Lee4Life

I guess the cop I saw this morning riding up the wrong side of the road on his way to the tea money check point with his chin strap flapping in the wind missed the memo.....

He was doing better than most of the officers around here...their chin straps are still at home, along with the rest of the helmet!

The lighting is so bad on most of these trailer trucks up here---especially if they are overloaded, as most are, what little lighting they have is then obliterated by their cargo. Sometimes they hang a small pushbike light onto the cargo----but (if they are actually moving) you really are on top of them before you know it, & of course the roads in most areas here have no lighting.

I don't know if any of these factors were to blame for this fatality, but they certainly are to blame for some....................

While I agree with others that we don't know the facts, I do also agree that some of the trucks here have very dim rear lighting that is nearly impossible to see.

wow, how would they ever find a fault?

Why look for a fault? Just run another cable

Even where we live in rural Isan the internet and phone cables alongside the small back roads are low enough that you have to dodge them if you ride your motorbike along the edge of the roadway. A couple of times they have hit the top of my helmet when I forgot and got over too far, I don't expect it to be like back home...but I do forget to watch out sometimes.

So if I am fleeing a war I am a refugee, but if I am fleeing persecution I am an illegal immigrant. Some of the posters also seem to think that because they have paid someone to assist them in fleeing this makes them illegal immigrants...so if they would have fled without paying for assistance then they would be refugees?

you're not the only one with this contagious mental disease called paranoia (Angst)

You have a pretty loose definition of paranoia

Pointless

"The man is alleged to have had involvement in a range of criminal activities, including drug offences, through his alleged association with an outlaw motorcycle gang in Victoria," the spokesman said."

So nothing proven then?

Ah well, I'm sure his wife and 2 kids understand this move. Who needs their dad, eh?

"Alleged" is used in almost every news article due to libel and defamation laws. It doesn't mean there are no known grounds for the charges, it just means they aren't going to open the door for a lawsuit. This is especially true in Thailand.

If you want to take this poor fellow in out of the goodness of your heart then more power to you!

For a start.

No way MR PM do not put them on islands in National Parks they will destroy the islands and the surrounding sea.

Right now, something does have to be done but it is not an easy problem to resolve. As we see from previous reports a fair proportion of these people, while they are victims of the traffickers, did get on these boats voluntarily looking for better economic conditions, work, jobs, a better chance at life.

That makes them economic migrants rather than refugees and there is a difference.

Fair enough if they are real refugees treat them as such under international convention but if they are just here looking for a better life then why treat them any different to someone from Lao or Cambodia who has come here looking for a job.

An additional problem with these people is their adherence to the so called religion of peace which has been stigmatized by some and has now tainted all its adherents to the extent that there will always be suspicion that their presence will either cause problems or increase those the country already has.

That one of course doesn't apply to the countries to the south of TL.

It is so easy for people who have never lived in conditions such as these migrants to say such things as "these people get on these boats voluntarily"! Somewhere in your past there was probably an ancestor who did something very similar. And then you go on to turn it into a rant against religions, who are you? Are you one of the boat captains that profits from the plight of these poor people? Or are you one of their persecutors who forced them from the only place they called home? From your statements it's obvious that you could very well be one or the other.

Trees and grass will grow back, garbage can be cleaned up, fish can reproduce....but these are human lives you are talking about. I pray someone has more compassion for you should things not go well for you than you have for others.

I never thought I would read the term "full cowboy" in a news article here! Sure is easier to understand than some of the stuff that is written.

It's also nice to see some firm action by the boys.

May you rest in peace, Sir Geoff. Condolences to family and friends.

Very obviously most people here do not understand the difference between a death by negligent behavior and a premeditated murder.

Instead of starting a witch hunt if the parents are rich and a Thailand bashing when the guy is poor, spend some time getting information and facts about criminal law. Honestly these discussions are getting more and more embarrassing

I didn't see any previous posts that said anything about premeditated murder? The majority of the posters are not incorrect in feeling that the laws regarding negligence and the justice system are too lenient in Thailand, and that this causes more of a "who cares" attitude and more tragedy.

I entered Cambodia and returned to Thailand immediately on the second of a two-entry tourist visa through the Aran/Poipet border post last February. Going out of Thailand and entering Cambodia I was not scanned, but re-entering Thailand I noticed that some foreigners before me were being scanned - I presume they were those who had been scanned on entering through other points of entry. I was neither scanned entering nor exiting Cambodia at Poipet.

That is interesting. A similar thing happened to me in Malaysia a few years ago. Everybody in front of me had their fingerprints taken, including foreigners, both upon entering and leaving the country, but when it was my turn, they didn't take my fingerprints at all. I suspect it has to do with what country your passport is from. I was using a Canadian passport. I suspect the Canadian government pushes some countries not to fingerprint their citizens. Do you mind mentioning which country your passport is from?

