ben2talk

Assuming ‘Move forward’ is allowed to survive…

Surely the hidden hands made sure that elections won’t really challenge them - the wheel of power still grinds and prices still rise to further fund the elite dinosaurs.

ROFLMAO The best ideas always come after a few cans of beer at a football game.

One would hope that this guy was a little younger than 83... It's easy to pass it off as a simple accident, though much more fun to imagine maybe some foul play being afoot. But no clues here.

Wow, mumbling in Muslim language - string him up!

Better advice - never ride on an empty head!

Ever since buying my first bike (a Honda CBR400r back in maybe 2013) I started learning the hard way. Following a police bike down Ramkhamheang in very dense traffic, being pulled over for not riding in the gutter - my GF said following a police bike isn't a defence, because they're allowed. They can't be wrong. Paid fine and left. Working in Samutprakarn, there were very regular mobs on Srinakarin road doing the same - stopping everyone not in the gutter... stopped and paid once or twice there. One time approaching a green light at the top of Ladprao in heavy rain at 60km/h lights started to change, rather than brake hard on slippery road, rolled through and got stopped. At that time I made a call to a lawyer friend and was waved through. The main issue with being 'shaken down' is they take your licence and you have to pay to get it back... Feign complete inability to speak or understand Thai and they quickly get bored and move on to the next sucker. At this time, I also decided to put my licence in a wallet - so I could hold it up to display it without them getting their grubby fingers on it. If you do stop - it's enough for them, to see the licence. They never show interest in anything else - tax or insurance - and if they don't gain possession of it, they don't tell you to give them cash - because you don't need to pay them in order to retrieve your licence. A week later, going over one of the old 'flat top' bridges on Srinakarin at 80km/h seeing traffic on the other side, I pulled across to the 2nd lane to pass, and saw police in all 3 lanes trying to usher bikes into the gutter again. They caused a major jam, and as such they were causing problems which they then stopped people for avoiding... That was the last straw - as I slowed down (now on a GSX-R750) in first gear at 30km/h I decided to blast through a gap. One officer managed to stretch out and get his hand on the bar, but instead of stopping me he got hurt - I saw him in my mirror cradling his arm and walking off the road. 200m later, stopped at a red light - watching the police in the 'box' for 4 minutes waiting for a green light. Learned that day, if you pass them - there's no need to 'flee'. Once passed, it's all forgotten. Lesson learned - it's just a game to them, and they aren't at all serious to chase up anyone or even record the licence and chase up anyone who doesn't willingly stop. Since then I just never stopped for them again... last time was 8 years ago but I've passed through a few since then (e.g. one where you're not allowed to exit Bangna-Trad at the U-turn exit and join the road going straight, they put a sign saying 'no right turn' but actually I was going straight. The alternative/correct route would be to exit 2km earlier and get stuck in traffic at Market Village, or do another 4km to the next exit which is past my turn. However, I'm not sure how well this advice would go down in more 'Western' areas like Pattaya or Phuket as I don't really go there, and managed to always avoid them when I did.

“has begun in earnest“ Nothing to worry you unless you live in Earnest…

This is sadly the top post here. You still see people driving to work in their own cars, wearing masks because someone said they should do that a few years ago. It all boils down to the programmed response to do the right thing, because you never know when it could happen... but if you're caught then the punishment would be dire. There is often no rhyme or reason - to demand such a stupid number of sit-ups is ridiculous and it's sad to say that students will rarely think it an option to refuse or even complain. Thai's are very proud of this culture - and they see little wrong with school behaviour. Complaining is a crime. Refusing to obey lawful orders is a crime. Teachers are Gods - so any order must be lawful... and so it goes...

Just one question in reply to this... Why?

In the context of Thai Schools with their military discipline, this might be taken as a slightly unfortunate incident… Severe rules, generally lax discipline and enforcement, but over zealous reactions when they do enforce are the normal way here.

Impressive - so they'll all resign after all the politicians and local leaders are fired, and the soldiers too - starting with the top and working their way down. After that, perhaps start to train and recruit some real police, including the new initiative started abroad some years ago called 'Traffic Division' where they actually go out and see how people drive (rather than go out and deliberately ignore everything they see). Very reassuring - I'm confident that this isn't simply a publicity story for the media.

Same old story - idiots riding on an empty head. I rode bikes for years... from 18-36 years old in the UK, then from 37-60 years old in Thailand. When I was younger, I rode my tyres down to the canvas, and I've gone from my old GSX-R750 with superb stopping power to crappy rental bikes with brakes that didn't work better than simply putting my feet down. Needless to say I rode slower... always paranoid on a scooter because the other traffic can be faster, more aggressive, and more busy playing with their phones - and when I did fall off in the rain, it didn't hurt much. So once you've discussed the insurance question, move on to remind people not to ride bikes unless they know what they're doing... Helmets won't compensate much, especially the Thai variety, and nobody will ride a scooter in full leathers on holiday.

If you hit the car ahead it’s because you were too close, too fast and/out not paying attention. Probably should have been driving on the left anyway!

For taking one case and applying it to everyone else. There was an old black woman who had an accident, so we should stop black people driving too, and certainly women shouldn't be allowed to drive. This is a UK related thread, I missed that point. I thought we were in Thailand where everyone can jump on a scooter or in a car and just drive with no worries about policing. Again, irrelevant - bad driving at any age is not acceptable and the sooner the police pull him off the roads the better... more chance of that in the UK. Hence the need for an addition to the general checkup, 3 years doctor's note and a refresher driving test at 80 to be repeated before they get to 90, 100 etc. But more likely, traffic police should become aware of bad drivers and weed them out. So these cars were travelling at a fair lick, we might assume, but still I can pull up a thousand more cases from the past month driving here with people nowhere near this age. The most basic need isn't to think about how to make things better, or make new rules or regulations. The most basic need is to have more competent traffic police, and stop thinking that AI cameras will make things better by catching fines from people changing lanes or speeding - whether it's safe or not.