Thai tourist held in Japan over highway accident

By The Nation

 

 

A 31-year-old Thai tourist is facing a charge of reckless driving causing injuries to others after he allegedly caused a four-vehicle pile-up on a highway in Hokkaido, Japan, resulting in four injuries including a critically wounded 24-year-old woman.

 

Japanese media quoted the Thai tourist, whose name hasn’t been released yet, as telling police he was preoccupied with his rental car’s GPS navigator system as he was unfamiliar with the route when his vehicle drove into a lane of oncoming traffic and crashed with two other vehicles on Highway 237 on Sunday afternoon (local time). 

 

The Thai community page Hokkaido Fanclub (facebook.com/Hokkaidofanclub) said in a post on Tuesday morning that the accused tourist’s younger sister had said police did not allow her to see her brother. According to the page, Japanese law allows police to keep a suspect detained for interrogation in the first 48 hours after arrest. 

 

The Royal Thai Embassy has already been contacted by the man’s sister and the Japanese police. 

 

The page said the process in such cases usually takes around 23 days – from investigation until an indictment decision is made – hence the man’s family had to wait and see what happens. 

 

The page also took the opportunity to inform the Thai public that a charge of reckless driving causing injury or death is punishable by a maximum seven years imprisonment and a maximum fine of ‎ ¥1 million (approximately Bt285,000), while a drunk-driving case would result in the punishment being doubled, with a maximum jail term of 15 years.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30373876

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-07-30

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5 minutes ago, webfact said:

The page also took the opportunity to inform the Thai public that a charge of reckless driving causing injury or death is punishable by a maximum seven years imprisonment and a maximum fine of ‎ ¥1 million (approximately Bt285,000), while a drunk-driving case would result in the punishment being doubled, with a maximum jail term of 15 years. 

 

If they had similar punishments here, we might see the ridiculous death rate on the roads start to come down.

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

telling police he was preoccupied with his rental car’s GPS navigator system as he was unfamiliar with

I think this does not really excuse in Japan.

Surprised he didn’t blame it on brake failure. Nice to see the Thais spreading their culture worldwide. 

7 minutes ago, webfact said:

The Royal Thai Embassy has already been contacted by the man’s sister and the Japanese police. 

what they expect, for him to be free of all charges

Good, I hope he gets the punishment he deserves. 

2 minutes ago, Aachen said:

I think this does not really excuse in Japan.

He should have tried to blame it on the brakes

This incident could change the requirements for Thais wishing to drive over there. As it stands, the road accident rate in Japan is extremely low and the fact that a foreigner caused this accident is likely to turn many Japanese against foreigners.

1 minute ago, Mavideol said:

what they expect, for him to be free of all charges

Not going to happen. He will be charged.

 

What would a western embassy do for one of it's citizens detained on the same charge in Thailand?

Obviously amulettes doesn't work abroad.

9 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

If they had similar punishments here, we might see the ridiculous death rate on the roads start to come down.

 

And not just what the respective country's laws allow in terms of maximums, but more importantly, what the court systems in the respective countries actually typically hand down in terms of sentences.... and whether those are actually enforced once the person heads off to prison.

 

Simple fact of the matter is, neither the Thai police nor the Thai courts treat reckless driving / drunk driving / road mayhem as seriously as it deserves to be treated in order to protect human life.

 

 

4 minutes ago, TeaMonkey said:

Surprised he didn’t blame it on brake failure. Nice to see the Thais spreading their culture worldwide. 

Thais acting like Thais in Japan will be punished appropriately. Hopefully he will be jailed in Japan as a  Japanese goodwill gesture in keeping him of Thai roads.

Nice to see the Thai exports industry is still thriving in at least some sectors.... in this case... poor car driving habits and skills.

 

2 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Obviously amulettes doesn't work abroad.

Not with out a re-entry permit they don't ????????????

The Japanese need to understand that Thai drivers have had very little or no driver training , an example of this is my wife's daughter who did 2 30 minute driving lessons with an instructor during her lunch break and on the 3rd day did her test and was given her license 

Things that are normally seen on the roads of Thailand are not tolerated in other countries.

25 minutes ago, TeaMonkey said:

Surprised he didn’t blame it on brake failure. Nice to see the Thais spreading their culture worldwide. 

but, he did blame the car. "when his vehicle drove into a lane of oncoming traffic."

 

You see, the car did it ....... not Him!   ????

The Japanese don't need to understand anything. The Thais need to learn that what is accepted here is not commonplace in Japan.

28 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

If they had similar punishments here, we might see the ridiculous death rate on the roads start to come down.

if they had even 10% of the rightful punishments here, the roads would be deserted!!

57 minutes ago, webfact said:

he was preoccupied with his rental car’s GPS navigator system as he was unfamiliar with the route

Everybody´s fault - but for sure not his fault. Thai style.

Will have been a surprise for him. First - not easy to just drive away, -second they are really going to  make him responsible for his actions

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

Obviously amulettes doesn't work abroad.

Overtaking, ( assuming ) and blaming sat'nav' doesn't seem to work either.

Nor will 3 wais and 500 baht to the temple. ????????????????

After experiencing the absolute stupidity of what occurs on Thailand's roads on a daily basis, all Thai passport holders should be banned from driving on any foreign road, regardless of the licenses held, be it national or international.  The Security Council of the United Nations should convene in an emergency session to pass into law the necessary measures to protect the health and welfare of humanity. So help us god.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

According to the page, Japanese law allows police to keep a suspect detained for interrogation in the first 48 hours after arrest. 

 

The Royal Thai Embassy has already been contacted by the man’s sister and the Japanese police. 

 

The page said the process in such cases usually takes around 23 days – from investigation until an indictment decision is made – hence the man’s family had to wait and see what happens. 

 

The Japanese make no difference between a typical tourist and a CEO of a multinational firm.
Look what happened to Carlos Ghosn, the big boss of Renault - Nissan who earns millions of euros a year.

The Embassy of Thailand will not be able to do anything.
This is a common law case with a Thai national who caused an accident causing material damage and especially bodily.
He will know the Japanese prisons that have nothing to envy to those of Thailand.

2 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Obviously amulettes doesn't work abroad.

It didn't have international roaming enabled.

 

I bet he tried to flee the scene ... 

 

did the dude even have an international driver's licence ?

14 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

It didn't have international roaming enabled.

 

Only lane roaming enabled.

No 5000 baht good gesture payment in a brown envelope is going to help him there

I asked a Japanese and she thinks he will get 3 years in prison.

Maybe one of these and a nice high wai will do.