doodle

A lot of good points made in this post. It's true that the health and safety culture has become rampant in Western society. 'Nanny State' springs to mind in regard to the UK's approach to it. Not wishing to start a Brexit debate here, much of this has sprung from the EU's love of rules and regulations. Mind you, the Grenfell Tower disaster shows that we still don't always get it right.

Asian, and particularly Thai, culture seems to suggest that people rather than the State are responsible for their own health and safety. This is most noticeable on the roads, another favourite TV topic. I should imagine any Thai drivers visiting almost any Western city experience some sort of culture shock. Of course, the same can be said for us visiting Bangkok but for different reasons.

We must not forget that one of the reasons we all love to live or visit here is the different culture compared to the West. Too much 'improvement' will take that away forever. We can only hope for some sort of compromise when the Thais do finally get round to doing something about their health and safety issues.

1 minute ago, Quack said:

Actually I don't think it was the luck of the draw. The Brit divers were brought in to blaze the trail as the other divers weren't experienced or skilled enough to be able to find their way through the network of caves without any visibility, maps or lines... The Brit guys were the ones who did the hard work exploring and forging ahead and laid out the lines so other less experienced divers could follow them through. It's extremely difficult and takes a great deal of bravery to go into a cave blind, squeezing through tight gaps when there's no guarantee you'll even be able to turn around in the space you get into, no visibility at all. There's probably only a handful of people in the world who can do this safely, which is why the Brits were brought in.

That's right. The French specifically asked for them in 2010 to help recover the body of a diver. They also helped in a successful rescue of 13 divers in Mexico in 2004.

The forum seems to be a bit slow off the mark here. I have just had an email from the UK Foreign Office travel advice service stating that there have been 'two bomb explosions on Poonsuk Road, Hua Hin late on 11 August causing casualties'.

Thoughts with the injured.

From a legal perspective, you can play any song at any time from any artist as long as you fill out and hand in the set list of the songs you are going to sing, to a company responsible for collecting royalties, the concert promoter usually have to pay these fees to an organization such as , APRA Australia or GEMA Germany, i don't know who that would be in Thailand, a publisher or copyright owner has the right to stop you playing any of their catalog,should they chose to do so! that's a basic explanation...

Performing Rights Society in the UK. Had to fill in the form, once or twice, when working with performers using backing tracks.

2011 suicide rate is 6.03 per 100,000 persons Thailand

2009 suicide rate is 6.9 per 100,000 persons United Kingdom

2008 suicide rate is 11.8 per 100,000 persons United States

2011 suicide rate is 21.4 per 100,000 persons Russia

Looks likes Thailand is not the only country in need of more Apple products and skin cream

No link therefore I can only assume you made those statistics up.

Remember statistics are only as accurate as the country providing them. And we all know Thailand is incompetent and unreliable when it comes to accurately recording or reporting.

Here's a link that shows Thailand above the UK and US for suicide numbers.

http://en.wikipedia....by_suicide_rate

Did you look at the dates or even the data to see it is exactly what I posted above except for have taken the 2011 stats from Thailand in the OP and not the 2002 stats listed on the link.

But why bother debating as if you don't like the numbers you can just says Thailand doesn't report the truth which makes me wonder why even bother coming to a thread which reports such numbers.

I suggest you lot give up on this one!. I agree with some of the previous posts, that this is just a wind-up. The OP is probably some bored member of one of the Pattaya forums having a laugh at your expense. I'd give up now, if I were you!

Well considering that Thailand has about a quarter the population of the US jammed into a country the size of Texas I would say the Thai death toll is pretty low. The World Health Organization statistics for 2007 show that Thailand had 19.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the US figure of 16.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The death toll has been steadily declining in Thailand over the past five years.

They still have a long way to go. I live in the UK and statistics show 5.9 deaths per 100,000 (2010). This is a country that has a similar population size but about half the land mass. The price we have had to pay for this has been, what many people regard as, over-regulation in health and safety matters. We probably have the most speed cameras of any country in the world and very efficient (and expensive) traffic policing . Perhaps, worth it, if it saves just one life. What surprised me most about this survey is that the UK is now the safest country, in Europe, to drive in. For those interested, I sourced the figure here: http://www.abd.org.uk/safest_roads.htm . Note the comments at the end of the article.

On a purely financial basis, I heard it recently quoted that every road death in the UK costs the nation in excess of £1,000,000.

R.I.P the driver and his son.

