvious - get out of the idiot's way, unless you want to die. Second, whilst turning left at the lights . . . you, I and everyone knows that bikers, in Thailand, cut corners, on 'the best line is a straight line' basis. Are you the sort of driver who'll simply mow down a biker who fouls your right of way? This post was started in a constructive attempt to help rid Thailand's roads of 'bad' driving . . . your help would be welcome, here.

OK, now I get the reasons for the article being written, and I agree that it is stating the obvious. What I fail to see is that how can giving way to bad driving help rid the country of bad driving? By giving way the bad drivers are encouraged, surely. I have been driving here for 18 years on four wheels and 7 years prior that on two wheels. I have had my vehicle come into contact with others seven times, and most were motorcycles. I'm proud to say none of them were my fault. My insurance has taken care of some of them, but on occasion the other party has paid (It does happen! Lol). I do give way to idiots, but also let them know that they are an idiot.

Forgive me if I misunderstand, but the article the OP posted a link to has to be false, surely. As I read it, it says that overtaking vehicles have the right of way and oncoming vehicles must move to the hard shoulder or as far left as possible to give them room to overtake. Although this may go some way to explaining the suicidal maneuvers we see, it can't be right. Also, the article says, "If on green you are turning left you must give way to oncoming motorcycles." Again, is this correct? What's the point of a green light if you have to stop and give way to errant motorcycles who have (I assume) passed through a red light. I'm confused.

1 hour ago, Alfa said:

You don't get anything by applying anywhere. Than they tell you , nothing happened, you have survived, no accident. 

You can not change anything because of the peoples behavier is like that here. They take big chanses , and even an accident happens they never learn something from it. 

They behave like this.

I've been driving here many years. I do my best that no accident happens and I can go home. I behave like I am ALWAYS WRONG and they are ALWAYS RIGHT. The result is no accident happens. Actually there are no rules in this country, so everybody have their own rules, because I am a foreigner here, I have no rights. 

Look , what is happening at Immigration everytime I go there,,,, NEW RULES. and more money in their pocket. If you say something you don't get your visa even if you are married. BE QUITE.... SHUT UP.... PAY WHAT THEY WANT.... NO RECIEP .... EVEN AT SUVARNAPHUMI IMMIGRATION.....  You get what you want. Go your way. 

BUT YOU WIN AT THE END. You buy your freedom like this and you don't take your time with these noncenses . YOU HAVE MORE LIFE TO LIVE.  LIFE IS SHORT.  BE HAPPY.  IT COSTS YOU A LITTLE EXTRA BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO. ACCEPT IT.  BE HAPPY.

So, by applying your logic where nobody complains, nobody acts when they have been wronged then what happens? More people do wrong (due to no punishment or recourse) and problems escalate, become more numerous and, ultimately, more serious. So, rather than try to prevent it, let’s adopt (your) ‘don’t care’ approach, and if the above (or any other) bus driver hurts your family in the future then don’t be upset when someone tells you to ‘just accept it.’

Stupid is as stupid does.

Many drivers have enough difficulty stopping at a red light, so I don't have much hope for this.

If they hadn’t behaved illegally and/or cheated in the first place there wouldn’t be a problem. Som nam na. 

Oh dear. When the chief steps in and says, “Don’t worry” I start to worry. The chief only usually steps in when a cover up is needed (Koh Tao, Red Bull) as he is untouchable and can do what he wants and silence who he wants. The early article on this says the scumbags have rich parents. Is that the rustle of brown envelopes I hear?

How come the car driver not see that in the door mirror? Probably because she never looked. Negligence on her part. 

8 hours ago, Tofer said:

According to the Thai news my wife watches / hears, the culprits have been apprehended and she assures me they will not be able to buy their way out of it. Let's hope so.

Fingers crossed. 

More oxygen thieves at large.

1 minute ago, marino28 said:

If the wine you buy is mixed with other fruits and not only grapes I don't think there wil be a huge difference in price. Different story for the real wine that will be taxed a lot 

You are correct, I misread it as 1,500 baht per litre of alcohol, not 150 as stated in the OP. My bad. 

