Tatsujin

It was the blantantly obvious offence commited by the Thai rider, the offence that slaps you squarely in the face. The offence of failing to keep as far left as practaicable. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever preventing the thai from obeying the law and traveling on the left side of the lane. Cut and dried, tagged and bagged guilty as you know what. Thanks for coming.

Jamie was clearly travelling on the left as per the law and was veering right to make a turn. No offences comitted by Jamie the Thai 100% broke the law.

You and I obviously see things differently. Have you ever driven in Thailand? What with all the bad roads, open manholes, broken edgings, and general crap on the edges of the roads, if you make a habit of riding as far to the left as is possible, then you'll definitely end up in a crash.

Do you not see the Australian guy wobbling around in the video? Do you not see HIM far over on the left side of HIS lane? Do you not see HIM then move even further over to the left of HIS lane just BEFORE cutting ACROSS that lane to make the right turn?

I'm not excusing the Thai rider, but you should open your eyes and see what is in front of you also. The Australian man was driving less than sensibly and that is in part at least the cause of this accident. If I was riding up behind him and had seen this guy wobbling around in the distance, at night, over on the left where he was in the video it would be very easy to assume he was preparing to stop on the LEFT, not make a right turn suddenly. This does of course assume he wasn't indicating, but even if he was, indicators get left on so much here in Thailand people pretty much ignore them anyway.

Just because you are farang doesn't mean you are dripping with gold and ready to be harvested by a low life scammer.

Very true, but it's the 'perception' of this that is at issue in your example. Foreigners are generally perceived to have more money than a 'local', whether it's actually true or not is irrelevant, it's the perception that still pervades here.

Oh I need a new I phone so I will jump on my bike and deliberately run into a farang (who cares if I injure him) and get paid out big time.

Actually, there was a spate of this a while back, not targeted at foreigners specifically, but anyone who had an expensive car. The biker would run into them deliberately, get 'injured', then want money to compensate them for their 'injuries' and damage to their bikes etc. In actuality, it was the Insurance companies that got screwed mostly.

What do you base the comment "that alone makes it other driver's fault". Not in Thailand it doesn't. You knowledge is based on what exactly?

Basic logic and the rules of the road everywhere in the world.

If you run into the back of someone, it's your fault.

Even if they jammed on the brakes without warning, if you hit them it's because you were following too closely or going too fast. Always your fault. End of story.

Once again I repeat . . . we are in Thailand where the rules, laws, logic and common sense that everyone is basing their opinions on just don't apply. You guys can keep on saying that "in my country xxxx" forever, but it doesn't change the fact that this didn't happen in "your" country and, surprise, surprise, things are different here.

I'm not saying I agree with a lot of the ways things are done here in Thailand, but it's a simple fact that when you live or visit a different country you are then governed by that country's laws or ways of doing things.

Going back to the video, we don't know whether the Australian had his indicators on, we don't know the speed of the Thai driver, and knowing the speed limits in various places here I would say he was driving fast but perhaps not actually speeding for that section of the road. 80km/h is a pretty common speed limit pretty much everywhere, and that's about the top speed of a lot of the scooters here. Whether he should have been driving at that speed is another argument.

I still say that you cannot blame the Thai driver entirely. To me, looking at the video, the way the Australian drove at least partly contributed to this unnecessary accident.

And all of the above makes no difference whatsoever. He was in Thailand, so Australian or UK law doesn't apply.

No need to speculate on anything. Just ask them and get the answer. Simple.

Insults and baiting posts have been removed.

dam_n, I was just reading through those! I was waiting for the handbags to come out

OK, just watched the full video. Sorry for the loss of life, but I got to blame the boyfriend at least partly on this one.

As a bike rider and a car driver, I would hazard a guess and say he is obviously unused to riding a bike which is not uncommon here. He is also not very well positioned within his lane for making a right turn (too far over to the left) and that alone would lead to confusion. I can't tell whether he was indicating or not also, but I'll hazard another guess and say probably not.

It looks to me that he is wobbling along, too far over to the left of his lane, slows down, wobbles left a bit more, then decides to make the turn right . . . and swings ACROSS the lane he is in. He should already have been further over to the right side of that lane before making that right turn.

Edit: I see that kjhbigv has posted essentially what I was saying. And good point about the "lifesaver" look before making ANY turn. Most motorcyclists from the west would have had this hammered into them.

Corruption is endemic here and it's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future as it's such a part of even daily life. Nothing gets done here without some form of bribery, concession, backhander or whatever.

