Thailand road carnage: Toddler dies sitting on the lap of car passenger

[webfact]

Thailand road carnage: Toddler dies sitting on the lap of car passenger

 

Picture: Daily News

 

A two year old boy is dead after a car driven by a senior policeman's elder brother crashed into a tree in Suphanburi. 

 

The little boy was sitting on the lap of his father - a man from Myanmar. 

 

The driver had swerved to avoid hitting a large water monitor that ran across the road. 

 

Thung Khok police and rescue services in the district of Song Phee Nong, Suphanburi arrived at the scene of the accident on Tuesday on the Bang Lee to Nong Wanpriang Road. 

 

They found a smashed up pick-up that had hit a tamarind tree. Somsak, 61, the driver, had to be cut out.

 

His passenger - a 50 year old man from Myanmar - had a broken arm and leg. His son, aged 2, was dead on his lap from trauma to the head and face.

 

Somsak said he was driving home after going to buy pork and dropping in on his younger brother, Pol Lt-Col Khananat, deputy chief of the Thung Khok police. 

 

He said that a water monitor ran out in front of him and not wanting to hit it he swerved, lost control and hit the tree resulting in the injuries and death to the boy. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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[tifino]

 the driver is always held responsible, that his hired help puts on their seatbelt 

 

 

Surprised they weren't sitting out in the back!

[essox essox]

why he NOT use brakes??? or change down A GEAR...??

[RichardColeman]

I presume they found the monitor ? Or is this a new box in the excuses to tick ?

[RotBenz8888]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

His son, aged 2, was dead on his lap from trauma to the head and face.

No, it has nothing to do with budda its about child car seat. But try to explain that to an average thai, you'll see question marks popping up above thier heads.

[essox essox]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I presume they found the monitor ? Or is this a new box in the excuses to tick ?

IT RAN off tto find some water!!! but i get your point....

[tifino]

 poor baby Takata, never knew what hit him ???? 

[Dmaxdan]

A child car seat or trust to luck? A western philosophy vs a Thai one? I know what I'd choose when it comes to the safety or my kids. R.I.P little one, you deserved better. 

[webfact]

Before commenting on this topic, please consider the subject matter and be respectful that someone has died.
Any off topic and/or insensitive posts will be removed without warning and could result in those who made the posts being banned from the site. 

 

/Admin

[richard_smith237]

In continuing astonishment I see well educated people (Thai friends and friends of my Wife) who do no use a Child Car seat !!!...  They post on facebook from their cars with kids unrestrained and free on their laps or in the back, a tragedy waiting to happen. 

 

Only a handful of Thai friends I know use their car seat for their children 100% of the time - the standard response when I ask... "Oh [child] doesn't like it"... I point out that their kid would like it a lot less if involved in an accident but that point gets missed. 

 

Again, further tragic and 100% avoidable consequences. 

[john west]

Wanting to post on another subject and yes was also reading post generally, but yet another day and such a sad waste of a life RIP

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

A child car seat or trust to luck? A western philosophy vs a Thai one? I know what I'd choose when it comes to the safety or my kids. R.I.P little one, you deserved better. 

I also know what I would choose if faced with a hazardous maneuver verses hitting a water monitor!

[Golden Triangle]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

In continuing astonishment I see well educated people (Thai friends and friends of my Wife) who do no use a Child Car seat !!!...  They post on facebook from their cars with kids unrestrained and free on their laps or in the back, a tragedy waiting to happen. 

 

Only a handful of Thai friends I know use their car seat for their children 100% of the time - the standard response when I ask... "Oh [child] doesn't like it"... I point out that their kid would like it a lot less if involved in an accident but that point gets missed. 

 

Again, further tragic and 100% avoidable consequences. 

I seem to remember an advert featuring a high end car on TV here a few years back either a soft top BMW or Merc, with a young girl standing between her parents, no restraints at all, the locals see that sort of thing and think all is okay, same as the ridiculous car ads here, monkey see monkey do type of mentality.

 

RIP young one, just another tragic victim.

[Bob12345]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

In continuing astonishment I see well educated people (Thai friends and friends of my Wife) who do no use a Child Car seat !!!...  They post on facebook from their cars with kids unrestrained and free on their laps or in the back, a tragedy waiting to happen. 

 

Only a handful of Thai friends I know use their car seat for their children 100% of the time - the standard response when I ask... "Oh [child] doesn't like it"... I point out that their kid would like it a lot less if involved in an accident but that point gets missed. 

 

Again, further tragic and 100% avoidable consequences. 

I see the same, some of those friends being doctors and nurses and having seen accident victims from close by.

 

How can they be so blind that one day they unsuccesfully operate on someone who lost his life because of not wearing a seatbelt, and the next day they dont wear one themselves?

[off road pat]

45 minutes ago, Bob12345 said:

I see the same, some of those friends being doctors and nurses and having seen accident victims from close by.

