Video: Why you need to be especially careful at a Thai green light

[webfact]

Video: Why you need to be especially careful at a Thai green light

 

Translation: Waiting for green/Crossing the clear road/ Smash //Picture: Daily News

 

CCTV footage from Nakorn Ratchasima showed why drivers need to be careful when going through a green light - especially at deserted intersections at night.

 

You never know when some idiot is hell bent on whizzing through a red light.

 

On Saturday Thanapha Bolan, 45, was on her way home from her shift at a hotel in downtown Korat.

 

She was obeying the law to the letter but pulled her Honda City out straight into the path of an Isuzu pick-up being driven by a 30 year old man.

 

Fortunately both drivers and a female passenger in the pick-up were only slightly injured. But their vehicles were severely damaged.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

The accident happened at the Nakorn Ratchasima zoo intersection on Route 304 at 10pm on Saturday night.

 

Thanapha had just passed through a police checkpoint and the CCTV showed a rescue vehicle quickly on the scene.

 

Daily news are conducting a long running campaign to increase road safety awareness.

 

Their three caption still of the accident read:

 

Waiting for green/Crossing the clear road/ Smash.

 

Thaivisa notes that there is one thing wrong with the caption: despite the green light the road was not clear.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-09-03

 

    

[colinneil]

Holy s++t, that pickup was fairly traveling, lucky nobody was killed.

Looking at the video, the car was being driven correctly, the pickup was not just trying to beat the red light, but clearly speeding, going through the red light, hope the police used the breath bag on him.

[gunderhill]

Once again the "speeding"   people will leap on this, yes he was going way too fast but the biggest thing here was a total lack of attention to the road.

Even if he/she was only doing 60kmh they would  have still hit the other car, maybe not with such catastrophic destruction but the  possibility for death is  still there.

All the  speed  cameras in the world won't stop this, its totally down to training and enforcement.

There will be no change except a  massive increase in virtually useless cameras, stopping people doing 100 kmh on a clear road achieves nothing whatsoever.

[gunderhill]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

Holy s++t, that pickup was fairly traveling, lucky nobody was killed.

Looking at the video, the car was being driven correctly, the pickup was not just trying to beat the red light, but clearly speeding, going through the red light, hope the police used the breath bag on him.

A sealed bag over the head would be more use to society? 15  minutes  should be enough.

[Darcula]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

The accident happened at the Nakorn Ratchasima zoo intersection on Route 304 at 10pm on Saturday night.

Pick-up driver was late for feeding time?

[JAG]

She was a lucky lady in that the impact was the engine. If it had been the passenger cabin..

[impulse]

It may have been a simple case of an idiot at the wheel. 

 

But I've been through plenty of Thai red light intersections where the lights were so misplaced, or so confusing that I almost blew through a red light myself.  Between crappy placement where you can't even see the light until you're right on top of the intersection, to having green arrows on one light pole and the (relevant) red light 50 meters away, there's a lot of room for improvement at many intersections.

 

Or, like I said, it may have just been an idiot.  

 

[darksidedog]

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

[overherebc]

5 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

Defensive driving in UK is a very good idea. Here it is an absolute essential.

[stanleycoin]

Normal behaviour,  of the Thai bad Somchai.  what's new. 

 

Ps, Hope he has a fatal accident with a tree on his next journey.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by stanleycoin

[bluesofa]

About five years ago there was an accident near us on the ring road in Udon Thani.

A motorbike was turning right off the ring road on a green light. Had to pass the waiting oncoming ring road traffic (all waiting at a red light).

Apart from one pick-up which shot through the red light at speed and hit the motorbike. Three youths on the bike, not one wearing a helmet. Two died, one survived.

I saw the survivor being interviewed a couple of years later in a traffic camera type show. It showed the accident clip, he was clearly in the right. Then the camera zoomed out from his face to show him wheelchair-bound - for the rest of his life.

 

[robblok]

16 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

I have also almost been T boned by a red light jumper, also at night  you can look but if they come at great speed then its clear when you go but you can still get hit. I am in favor of having loads of red light cams behind traffic lights. Forget about the non license driving.. this is a far greater risk. Make the fine something like 5000 bt and lets see how many still jump lights. Also make sure fines are paid because that is still not always the case.

[NCC1701A]

ASSume nothing on the roads in Thailand.

 

Execute the pick up driver.

 

next case.

[LennyW]

22 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

Technically you are correct, however, Red does mean stop - this also a basic that all too frequently is not understood!!!!

[ezzra]

Any red light jumpers, and there are many of them, and they know very well what they're doing, deserves to be pulverised by a vehicle who has the right of way, and if enough of them will meet their untimly demise because they 're to impatient to wait  aminut or so, maybe the penny will drop one day...

 

[canuckamuck]

I should show this to my wife. She is always complaining because I slow down when the light is about to change.

To be fair though, slowing down too soon at a fresh red light can get you rear ended here.

[neeray]

26 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

Why and how I don't know but many decades ago, I developed the defensive driving habit of my eyes rapidly scanning both directions before I crossed through an intersection or any similar situation. Thus, zero accidents in decades, at-fault or not at fault, but many avoided.

