7 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

If so, his fatal mistake was to remain in a vulnerable position

There is no safe place on an express way... the emergency lane is used as an extra avenue in which to drive or under take another vehicle.

Stay in your car or walk 200 metres ahead of your car, tough choice. Safety in your plastic car is minimal

if rear-ended by another at speed, as is being on foot on the side of the road.... everywhere you are vulnerable to those who are not paying attention to what they are doing!

 

3 hours ago, mercman24 said:

post 11 all very well and good. to say that , but 99% there is nowhere else to go to be safe on a freeway, most are elevated, so if you jump the concrete wall, you will fall 50 feet to the ground.below not like other countries where one can get away from the vehicle up an embankment,

Then it is better to stand say 20 metres in front of your broken car, next to the barrier.

Merc= hi so,verdict,no action taken.

Sadly this is not the first time that someone has been killed sitting in their broken down car in the emergency lane or standing near to it.  A woman was recently sent flying right over the barrier into Patanakarn Road and killed while waiting by her vehicle. Not surprising of course when Thai drivers regard the emergency land as an overtaking lane.  Drivers should be warned to abandon their broken down vehicles and wait for help at least 150 metres further down the road standing as close to the barrier as they can. 

8 hours ago, madmen said:

Haven't seen a Black late model benze here yet without super dark tint including the windshield. I'm surprised they can see anything especially at sunset/night

you are absolutely correct  .. i rented a car with front tints and nighttime i could barely see out  very dangerous

8 hours ago, Crossy said:

We're not helped by the emergency lane often being narrower than the other lanes (cost saving)

 

 

Neither by the fact that almost no one has a warning triangle in their car that should be placed least 45 metres (147 feet) behind the broken-down vehicle.

 

I'll go with the "don't attempt repair", maybe my tyre change wasn't a good example.

 

But with the super narrow shoulders here it's difficult if not impossible to even get out of your vehicle safely let alone get your passengers out and safe. Back in the UK the shoulder is as wide as a regular running lane and still dead vehicles get hit.

 

Limp to an exit or at least to one of the emergency phones if at all possible.

Definitely @Crossy I wouldn't attempt to fix anything on these narrow hard shoulders on a Thai motorway. Remaining in the car without a warning triangle up is probably not good either, but who is going to walk 50-yards down the lane in these conditions and put it up?

For those who heven't been on a UK motorway. This is an elevated section of the M5 in Birmingham. Note the width of the shoulder.

 

EDIT For scale the running lanes are 3.6m wide.

 

 

And this is the Sirat expressway.

 

 

The damage on the Merc means there must have been some serious speed going on. I expect this story to disappear as usual. 

I am always amazed at the complete lack of situational awareness many drivers have..  If you are paying attention at all, even after a few, shit like this just does not happen.  The answer became clear last Friday when I was heading down to the Emporium for a movie.  My taxi driver was watching a YouTube video on his mobile which was placed on the dash blocking the speedometer.  In addition, he was driving like a man possessed fast and in and out of traffic.  He was shocked when I berated him for being a madman, didn’t understand my concern at all.

7 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Exactly that... 

 

I broke down on the Expressway in Bangkok a few years back.

 

I pulled over on to the hard-shoulder, but it was narrow, I had to pull over so far to the left My Wife couldn't exit the car, I also couldn't get out as the cars passing me on the first lane were so frequent and so close that I was unable to open the door - I felt quite vulnerable, the only thing we could do was stay put and keep our seatbelts on. 

The BiB arrived within a few mins, parked his bike with the flashing lights about 10m behind our car, the free recovery vehicle had us off the expressway within about 15mins - all rather efficient, but in the city the 'emergency lane' is quite tiny and begs the question, why so narrow (as someone earlier wrote - cost savings). As with so many things in Thailand, safety takes a back seat. 

And that's why you stay in the car....even being 20m ahead on the roadside is dangerous, unless the road has become a parking lot, but otherwise, all the vehicles can be speeding, a multiple vehicle accidents sends vehicles everywhere

No doubt the Merc driver was undertaking at top speed to save himself a few seconds.

On 6/24/2019 at 7:10 AM, wisperone said:

Word of warning....Never sit in a disabled car whether in the emergency lane or not.

Great advice. I've taken it one step further - to never sit in a car, or a Tuk-tuk or on a motorcycle in Thailand, disabled or not. Actually, I don't even like to be near a road in Thailand.