Wow, a million quid, really? How does that work? The difference between here and the UK is that there is education and mutual respect for other road users (In general) On my return last year it truly was a breath of fresh air; people flashing me to allow me to turn, friendly waves and thank yous from all drivers when you give them right of way. It really warmed my heart to know that people still show this sort of respect to each other and that everyone seems to be working together to allow each other to get to their destination as quick as possible. I s'pose its the difference between a civilised and uncivilized populace.

From memory, the £1m included emergency services expenses (a lot of people get involved when a fatal accident occurs), road closures affecting other road users (delayed haulage, etc), insurance payouts, loss of lifetime earnings of the deceased and damage to road surfaces/street furniture, etc. So, I would imagine, you could come up with a figure, based on local economy, for every country, using that 'formula'. I would imagine a wide variance depending on status, in a country such as Thailand. Life really is cheap when it concerns the poor of this world.

Yes, apart from continually keeping a look out for speed cameras, driving is still fairly pleasurable here. The worst part of my trips to Thailand are always the drives to and from Swampy. Sometimes, the driver I get is good, other times ...........

Well considering that Thailand has about a quarter the population of the US jammed into a country the size of Texas I would say the Thai death toll is pretty low. The World Health Organization statistics for 2007 show that Thailand had 19.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the US figure of 16.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The death toll has been steadily declining in Thailand over the past five years.

They still have a long way to go. I live in the UK and statistics show 5.9 deaths per 100,000 (2010). This is a country that has a similar population size but about half the land mass. The price we have had to pay for this has been, what many people regard as, over-regulation in health and safety matters. We probably have the most speed cameras of any country in the world and very efficient (and expensive) traffic policing . Perhaps, worth it, if it saves just one life. What surprised me most about this survey is that the UK is now the safest country, in Europe, to drive in. For those interested, I sourced the figure here: http://www.abd.org.uk/safest_roads.htm . Note the comments at the end of the article.

On a purely financial basis, I heard it recently quoted that every road death in the UK costs the nation in excess of £1,000,000.

R.I.P the driver and his son.

Things are not perfect elsewhere, either. I live in the UK and we have just experienced the wettest April in 100 years, yet several areas have hosepipe bans and drought conditions may exist in these areas, this summer. Sure, we have had four 'dry' (try telling that to the inhabitants) winters but some water companies waste water on an industrial scale due to lack of investment in infrastructure.

You would think it was not beyond the capabilities of one of the most developed countries on Earth to have a 'joined up' water system. But, no - parts of the country have an excess of water, others, not enough. So, maybe Thailand is not so bad after all.

On balance, I would prefer to live in sunny, relatively low cost of living Thailand, than a cold, miserable, very expensive United Kingdom. Roll on retirement, when I can do just that!

Apparently there were 2.8m addicts in the UK, 1 year ago. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/27/number-of-illegal-drug-users-fall That was, in fact, an improvement. The UK has a similar population to Thailand.

Just shown on BBC Breakfast News in the UK (watched by millions), an interview with the mother of one of three boys killed in a bus crash. The interview mentioned how dangerous Thai roads are and how this is not known to most people who travel to Thailand. She had a lawyer with her who stated that they would be investigating the accident and pursuing justice from whoever was responsible for the accident.

They also said that they were going to make it their business to publicise the case as much as possible to highlight the dangers to those travelling to Thailand. This should really help the latest tourism campaign. Amazing Thailand!

Pattaya is like anywhere else - just keep your wits about you and you will be fine. You would probably be marginally safer in a hotel or B&B, rather than an apartment as you may have some help/advice available nearby, and not completely alone. Also, many of these establishments have some form of security on duty at night.

There are plenty of well documented scams, just use the search function on the many forums available and you will know what to avoid.

Avoid getting so drunk that you do not know who and where you are - most problems occur when people get in this state.

The best advice I can give you is to make sure you put all your valuables in a room safe, so book a room that has one of these, and don't carry too much cash around with you - same as anywhere else in the World.

Relax and enjoy yourself!

Just reported on BBC News (South Today). This will escalate considerably the number of Brits aware of this story.

A quick google found this link: http://rochr.qrc.com...%20Thailand.pdf

Data up to 2003. It seems to suggest that accidents (within the category of external causes rather than diseases) are amongst the top causes of death in Thailand.

None of you seemed to have thought of a more sinister explanation. Perhaps it might be very convenient that the farang has just disappeared (maybe never to be seen again), having allegedly drugged the whole family.....................