Two boys in motorbike collision in Kathu, one in critical condition

[xylophone]

43 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

And how does that help the boys?  You see kids as young as this on motorbikes every day, usually going to school or running errands.  Same in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, India and most third world countries.  Same as four or five on a motorbike, how many times do you see that?  Many don't have the luxury of choice. 

There's always a way.......................esp where lives are concerned!

[dunroaming]

4 minutes ago, xylophone said:

There's always a way.......................esp where lives are concerned!

Easy to say.  Can you suggest a practical one for poor people who live miles from the nearest schools or towns and only have one form of transport?  

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

Easy to say.  Can you suggest a practical one for poor people who live miles from the nearest schools or towns and only have one form of transport?  

A few suggestions ..................... 

 

If there are quite a few children going to school at the same time, then someone in the village, or surrounding villages, will have a truck or similar which can be used/commandeered for a few baht from each family going to make up a pool of funds, or indeed exchanged for fruit, rice, vegetables etc.

 

An appeal to a local headman, landowner or factory owner, or relatively wealthy person to see if they would "donate" some form of transport for the task, possibly paid for by some hours of work.

 

Put together some sort of fundraising appeal in all of the local villages, schools, government offices and the like in order to get some funds, or even to get an old vehicle donated.

 

Working together collectively, something can be done............ and yes, I have been to and stayed in some very poor villages in Thailand, and also have done similar in Nigeria at the end of the Biafran war, and even though these people were much poorer than the Thai families (in fact they had nothing) they found a way to make things like this work. 

 

PS. This was in Kathu, so a busy and thriving village/community........absolutely no need for this to happen

Edited December 14, 2019 by xylophone

[alanrchase]

13 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Easy to say.  Can you suggest a practical one for poor people who live miles from the nearest schools or towns and only have one form of transport?  

A lot of families in other countries only have one form of transport, that does not mean they let their kids drive it. When I was 12 my school was 20 miles away, should I have taken the family car?

[mickey rat]

12 hours ago, xylophone said:

If there are quite a few children going to school at the same time, then someone in the village, or surrounding villages, will have a truck

So your solution is to throw them in the back of a truck? ????

[Road Warrior]

very sad .it is a pity their parents allowed them to use a /bike at 10 yrs old 

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, mickey rat said:

So your solution is to throw them in the back of a truck? ????

Always one.........how about the fact that many trucks can carry around 4 or 5 children INSIDE!!

 

The underlying fact is that it is poor parenting; lazy parents not being bothered to get off their asses and drive the kids or to find a solution.

 

And in this case the accident happened in a thriving and busy town.......no excuse.

[digibum]

9 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Always one.........how about the fact that many trucks can carry around 4 or 5 children INSIDE!!

 

The underlying fact is that it is poor parenting; lazy parents not being bothered to get off their asses and drive the kids or to find a solution.

 

And in this case the accident happened in a thriving and busy town.......no excuse.

 

I can't help but think about this in terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  Even today, many Thais live in a state where only the bottom tier of needs (food, shelter) are being satisfied. 

 

Thailand is never going to shift course until the entire country is lifted to a state where they can begin to think about something beyond mere survival. 

 

Yes, I know that not every Thai is destitute but enough are that other Thais feel that they can't be critical of a family of four riding a motorcycle the wrong way on a highway because maybe that is the family's only form of transportation. 

 

Right now, any crackdown will seem like the rich and out of touch Bangkok politicians trying to invade the freedoms of some poor Thai people that have no other option (even if they actually do have other options). 

 

Stuff like this stops when there is peer/societal pressure.  

 

People are far more likely to respond if their neighbors are talking about what a bad parent they are for allowing their children to ride without a helmet than they are to some law being passed that the police sporadically enforce. 

 

 

[patongphil]

On 12/13/2019 at 3:13 PM, LivinginKata said:

 

Same with my Thai wife 23 years ago.  Wear helmet and car seat belts. Only once caught her going to local market along 2 km busy road. Stern talk about safety. She got the message.

Ha ha, when I first started going out with the missus I convinced her that I had installed a gadget in the car that would not let it start until all seatbelts were fastened.

Worked a treat for a few months and now the habit well ingrained.