Do you really think that Asian countries give a flying fart about what foreign governments think ?

Canada is so highly regarded in Asia that Laos charges it's citizens US$42 for a visa !!

I have heard that Laos bases it's visa fees on how much other Nations charge their people..

While I agree with others that it is amazing these camps that can hold hundreds and hundreds of people have "gone undetected", I take it as a good sign that these new discoveries are making it into the news, that makes it a lot harder for it all to just get swept under the rug.

Maybe they should do some sweeps from the air with infrared detection, surely there are other countries or organizations who would be interested in helping out with that if needed? Maybe then they would find some live bodies.

Although I have not researched to send out links I seem to recall that if a minor commits a serious crime like killing people they are incarcerated into a prison for minors and then when they reach the age of 18 they are moved into a normal prison.

This girl, although a minor at the time of the incident was not a child and she knowingly got behind the wheel of that car without a license making her culpable for her actions. The statement this thread makes about it being in line with international standards is probably only made to appease the ignorant who believe what they read in the Thai news

Back home it is not uncommon for minors who have committed serious acts to be charged as adults when those acts caused significant loss of life or damage. I am not stating this because I believe this should be adopted here...but people should have a correct understanding of "global practices"

The 1,000 tonnes must be a mistake...has to be way more than that. The most interesting item I have seen so far was the container with the Harley in it that washed up in Alaska

2 year suspended sentence Was the judge on drugs ?

How can any human brain believe this is a fair judgement ?

How about his fair judgement in the US ?...http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/scourge-afluenza/

Firstly RIP to the 2 poor souls who lost their lives.

However, we also need to stop being so hypocritical. We complain like hell that the Muslims will not assimilate into our society yet here we are telling the Thais how they should run their society. I have said a million times before, if you have no understanding of fear then do not contemplate coming to Thailand. At the end of the day regardless of all the whining (my own included), they are who they are.

Taking a stand for justice, wherever you may be, can hardly be called hypocritical. It is not a matter of being Thai or not, it is a matter of putting value on lives regardless of who they belong to or what race or Nationality you are. Are you really comparing complaints about Muslims to complaints about the lack of justice for two people killed by a reckless driver?

RIP, Derek and Mike.

I'm disgusted with the sentence their killer got.

We may not like the different attitudes in Thailand, but this is the standard sentence where there are no drugs/alcohol involved.

The standard sentence for vehicular manslaughter or murder by vehicle? I guess you could be right about that, considering that the sentence given the teenager who killed those eight people in the van was nearly the same. The problem with this particular "different attitude" is that it encourages people to be irresponsible to the point of killing others.

Maybe better enforcement of existing laws would be a much better use of resources than trying to create new laws for the same officers to enforce. Even if the licenses were in order to provide funds for safe bike lanes, the cost of enforcement would probably outweigh the amount collected.

Now that the court cases are settled, I hope the relatives of those killed sue the asses off her and her parents, and leave them without a stang.

Another news article stated that they are being sued by the families for 120 million baht. That case has been suspended awaiting the outcome of this case.

Some of our friends were coming to see us here at NongKhai, they took the overnight train from Bangkok and the engine developed problems somewhere near the middle of the trip. The train crew unhooked the last half of the train cars, in which our friends were riding, and left it on the tracks while they continued on the journey. After a few hours another engine, or maybe the same one repaired, came and hooked up the last half of the cars and pulled them the rest of the way.

One call and they will be reminded of their space in LOS, they just are brainless poor people who do this job because they are not smart enough and do not have enough contacts to do a better one, so yes, I always remind them who they are !

I always challenge these retarded and I always win ...

That's until you don't.

Don't underestimate these guys as they can turn as and when they so wish. You sound a little too overconfident on the back of your run of good luck.

Pride comes before a fall, literally. Followed by crack over the nut with the baton just so you're reminded of your place in LOS.

It's a jungle out there.

You had better pray you get the chance to make that call before you are reminded of who you are!

I feel bad for the tourists, that's a miserable thing to have happen even when not on a trip. One thing about it...instead running off the driver showed some responsibility. Yeah...I know, he shouldn't have crashed the bus in the first place!

"go to heaven"??? I hope something got very lost in translation....

Nope...the translation is probably correct, I was listening to the temple loudspeakers near our house a while ago and heard them urging the people to make offerings if they wanted to go to heaven.

I would have to guess that "applying the brakes in a normal manner" does not work well when " poor road conditions" exist. What the driver was really saying was that he was going way too fast for the conditions and lost control, it just sounds way better to him to say he was just driving normally and the road was at fault.

Hard to say what was really going on from just that video clip... but I don't think I would advise being quite so aggressive with the police here, might get more than you bargained for.