One of the reasons that it won't change is that from the bottom up, people all want the chance to get their own slice of the pie and they hope that one day they will be in a position to be able to get it. Until then, they accept things as they are as a way or fact of life.

As some of us said many, many months ago . . . there is no way they had spent that money in a correct or sensible manner.

Insurance exists for two simple reasons: to help prevent losses from happening in the first place, but to alleviate the financial consequences if disaster does strike.

I might have missed something, but how does having insurance prevent losses from happening in the first place? Surely its sole purpose is to help recover from something AFTER it happens?

This is terrible .....when will the Thai Police treat people in a fair and just manner ...

I was treated in the same way after an accident and threatened with either night in jail , impounding my car , taking my passport etc etc ....

I signed ...later I learnt the police had fabricated a story to protect the Thai .. so that he would be able to claim insurance ....etc etc ..

I had exactly the opposite experience. Was rear-ended (no sarcastic comments please) whilst waiting to turn at a set of lights late at night. Young kid (14), drunk, "stole" his Uncle's pickup to go for a spin, smacked into me hard. Long story short, the Thai taxi drivers all came over, grabbed this kid who was trying to run away, called the Police for me, Police arrived and could see straight away what was going on. Went to station, and they were all very friendly and helpful.They pushed me to charge the kid etc and not let it go. I did have my (at the time) Thai gf with me later on, but I have no complaints how it was handled in my particular situation.

Does "corruption" only become outrageous if someone else calls you out on it or if you get caught out?

"The inquest concluded that Charnnarong Polsriwala, a member of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD)"

Can we assume not an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time but one of many members of an armed group of rioters who were not only violating laws but had proven themselves to be an armed and dangerous militia.

Only in Thailand and only from a government who seized power aided and abetted by these violent thugs could there ever be such a ridiculous inquiry!

of course you can assume that, i'm sure that's the natural reaction of a lot of people.

you know nothing about the person shot, just as i don't but you have the gall to label him as a violent thug and assume he was armed.

btw, do witnesses mean nothing to you? we haven't even seen the inquest, just a report on it from a biased news source and you have your mind made up already.

and calling the red shirts a militia is just laughable and ignorant.

If you cared to look up the definition of terrorist you would find that that is just what the redshirts were in Bangkok 2010. And some of them still are. A sad point is that some of them did not even realize that they were just that.

. . . one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter . . .

The girlfriend is a prime example she has a salary of 20,000Baht a month. The 12,000 I have being giving her is now not enough. She cannot pay her bank loan, because she does not take it from the 12,000Baht. She did not pay her electric bill 1,700 Baht, they took the meter. She yelled at me for not reminding her when the bill normally came and complains she has to go town to pay it 30 kms. oh! but now she can pay by bank transfer. And are you going to pay for this and this also. Plus the normal things I buy every month another few thousand Baht.

The 12,000 that I give her would pay all her bills every month if she took that money and paid them instead of just throwing it in her purse and then having nothing at the end of the month. She thinks money is love and who will give her more is giving her love. So she wants a man now with unlimited income to come and support her.... any offers out there....

It doesn't matter how much you give your Thai wife/gf. She will spend it all and need more.

Yes . . . if you let her . . . from the sounds of some of you guys, I'd marry you . . . I'd have a great easy life!

. . . and here it comes . . . all those stupid "populist" policies will now come back (over time) and bite everyone in the ass . . .

I propose another IQ test. All TV posters should be tested and those falling under the average (85) should be banned from posting.

I think you are being overly generous with that average rating . . .

But truth be told, Prime Minister Yinluck Shinawatra and her trusted lieutenant Foreign Minister Surapong Tohvijakchaikul were cueless.

OK, obvious thing first . . . they are playing snooker?

Secondly (assuming the spelling is corrected to "clueless"), that's about the most accurate statement I've heard so far concerning Thai Politicians.

"Before we promote our online programmes to open up the Asean market, we must ensure our quality first as well as enhance our English language to be acceptable among other countries that use English, otherwise we will fail," Kamjorn said.

Red shirt protestor killed by soldiers' bullets, inquest concludes

No surprise there then.

I absolutely refuse to watch any Thai TV show that doesn't involve a midget or a cretin.

. . . you missed out the funny fat guy and the ghost . . .

I take great pleasure in standing up and giving my seat to an older Thai man or woman and giving them a big smile as I offer them the seat, whilst the younger/middle-aged Thai's sit there and studiously ignore them.

Just doing my small part in improving cultural relations . . .

Don't do it. You're not ready for it.

It's the little things in life that always irritate so much . . .