Just now, maeab101 said:

Maybe this will help some people to stop drinking.

More likely drive more people to the sometimes lethal lao khao.

By my (hopefully wrong) calculation, a 5 litre box of the fruit wine that I buy will go from 959 baht to 1,934 baht.

1 hour ago, Techno Viking said:

I dont reckon expat bar owners stock their shelves with alcohol  purchased at Bic C.

Maybe not, but many bars selling 'red wine' pour it from boxes (I don't think I should name them, just in case) easily available at Big C, Tesco and the like and it's pretty cheap from those places. Could well buy it wholesale though. But that wasn't my point. 

I've just been to Big C (Rama 4) to buy a couple of boxes of fruit wine. If the tax was going to be as heavy as suggested I'm sure the Thais (and expat bar owners who sell the fruit wine as proper stuff) would've cleared the shelves by now. There was only one other person in the liquor section and wine and everything else was in abundance. They would only sell 24 cans of Leo to each customer though, which I thought was strange. Maybe it's all a bit of a storm in a teacup?

1 hour ago, Si Thea01 said:

 

Yes, under the Thai Criminal Code, section 290, police can lay a  charge of manslaughter, with the penalty being imprisonment of between 3 and 15 years.  There is also a charge of negligence where whoever committing an act by negligence and that act causes the death of another persons than the offender shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 years or fined not more than 20,000 baht.  This is governed under the same criminal code, section 291.

 

Not knowing the full details surrounding the incident, or the proofs required to prove murder, I have no idea why they have done so, however, given they have, it may suggest there is more to this incident than we are aware of.  This charge is laid under section 288 of the criminal code and the offender can receive the death penalty or be sentenced to between 15 to 20 years in prison. Under section 289, which relates to the death penalty, there are 8 separate aspects, any one of which, if proved, will result in the offender receiving the death penalty if convicted of murder. 

Thanks for posting that. Very useful to know.

7 minutes ago, AlQaholic said:

They way he drove straight into the black pickup on the video, may indicate intent, on the other hand being drunk may be a good defense tactic, that may be why police suddenly found alcohol in his blood.....

Fair point - that or maybe even a suicide attempt. Or that he was 'blind drunk' and didn't even see the pickup. Lots of defense options either way.

1 hour ago, jeab1980 said:

Too true any beer or piss water (larger) in a can is rubish any way and only deserves to be necked. No point in sampling pish now is there.

To prove my point who remembers the  party 7 double diamond cans pish but quantity. (Brit thing)

Watney's Party Fours and Party Sevens. Ah, those were the days!

12 minutes ago, Keesters said:

Driving under the influence shows enough intent IMO.

Personally I think it shows less intent, as he wouldn't have been thinking coherently whilst under the influence. As I said earlier though, he needs to go away with the harshest punishment possible.

1 minute ago, patrick kennedy said:

The girl that killed the 3 cyclists 3 years ago around Xmas time on the Doisaket road,driving drunk at 6am on her way home with daddys car,just across from the Market,she got 2 years for drunk driving and killing the innocent cyclists,thats nearly one year ago and as far as i know she has not spent one day in the jail,again I assume she has appealed,cases like these seem to die a death,especially if we dont try to remind everyone about them.Red bull the same he is just flouting the law,and apart from not going the wrong way he is every bit as guilty as this man that killed the child.He killed that Policeman,that was bad enough but to then scarper and not try to help the man,or ask someone to help him does not bear thinking about.Regardless who he was he might have survived had he had help,in my book there is no excuse for that horific act.for me he should never see daylight again,he does not belong amongst normal people.not because he is red bull boss,but because of who he is not.Im sure we all know how lucky he is that it dident happen in France or any part of Europe,for that part of his crime alone he would be serving an extra 10 years,i think a total of 15 years and banned from driving for life,and big compensation for the widow,not pennies like it is here.But he was allowed to come and go as he please and even failed to turn up for court about five times,we should all keep these cases alive until something positive is done.

I completely agree. Well said.