4 hours ago, webfact said:

a driver survived when his Ford Ranger became wrapped round a pole in Pathum Thani.

Wonderful what vehicles are capable of these days. 

1 hour ago, yellowboat said:

Because the country's reputation is at steak.   It is the land of smiles and denials.   I hate driving in Thailand. 

Rare, or well done? 

So, toll 31 is just normal before half time break for lunch ? ?

2 hours ago, zaphod reborn said:

 

From what I have seen, most of the government and media attention is on how lucky amulets save lives, and detract from factors such as drunk driving, excessive speed, inattention to driving and poor vehicle and road maintenance.

 

Not to mention pretty much zero serious law enforcement most of the time against speeding, drunk driving, illegal/overloaded vehicles, drivers with no licenses, no seatbelt wearing and no helmet wearing, etc etc.

 

Edited July 27, 20188 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Seems Thai people are allergic to seatbelts also ? Goes with the helmet-strap allergy and the even more widespread helmet-allergy.

 

Nobody rides in my car without their seatbelts on. Same with motorbide. No riding without a properly strapped on helmet.

 

Too much pointless and needless roadcarnage in Thailand. We who come to Thailand from the West should at least try to make a good example. But I saw young westerners riding 3 on a scooter with no helmet last time I was in Hua Hin. Just because everybody else does this out of poverty or negligence doesnt mean its very smart to follow their example.

 

Safety first!

There is a lack of motorized, traffic police who are trained and equipped to catch moving violators. It's a lawless, ignorant and superstitious driving public, proven by the numbers.

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

And forget the High Speed Train. Tourists going to Beijing will be on a slow boat to China.

 

Boats! China! Sore subject!!!!

 

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

And forget the High Speed Train. Tourists going to Beijing will be on a slow boat to China.

 

Boats!China! Sore subject!!!

Corrupt reactive policing instead of reinforced proactive policing.... this needs to be reversed before any significant changes will be seen

 

 

Not one Thai person from the Prime Minister to the lowliest peasant would  pass a European driving test. I stood and watched several people take their so called test a Pattaya, an absolute joke took all of 5 minutes didn’t go near a road. No one fails you have several attempts if you can’t manage to pass first time. Then off they go licence to kill in hand, in their shiny new unpaid for 4 by 4 to their pile of corrugated tin they call home. That’s the problem in a nut shell 

Someone said to another poster why drive, because we do need to get from A to B or C, I do however put caveats on my driving, no driving at night, only drive local area(this has worked so far but I do want to do a trip to the ocean), the trip has to be warranted and to avoid heavy rain if at all possible.

My longest trip is Lam Plai Mat to Buri Ram, I lose count of the number of bikes going the wrong way and have seem quite a few very close calls when the road is full coming the other way.

1 thing I have noticed lately and can anyone tell me, why is it legal to have no mirrors on a scooter or motor bike, the riders either dont look and just go right regardless or nearly lose control turning around to find out if its clear to go across. It would be a great little earner if it is illegal as 30 per cent of bikes at least here dont have them.

They care a lot about foreigners on motorcycles without helmets or International Driver Permits. They don't care about Thai underage kids on scooters, 5 up, all with no helmets. Thais can carry babies in one arm on scooters if they wish. They don't give a damn about people crashing red lights, or most other dangerous activities.

 

We know where their priorities lie - quick cash payments.

 

Until they actually give a sh*t, nothing will be done. Don't count on anything happening anytime soon. A lot of people were hoping the military government would clean things up, but the opposite has happened.

Edited July 27, 20188 yr by tropo

It happened here first hand for me yesterday...Kid on a motorbike, no licence I would say, trying to take phone out of back pocket to answer call....BANG !!!! straight through my front gate. Pillion passenger slightly injured, I think it was Grandma...and all this in a out of the way back street....

 After all thats going on around here, I am starting to believe what people are saying about the place....

In the 8 yrs I have been in this house, I have not come across one honest Thai person(and I mean everyone) anywhere in this village.

Some nonsense posts and the replies have been removed. 

20 minutes ago, dave moir said:

Boats! China! Sore subject!!!!

 

It's a Chinese junk, so everything will be insured and above board - even during a force 10 gale.

Passengers one way, smuggling knock-off perfume one the return trip. You know it make scents.

 

There does seem to be a fog of fatalism that shrouds much of Thai response to conditions that could be made less damaging. This fatalism seems at odds with the more Western notions of beneficial intervention.  Anyway, that’s how I interpreted this Thai acceptance of the ‘way things are’.  But I am no longer convinced of that. Part of that change was the national response to the boys trapped in the cave.  When confronted with the reality of their grim prospects, the nation responded in a rejection of Fate and united in an effort that would not countenance failure.  This effort was Heroic and universally seen as such. 

