MESmith

Like some of the others I drove past the scene yesterday afternoon about 3pm. Basically a good road and good weather but more reckless drivers than usual, poor lane discipline and insane overtaking. All accidents waiting to happen.

Not all of the road is good, there are some quite dangerous bends up at Khun Chae National Park. Badly cambered, have corrugations where turns are being made, double lane suddenly constricting into one.

Have driven that road many times and seen quite a few accidents. Almost all of them have been caused by the factors you mention. All one can do is drive as defensively as they can, and try to keep out of the way of the idiots.

I wonder how the Green Bus accident record ( routine service ) compares with the tour bus operators.

I don't disagree that there are easier roads to drive on but there are far more dangerous ones with less margin for error that I have driven on in Europe, USA, NZ and Australia that don't have anything like the accident rates roads here have. The overwhelming difference between those countries and here is the drivers which is clearly reflected in the fatality rate.

As you point out defensive driving is the best approach but given they can come from any direction at any time and at any speed it is at times difficult to work out how to stay out of the way.

Staying out of the way of those that drive predictably like Thais is easy. It's the "out of control" idiot on his way to an early funeral pyre, that is hard to avoid

Most of the guys in Huay Kaew Residence eat in TOPS food court Kad Suan Kaew for 40 baht.

If they spent that much money

Area of Cheap Charlies

Why are they "Cheap Charlies". that's the going rate for a meal at a food court. Would you prefer it if food courts doubled their prices?

Rule? Who can really say? I have no idea of ANY of the written 'rules' that may apply, but do realize that I'll have to comply with ANY 'request' made by an Immigration Officer if I want to remain in the Kingdom, regardless of its validity.

No, you only need comply with the instructions issued by the immigration boss in Bangkok.

Any 'funny' requests made by locals can easily be appealed.

No need to bend over ..... EVER.

Agreed. Plus, I'll "argue" my case if I feel they're BSing

I know there is no such thing as logic here, but wasnt the 800k funds supposedly to represent you available living expenses for the following year?

if you dont have the 800k the following year then you dont get a visa....fair enough.

what i dont understand is why they are asking to see how the 800k is topped up; income,pensions; savings, nest egg,dividends; the wife; yes mine looks after me (strictly speaking!)

it seems they have got rid of the backpacker riff raff quite easily by stopping border runs; now they are targetting the ones who live here............

Do they call this ethnic cleansing?

Oi, I had a bath yesterday!!!

It’s also continually running on the tickertape at the bottom of the screen on the Al Jazeera news bulletin every hour!

But I wish somebody like the BBC (such as panorama or something similar) or even Al Jazeera would do a one hour feature on traffic accidents in this country and try to analyse why Thailand is the second most dangerous country in the world for traffic accidents? and why Thai drivers are so impatient and inconsiderate and what can be done to help change their attitude?

There are so many questions that can be asked and addressed in a feature program and the Thai government certainly wouldn't like that concentrated worldwide publicity. In the face of the volume of cars on the roads now and the number all these dreadful traffic accidents why doesn’t the Thai government seem interested in raising driving standards? I mean the driving test here is an absolute joke and a farce compared to so many other countries. Why does nothing ever get done? Why doesn’t the minister of transport appear in public from time to time and express his horror and indignation and express determination to improve standards and curtail this carnage?

and they have plenty of cases to discuss. Just look at how many appear regarding Thailand on this Al Jazeera website

http://www.aljazeera.com/Search/?q=bus%20crash%20in%20Thailand

It is not necessarily the the fault of this or any government. The prime responsibility lies with the police for not doing the job that they are paid to do and the Dept of Land Transport for not holding proper driving tests.

If the law as rigorously enforced without fear or favour then there would be less happenings like this, but unfortunately TiT and nothing much will change.

But don't you think that it's the government's fault that things like not having a proper vehicle inspection, where all vehicles come through?

Pointing out the Land Transport offices is good, but then let some heads roll and kick those out who close both eyes when they receive some cash to let an old bus pass all inspections.

Then look at the boss of all Land Transport Departments in Bangkok. You might find out that it's an Army general who's got nothing to do with the topic, because he's a soldier.

Then you'll sooner, or later find out that the number one, also called the good general, will be responsible for not being able to enforce existing laws in the country he seems to rule right now.

Somehow, you'll have to start at the top and work your way through. The cops are only a little part of the ongoing problems. IMHO -

Here I disagree with you.

The government doesn't do vehicle inspections at all. That is the responsibility of the Dept of Land Transport as is the driving test. They are a civil service Dept and it doesn't matter WHICH government is in power it is st the responsibility of the civil service. Now theoretically it is quite simple to sack the Minister of Transport because he is a political appointee but to sack the head of the DLT is another matter entirely as he is not a government appointee . It is possible to move him to an inactive post but to actually sack him you will have to come up with a really cast iron case and even then it may take several years to do so.

The police are similar but, pardon my pun, they ARE a law unto themselves and though again it is possible to sack the top guy who is really a political appointee the ones below will at most get moved to an inactive post.

I suspect that the only way to fix it would be a night of the long knives and wholesale arrests but that may turn out ugly as most policemen are armed and the other problem is where to find enough honest cops to run the police afterwards. Besides where would you put all the cops and civil servants as there is not enough room in the jails now.

