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

[oldlakey]

11 hours 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.

 

11 hours ago, impulse said:

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.  

 

My money is on the idiot

[oldlakey]

11 hours 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.

Give it a rest for gawd sake one minute you are bashing them the next you are defending them, the car traveled some distance before being struck

[Retiredandhappyhere]

Last week, I was waiting at an intersection on a red light (near Hua Hin) which indicated 47 seconds before a change to green.  First two ladies on a motor cycle ran straight through the red light, followed a few seconds later by a pick-up. Neither vehicles made any attempt to decrease their speed, so both were presumably quite happy to risk their own lives and those of others while probably relying entirely on their amulets.

 

Sometimes I think that it is a wonder that there are not more deaths on the roads than the horrific numbers already reported, since it is not so much driving skills which are being relied upon but pure faith in amulets and good luck.

 

[oldlakey]

12 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Last week, I was waiting at an intersection on a red light (near Hua Hin) which indicated 47 seconds before a change to green.  First two ladies on a motor cycle ran straight through the red light, followed a few seconds later by a pick-up. Neither vehicles made any attempt to decrease their speed, so both were presumably quite happy to risk their own lives and those of others while probably relying entirely on their amulets.

 

Sometimes I think that it is a wonder that there are not more deaths on the roads than the horrific numbers already reported, since it is not so much driving skills which are being relied upon but pure faith in amulets and good luck.

 

I have spent years in Asia and its my opinion that there are many more brain dead members of the human race here than anywhere else

There is no other reasonable explanation for their behaviour on the roads

[watcharacters]

14 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

ASSume nothing on the roads in Thailand.

 

Execute the pick up driver.

 

next case.

 

What next?   Finger  or toe amputation for rolling through a stop sign?

 

[reenatinnakor]

I always tell new cyclists and motorists here... You look at the traffic and not the signals. Ignore the signals... Just look at the traffic!

I'm always cautious when approaching a green light and there's no other vehicles, it's what you learn to do after many years here.

Sent from my LG-H990 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[HHTel]

 

Speed could save your life..... lol

[mommysboy]

Being in the right isn't enough in Thailand. Pulling away from a green light is hazardous, as this footage exemplifies. I wait a couple of seconds, then look left and right before proceeding.

 

Truly crap driving in Thailand.

[AlexRich]

9 hours ago, darksidedog said:

If this had happened in the UK, they would have both been charged. The truck for reckless driving, speeding and jumping the lights, her for driving with undue care and attention. Because she obviously didn't check to see if anything was approaching before driving ahead. Had she been obeying the rules of the road, which with lights are the same here, she would not have been hit, so she is partially to blame, and hence not an innocent victim.

She would not have been charged in the UK, that's patently untrue. 

[AlexRich]

9 hours ago, overherebc said:

I don't think anyone is arguing the point that the pick up driver was at fault 100%.

However the main point especially at traffic lights here assuming a green light means it's 100% safe to just go can backfire on you.

Not true ... the person whose post I responded to claimed they are both at fault, so not 100%?

[SteveB2]

During a recent driving license test at the Thai  DL Center, all applicants had to watch a RTA 'snuff movie' It lasted for a couple of hours.

 

During the presentation, deaths on Thai roads were analysed and the following figures were released to the DL applicants for their consideration:-

 

Cause of death on Thai roads (in order of highest cause of deaths:-

 

1. Driving too fast

2. Not obeying the highway code/traffic law

3. Drink & driving

 

What is interesting, is that in the video presenation I watched, drinking & driving represented only 10% of all RTA deaths.

 

By far the biggest culprit is what was seen in the OP's post - driving too fast & not obeying the highway code/stopping at a red light.

 

Crazy stuff ?

 

[sirineou]

 How is this different from any red light accident in the word ?

[RocketDog]

22 hours 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...

 

Ezzra, would that it were true. But no. Death is simply not a deterrent. That is abundantly true from the grisly statistics.

 

I suspect EXTREMELY high fines would help more. If they don't care about dying/killing, then maybe impoverishimg their families for a generation would help.

 

But no. Large fines are a hardship on the public and will never be imposed by the government, much less enforced.

 

So where does that leave us?

Exactly where we are now and I cannot see how this will ever change.

 

In the end, Thailand has hot weather, miles of beaches, and dangerous suicidal drivers; and always will.

[AboutThaim]

17 hours ago, NanLaew said:

You are kidding aren't you?

 

The Thai currency is the baht BTW.

The satung will drop?

[NCC1701A]

9 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

What next?   Finger  or toe amputation for rolling through a stop sign?

 

good idea. thank you.

[essox essox]

23 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

ASSume nothing on the roads in Thailand.

 

Execute the pick up driver.

 

next case.

there is a saying in this country "ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THE UNEXPECTED" which is just what I try to do when driving here

[gunderhill]

22 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Darn, the police showed up 27 seconds after the accident. Impressive.

Being as there is a  Police Box  every 1km or even closer together its hardly surprising, although maybe the loud "bang" woke them up.?

[billd766]

21 hours ago, berybert said:

7 seconds before her car got hit. How far can a car travel in 7 seconds if doing 70 or 80 miles an hour ?

 I don't know but I'd guess she wouldn't have seen the car once she started to pull away from the lights.

It is never safe when driving a car to start moving because you never have a clue what some idiot who might be drunk or on drugs might do.