The Highway Carnage is a failure of individual responsibility. Most accidents are the result of a general lack of conscientiousness and reinforced by authoritive dismissivness toward high profile offenders. That is a cultural fatalism that has resisted intrusion into the common conscience.

27 minutes ago, Sprigger said:

Not one Thai person from the Prime Minister to the lowliest peasant would  pass a European driving test. I stood and watched several people take their so called test a Pattaya, an absolute joke took all of 5 minutes didn’t go near a road. No one fails you have several attempts if you can’t manage to pass first time. Then off they go licence to kill in hand, in their shiny new unpaid for 4 by 4 to their pile of corrugated tin they call home. That’s the problem in a nut shell 

The licencing procedures in Malaysia are even more difficult than Europe and that's a neighbouring country!

It goes back to the Thai mindset of how fatal crash articles are typically written in English here -- it's always the car or truck or bus crashed, instead of, the DRIVER crashed their car or truck or bus.

 

No sense of personal responsibility or willingness to take responsibility to ensure the safety of themselves and others around them.

 

2 hours ago, CGW said:

now cars are cheap

Really?  Here in Thailand?

13 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Really?  Here in Thailand?

Relative to the country we are in, compared to the price they were before car plants were set up here and all vehicles were taxed as imports - Yes!

The average death toll on Thai roads per day is 66 (sixty-six). In todays issue of the Swiss daily 20Minuten it is reported that the death toll on Swiss roads in a year is 230 (two hundred and thirty). Swiss authorities are now starting a campaign to reduce this number to 100 deaths per year. What a difference!

1 hour ago, MaxYakov said:

A little off topic, but isn't it by the very definition of "beliefs" that they do not require evidence? Many scientific theories were based on hypotheses that were little more than "beliefs" until their formal scientific Theories were established, yes?

im still waiting for the evidence of  a god and the word "belief" is  used in the religious context here

Just another day in the hub of road carnage with the usual predictable comments being posted.  Waste of time reading either.

I was on sukhumvit this morning riding from klang to  nua

 Bus in outside lane less than the length of the  fortuner he was behind trying to bully him out of way

bus did the inside pass in the end

44 minutes ago, weegee said:

It happened here first hand for me yesterday...Kid on a motorbike, no licence I would say, trying to take phone out of back pocket to answer call....BANG !!!! straight through my front gate. Pillion passenger slightly injured, I think it was Grandma...and all this in a out of the way back street....

 After all thats going on around here, I am starting to believe what people are saying about the place....

In the 8 yrs I have been in this house, I have not come across one honest Thai person(and I mean everyone) anywhere in this village.

was the gate ok???

1 hour ago, Torrens54 said:

Seems there is no one in this country even interested in solving this problem.

Perhaps those who might, are always driven around in a Mini Motorcade with Police Outriders to ward-off the Moronic Motorists and Brainless Bike Riders, consquently, they are oblivious to the carnage. 

 

Exactly right. They don't care, but then neither does Somchai who must be aware of the carnage. Every family must have at least one member who has died on the road. They take their chance, play Russian roulette, and if they lose it was just bad luck. Actually learning to drive properly wouldn't even occur to them. That's quite hard, and Thais do not do hard. And the police don't enforce anything because they get paid whether they work or not.

4 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Exactly right. They don't care, but then neither does Somchai who must be aware of the carnage. Every family must have at least one member who has died on the road. They take their chance, play Russian roulette, and if they lose it was just bad luck. Actually learning to drive properly wouldn't even occur to them. That's quite hard, and Thais do not do hard. And the police don't enforce anything because they get paid whether they work or not.

The worse part is here out in the country  there's a  funeral every week with that godamn awful boom  boom base,.

Edited July 27, 20188 yr by kannot

3 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Because the country's reputation is at steak. 

You are joking, right??? Reputation??? Wasn´t that something that went over best before repair date 1999? 

Okey, okey, maybe it´s a little bit over time, but possibility to reapair is still good, right? 

3 hours ago, Vacuum said:

It's all about the lack of common sense an foresight...

Thais are born without that particular gene for some reason.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

They are monitoring the carnage daily in a campaign to try and get the authorities to act.

Oh come on now, the 'authorities' do act! They form committees and hold meetings to discuss the problem. Speeches are made by posturing uniformed people. Studies investigate the cause. Authorities announce their solutions and the PM congratulates them on a job well done. This is how the act is played out repeatedly!

1 hour ago, weegee said:

In the 8 yrs I have been in this house, I have not come across one honest Thai person(and I mean everyone) anywhere in this village.

Do not give up,  just get yourself off to the local Wat.

Your bound to meet nothing but honest people there.