And I live in a fully developed country! So now, this age old habit has proven oh-so-useful in Thailand. Now I just have to get accustomed to driving on the wrong side (opposite side) of the road.

[Dmaxdan]

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Waiting for green/Crossing the clear road/ Smash.

Sorry I'm confused, is this instructions or a warning?  Its difficult to really know with Thai driving logic.

[lovelomsak]

Reminds me of years ago when I used to holiday here. I had a rented motorcycle and was at a highway intersection in Pitsanulok.one morning. The light changed and I started to go through the intersection I quickly noticed no other bikes were moving  I stopped just in time as a pickup raced in front me not more than a foot away. Woke me up to what can happen.

[Esso49]

24 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

About five years ago there was an accident near us on the ring road in Udon Thani.

A motorbike was turning right off the ring road on a green light. Had to pass the waiting oncoming ring road traffic (all waiting at a red light).

Apart from one pick-up which shot through the red light at speed and hit the motorbike. Three youths on the bike, not one wearing a helmet. Two died, one survived.

I saw the survivor being interviewed a couple of years later in a traffic camera type show. It showed the accident clip, he was clearly in the right. Then the camera zoomed out from his face to show him wheelchair-bound - for the rest of his life.

 

And the saddest thing about your story is that not a damn thing was done about it because simply they don't care or else their belief in Thai Buddhist mumbo jumbo gives them the belief that they will either be "looked after"   or the next life is calling so its all ok.

[overherebc]

16 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Any red light jumpers, and there are many of them, and they know very well what they're doing, deserves to be pulverised by a vehicle who has the right of way, and if enough of them will meet their untimly demise because they 're to impatient to wait  aminut or so, maybe the penny will drop one day...

 

Think it's called

' The Darwin Penny '

[doctormann]

28 minutes ago, LennyW said:

Technically you are correct, however, Red does mean stop - this also a basic that all too frequently is not understood!!!!

Yes, RED does mean STOP - it's not just an advisory..

AMBER also means STOP but TiT so here means FLOOR THE THROTTLE!!

[OneMoreFarang]

And how often do we see drivers ignoring the red light even in day time in Bangkok even next to the police booth?

And how often does the police do exactly nothing?

Normal Thai behavior - for the drivers and the police.

[Ossy]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

Here, here! I was wondering how much further down the postings I'd need to go before someone stated the bleeding obvious . . . and a moderator, too!

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, LennyW said:

It seems from the way the article is written that the general assumption is that a green light means go. It does not. It means you can proceed IF the road is clear. When even such basics are not being understood, it is no wonder these accidents happen.

Fair play, the truck driver is an idiot, but if the woman had looked, rather than proceed blithely, the accident would not have happened.

 

1 hour ago, LennyW said:

Technically you are correct, however, Red does mean stop - this also a basic that all too frequently is not understood!!!!

I disagree! There's no 'technically' about at all. The paragraph below is directly copied from the UK Highway Code and is the essence of what 'defensive driving' is all about:

 

'GREEN means you may go on if the way is clear. Take special care if you intend to turn left or right and give way to pedestrians who are crossing'.

 

In this instance, the pickup driver is clearly at fault, but had the lady used defensive driving techniques, as prescribed above, the accident could have been avoided.

 

And there is another factor at play here as well. Note the very dark tinting on the lady's windows. I'm sure that such dark tinting contributes to nighttime accidents here as well.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Moonlover

[HAKAPALITA]

Surely i can be the only Ols chap on TV that was taught Green n Red mean obay if safe to do so. Hence we grew up thiking someone may jump the Lights .Here they thing Green means Gun It.Exeption being when it turns Green and a Hundred Weegoes crawl over.![emoji597]


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[robblok]

Normally when waiting in BKK for a traffic light I wont go first as there are always red light jumpers.. these are not a huge problem (annoying but that is it). But the kind that jumps a red light at night when its been green for the other party for a while are the most dangerous ones. I despise them.

[robblok]

24 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

And how often do we see drivers ignoring the red light even in day time in Bangkok even next to the police booth?

And how often does the police do exactly nothing?

Normal Thai behavior - for the drivers and the police.

Yea I am amazed that the police does not do a thing.. it would mean real work for them.. i guess they hate that.

[OneMoreFarang]

I think a lot depends on where we grew up and started to drive. In some countries you can put the foot down at green and there is no problem. In other countries people are used to wait a moment and let's look carefully.

I always shudder when I see tourists in Thailand at a zebra crossing read to go as soon as their light turns green...

[robblok]

11 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think a lot depends on where we grew up and started to drive. In some countries you can put the foot down at green and there is no problem. In other countries people are used to wait a moment and let's look carefully.

I always shudder when I see tourists in Thailand at a zebra crossing read to go as soon as their light turns green...

Like i said i quickly got used to the red light jumpers at the end of a green cycle for them. The other kind that jumps at night after the light has been red (for them) for a while are far more dangerous and you can't always see them come.

 

I was on my way back from the Old bung sam ran fishing place to home at 4am on my bike and i was almost T boned by one of those idiots. It really scared me because I really did not see it and did not expect it. Different when waiting for a green.. then watching for the red light jumpers.. that has become second nature.