Would you blame someone having a head on crash if a vehicle crossed the central reservation and smashed into them ?

 

 

If the truck was driving at 120 kph in 1 minute it would have traveled 2,000 metres. in 7 seconds it would have traveled 233 metres. In that time the victims car would have traveled some 15 metres.

At that time of night the victim would not have been able to guess at the speed of the truck.

[HAKAPALITA]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

 

If the truck was driving at 120 kph in 1 minute it would have traveled 2,000 metres. in 7 seconds it would have traveled 233 metres. In that time the victims car would have traveled some 15 metres.

At that time of night the victim would not have been able to guess at the speed of the truck.

Or find the Calculator App to work all that out.I still dont know what KPH is apart from they are bloody slow in reality.

[billd766]

37 minutes ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Or find the Calculator App to work all that out.I still dont know what KPH is apart from they are bloody slow in reality.

 

120 kp/h is about 74.5645 mph

 

https://www.metric-conversions.org/speed/kilometers-per-hour-to-miles-per-hour.htm

 

Does that help you?

[MaxYakov]

14 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

What next?   Finger  or toe amputation for rolling through a stop sign?

 

Do you mean "the" (one and only) stop sign in Thailand? They decided not to place stop signs in Thailand because they would be ignored anyway. Instead the use sort of an honor system "stop if you think you need to" model combined with a more common rolling merge. The merges can go badly.

 

The motorists in Thailand have been generally trained, however, to stop for red lights. Generally, and that's providing they aren't in the middle of doing something, often on their smart phones I would guess. The rolling merge model is still used at stop lights for left turns and, occasionally for straight-through rolling merges as was the case here.

Edited September 4, 2018 by MaxYakov

[TKDfella]

3 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Or find the Calculator App to work all that out.I still dont know what KPH is apart from they are bloody slow in reality.

No need, just learn the simple conversion factor (approximately) 1 mile is roughly 1.609 kilometers, 1 kilometer is roughly 0.6214 of a mile. Easy-peasy. Every driver should know that, Ha! I have known these ever since I started driving way back last century. Handy when going abroad and renting a car.

[HAKAPALITA]

 
120 kp/h is about 74.5645 mph
 
https://www.metric-conversions.org/speed/kilometers-per-hour-to-miles-per-hour.htm
 
Does that help you?

Well it proved 120 is Slow.[emoji597].!.


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[berybert]

No one has realized that is she had pulled off the lights and got up to speed as fast as I would have done she would never had even seen the car because she would have been well in front of where she was. 

[oldlakey]

9 hours ago, essox essox said:

there is a saying in this country "ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THE UNEXPECTED" which is just what I try to do when driving here

Red light jumpers "unexpected" there is nothing remotely "unexpected" about them

They are a certainty

[oldlakey]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

No one has realized that is she had pulled off the lights and got up to speed as fast as I would have done she would never had even seen the car because she would have been well in front of where she was. 

She was proceeding with commendable caution because she was prepared for the unexpected 5555555

Unfortunately her observation was not up to scratch, hence she ran foul of the scumbag in the pickup

[AboutThaim]

13 hours ago, berybert said:

No one has realized that is she had pulled off the lights and got up to speed as fast as I would have done she would never had even seen the car because she would have been well in front of where she was. 

You're right of course.  Almost any accident involving moving vehicles can be attributed to speed, either too fast or too slow.  Either way they would not be where they were to have a collision.

For those blaming her for not proceeding with caution. She may have seen the vehicle approaching but assumed, as most of us would, that it would stop. It had time to do so.  If we all sat at the green light until approaching vehicles were stationary how slow would traffic move?

[Artisi]

2 minutes ago, AboutThaim said:

You're right of course.  Almost any accident involving moving vehicles can be attributed to speed, either too fast or too slow.  Either way they would not be where they were to have a collision.

For those blaming her for not proceeding with caution. She may have seen the vehicle approaching but assumed, as most of us would, that it would stop. It had time to do so.  If we all sat at the green light until approaching vehicles were stationary how slow would traffic move?

At the speed this guy came thru' the lights, if the woman had been paying attention, it would be obvious there was no way he was going to or was capable of stopping. 

But in hindsight its always 20/20.

[Moonlover]

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 12:15 PM, HAKAPALITA said:

My Wife lah de dah friend told everyone with great pride that Traffic Lights should be a lot brighter, her tinted windows made them difficult to see. Naturally all the other Hello Kitty sycophants nodded.They bloody amazing sometimes.!

Perhaps they'd also like all other motorists on the roads to brighten up their lights as well in order to be seen by drivers half blinded by their own vehicle windows.

[watcharacters]

On 9/4/2018 at 9:02 AM, NCC1701A said:

good idea. thank you.

 

23 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

Do you mean "the" (one and only) stop sign in Thailand? They decided not to place stop signs in Thailand because they would be ignored anyway. Instead the use sort of an honor system "stop if you think you need to" model combined with a more common rolling merge. The merges can go badly.

 

The motorists in Thailand have been generally trained, however, to stop for red lights. Generally, and that's providing they aren't in the middle of doing something, often on their smart phones I would guess. The rolling merge model is still used at stop lights for left turns and, occasionally for straight-through rolling merges as was the case here.

 

 

I was being generally sarcastic but I know the TVF population  tends to be a hang them high group regardless of the presence or lack thereof  of any evidence.