 

How can they be so blind that one day they unsuccesfully operate on someone who lost his life because of not wearing a seatbelt, and the next day they dont wear one themselves?

Same same here,..I saw some nurses that work in the emergency unit in a hospital in Chiang Mai, go out for lunch and driving there motorbike without a helmet!

[KKr]

5 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

A western philosophy vs a Thai one?

please allow me to sharpen my pencil and rephrase that:
Western common sense vs local no-sense
( nor understanding of kinetics. )

[RandG]

Unfortunately we see all too many Westerners here in Thailand,  either tourists or long term residents,  doing exactly the same thing with their children.  Frightening. 

[Moonlover]

From first coming here 5 years ago, I continuously nagged away about my wife's niece who allowed her daughter to sit on granny's knee in the front. I even tried to explain the kinetics of the air bag that was right in front of her.

 

This continued until an impact 'star' appeared on the inside of the windshield, the explanation being 'XXX threw a water bottle at it'. I never queried it, but from then on, daughter wore a seatbelt.

 

Fast forward a couple of years and daughter is now going to school. Mother has no time to do the school run, she runs a business, so a driver is hired to do it for her. I have noted that the front seatbelts are permanently fastened across the front seats so as to stop that 'pesky warning ping' from sounding off!

 

I have given up trying. In the words of my wife and most other Thais - 'It's up to them'.

[Chongalulu]

1 hour ago, Bob12345 said:

I see the same, some of those friends being doctors and nurses and having seen accident victims from close by.

 

How can they be so blind that one day they unsuccesfully operate on someone who lost his life because of not wearing a seatbelt, and the next day they dont wear one themselves?

It’s even more dangerous in these circumstances now with the advent of airbags. I know someone who had a collision with a motorbike .not enough to trigger injury to the occupants but set off the passenger airbag that broke the kids neck sitting on the passengers lap and killed it.

The short answer to your question....they’re just dumb.

[hkt83100]

I stopped counting how many drivers I have seen with a baby on the lap behind the wheel. 

[Jim walker]

he only needed to slow down and drop a gear or two no need to lose control if it was as bad a condition as that he should have just stopped completely no need to lose control and crash into trees just stop and let the lizard walk across the road unless of course he was traveling at a speed and he was unable to control his car at speed 

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, essox essox said:

why he NOT use brakes??? or change down A GEAR...??

Or run the water monitor over... never serve to miss anything that small and endanger the lives of the occupants in the car.

He will have to come to terms with his choice of action for the rest of his life...

the monitor survived but .....

RIP little one .

 

[jaiyen]

Never ever swerve to avoid any kind of animal ! You will damage the car but will save lives. I have seen lots of people who swerve to miss a bird in the road ! 

[Samuel Smith]

When i'm driving, my wife screams if anything looks like being in the way.  I just brake & problem solved.  So many times you hear reports of Thais swerving to miss something small & end up hitting a tree or something worse.  

[Bob12345]

32 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

Never ever swerve to avoid any kind of animal ! You will damage the car but will save lives. I have seen lots of people who swerve to miss a bird in the road ! 

Unless the animal is taller than the hood of your car is high, as it will slide over the hood right through the window onto you.

 

But agree, dont swerve, just hit.

 

Had a dog destroy my radiator once (100km/h car vs soi dog), but never regretted going straight into it.

[ilms]

Sadly, the only way to change this situation is to hit people in the wallet with consistency. I recall when laws requiring the use of seatbelts in cars came into effect in the country I'm from, many people complained about the govt. invading their privacy, etc. The police kept fining people for not wearing seatbelts though, and the message got through. Now, several generations later, I never see anybody use a car without wearing a seatbelt there. I would say the same is true for using child car seats there as well.

 

Thailand could greatly reduce the number of deaths, injuries, public health expenditures, etc. with a few simple laws and consistent police enforcement of them. 

I know, I won't hold my breath....

[roo860]

It’s even more dangerous in these circumstances now with the advent of airbags. I know someone who had a collision with a motorbike .not enough to trigger injury to the occupants but set off the passenger airbag that broke the kids neck sitting on the passengers lap and killed it.
The short answer to your question....they’re just dumb.

A collision involving 2 cars in the UK recently, passenger had her feet up on the dash, airbag deployed, both her knees forced into her face, had re constructed surgery to her face.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[ubon farang]

In Australia They have child seats for kids in Cars Maybe just maybe they can make it law so kids in cars must sit in child saftey seats. Yeah hang on i am being stupid suggesting make it law to bring in these child safety seats because there would be no one to enforce these laws eg Helmets on bikes. riding in back of pick-ups all laws not enforced by the 230,000RTP

[Andycoops]

I see this virtually everyday in and around the village and local town.

What is more common is a small child being held by one hand while the rider has his/her other hand on the throttle of the motorcycle. 

[30la]

As always, innocent people have to pay for the mistakes of "intelligent adults"!
R.I.P. Kid!