"After a night of long knives" jail space wont be necessary

Best to take a lesson from "Le Brunch", a little restaurant that opened in Nakorn Ping Condo a few months ago. She has a very well-edited and focused menu with each item exquisitely prepared. And to set the restaurant apart from the hole-in-wall Thai restaurant also in the same building, Le Brunch is very clean and has aircon. That makes it very popular during the hot season. At first the customers were just the building residents, but soon the word got around.

And the 'Thai place', Easy Corner next to it is always far busier.

Might be due to the fried chicken sandwich and cup of tea for 55bht.

Hard to fight a place pricing like that.

Earl Grey?

"Loaded" should've been nominated & win, just for that comment about p1$$ing on the bathroom floor somewhere

Have a look at Infinite brand http://sangcharernbike.weloveshopping.com/store/product/view/เสือภูเขา_Infinite_Fuzz_Race_2015_ล้อ_27.5_รุ่นเริ่มต้น_อะไหล่ระดับนี้_ราคาแบบนี้ดีมากครับ-27642066-th.html

Thai made, but have a good reputation.

Song Bikes NE corner of moat sell them.

Is your wife planning on mountain biking? If not,maybe a hybrid would be more suitable. Lighter weight, good for paved roads.

Alcohol abuse & resulting ill health was cause of death, more like. It just happened to be a bit "chilly".

Maybe ill health with no connection to alcohol ?

People with health problems sometimes turn to alcohol to numb the pain and suffering.

Whatever. But they were most likely not 100% fit the night they died.

4 months before my last extension, only had about 300,000 in my account. Brought it up to 800,000 3 months before due date.

Alcohol abuse & resulting ill health was cause of death, more like. It just happened to be a bit "chilly".

Guess you could always find a hooker with a m/c

^ Post of the Year!

Well done.

2.5 km from TP gate to railway station. I used to walk over 3 km home when I lived in the city. Refused to drive, & no songteau late at night. Helps you sober up. always had a Walls Cornetto at the Shell gas station just before my condo. Felt better for it in the morning.

Lazada?

I wonder if the bus sped through the police checkpoint to the north of the CR/CM border? Not that the BiB would've noticed anything untoward

Just thinking road barriers may not be the answer, but a start at least. enforced no overtaking, speed limits, speed cameras.

compare this now, to a couple of months ago, when that (drunk) motorcyclist launched himself over the flyover......and survived a 8m drop.

next day they fixed barriers an extra 600mm higher.

they can do something about it, if they want to.

There are more crash barriers going up on bends in the hills. Seen a few recently. Not been on that section of road recently.

You can have all the safety measures in place, but they wont do much in the case of some idiot driving a speeding bus in a car chase, like the bkk post is reporting.

Earlier topic in main CM forum here - Multiple deaths, bus crash Doi Saket

The link that Naboo posted has a very shocking photo of one victim. The other cm108 link is censored.

OK if you read Thai. do not communicate in English and tend to not reply to queries.

Website is in English, & I've sorted stuff out with their customer services in English, via email. Sometimes the product info is in Thai, but easy enough to search for same product elsewhere to get English specs.

Walk home, the exercise will do you good. 7-11s for snacks.

So do you leave it to the individual to decide if he's had enough to drink? Unfortunately I've had quite a few mates over the years who thought they were ok to drive, they ended up in a field, upside down.

I've had 30 years of thinking I was OK to drive after a few beers and I've never had an accident.

I've also never had a mate end up in a field upside down let alone have a plural number of mates do this. Emotion often encourages exaggeration.

No emotion and no exaggeration.

Make sure you don't accept a lift home with your mates after a night out

I would never buy anything from a company using such obtrusive and obnoxious advertising.

They are constantly annoying me.

You're easily annoyed

I don't know if Bangkok Hospital's price will still be 17,000 baht then. Once you go to the hospital a few times, they'll send you SMS messages with special offers. And, as I mentioned, if you're a member of CEC and read the e-Newsletter, you'll be up-to-date on special offers. I don't see anything wrong with the hospital having special promotions to entice new customers, nor to bring in people during slower times of the year.

I know of at least three well-established CM doctors who have "aged out" of their hospitals and now practice at Bangkok Hospital -- bringing some of their loyal patients with them.

So it's not all "two star doctors in a five star setting" as NorthernJohn described it.

Give it up Nancy I did not say it was all two star doctors at Bangkok hospital. Sorry it went right over your head I was inferring that the doctor is the number one concern not the hospital.

Whoopee wingee de do do you know some that were aged out of their hospital. I know one who was not and I know one who should have been aged out at 40. Did you every stop to consider there was might be another reason for them being aged out of their hospital?

Why you choose to imply that they all are is beyond me. I don't get around them that much and even I know that is wrong. People have the rite to know the truth when dealing with their health.

I notice Dr Somboon (plastic surgeon) is listed, but he's listed at Rajavej, Ram, Sripat and his own clinic, so I guess face lifts aren't in too much demand.

I bet, nose & boob jobs are

Was there any competition?

Worked well for us, fast delivery, COD is best. Products can be cheap quality, and diffcult to see the pictures of what your going to purchase. I bought a small coffee grinder, it makes a lot of noise, so much that I can't use it in the mornings, all the neighbors complan. And it gets hot very fast. Not great Quality but the price was right.

Turn the music up, so they can't hear it

I use them a lot. Be careful to check the warranties on goods. Some suppliers (not everything is sold by Lazada) provide no warranty. Some items are shipped from overseas.