Four year old dead - he was in the front of a car and grabbed the driver's steering wheel

[webfact]

Four year old dead - he was in the front of a car and grabbed the driver's steering wheel

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

A four year old boy has succumbed to serious head injuries after he grabbed the steering wheel and caused an accident.

 

Little "Nong Rome" was with his mother in the front passenger seat of a Toyota Vios going along the Ayuthaya to Ang Thong road.

 

She was with a man who appears to be her latest love interest.

 

The pair were arguing after a trip to make merit. During their argument Rome grabbed the wheel - the Vios veered all over the road and ended up hitting a central reservation power pole.

 

Priwat, 26, the driver was conscious but hurt. Titaporn , 35, is facing more drastic surgery.....but her son is now dead after being thrown from the vehicle.

 

Priwat said he had been driving along with just one hand on the steering wheel.

 

A relative of the little boy said that he had been called and went to the scene of the accident and saw a pitiable sight - blood coming from the head wound of his nephew.

 

He said that Rome had had heart problems since birth, meaning that he needed to go to Bangkok for treatment every three months.

 

Another relative at the cremation for Rome said that they didn't know the driver - just that Titaporn had hooked up with him and they argued frequently.

 

They are all demanding a full police investigation.

 

Thaivisa notes that not once in the Thai Rath story is it mentioned that it is negligent of a parent or guardians to allow a child to travel on the lap in the front of a car.

 

All the blame is directed to the driver of the car.

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-02-18

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[toofarnorth]

4 yo in the front on mother's lap.   Nothing more to add really.

[RotBenz8888]

A thai child car seat=mommys lap in the front seat.

 

They just don't get it. RIP

Edited February 18, 2020 by RotBenz8888

[tifino]

sounds like the mum may have lurched over towards the driver, to do whatever... 

- meanwhile the kid gets sent flying bu her lurching, and probably tangled the wheel?

[Liverpudlian]

Sadly its just another busy day for the buddha boys, RIP kid.

[Just Weird]

10 minutes ago, tifino said:

sounds like the mum may have lurched over towards the driver, to do whatever... 

- meanwhile the kid gets sent flying bu her lurching, and probably tangled the wheel?

Or, perhaps it happened just as the OP reported.

[Canuck1966]

You'll never go out of business in Thailand if you are in the funeral business (monks etc) or  vehicle repairs. 

 

Hospitals and 'ambulances/staff' also get an abundance of work on a daily basis.

 

Wonder how much insurance gets paid out in all these horror incidents?

 

Must be pennies or they would be out of business

[tinca tinca]

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

[CGW]

9 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

British? I was taught the same - then they invented power steering ????

You may have heard the term “10 and 2 driving”. This refers to the position in which you should hold your hands on the steering wheel (it is most often described in terms of how the placement of your hands relates to numbers on a clock). However, the technique for proper placement of your hands on the steering wheel has changed dramatically over the years. NHTSA now recommends the technique known as “9 and 3”. Place your left hand on the left portion of the steering wheel in a location approximate to where the nine would be if the wheel was a clock. Your right hand should be placed on the right portion of the wheel where the three would be located. These recommendations are quite flexible, but keep in mind that10 and 2 o’clock is no longer recommended because it can be dangerous in vehicles with smaller steering wheels and equipped with airbags.

Edited February 18, 2020 by CGW

[darksidedog]

28 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thaivisa notes that not once in the Thai Rath story is it mentioned that it is negligent of a parent or guardians to allow a child to travel on the lap in the front of a car.

That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Ignorance. Too stupid to understand the first thing about safety and what happens to anyone in a moving vehicle that is not restrained when it comes to an abrupt halt. The mother should be charged for causing the death, while the driver should also face charges for allowing it to happen in a vehicle he was driving. There are way too many unnecessary deaths caused here by ignorance, which is no defense under the law.

[sanuk711]

4 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Or, perhaps it happened just as the OP reported.

Maybe it did JW.......... I don't like the way I have started to view things since I moved to Thailand (22 years) ---2 people in the middle of a screaming argument, car crashes but no one can be arrested ...its the sole fault of the infant, stronger than the driver when he grabbed the wheel........ no car cam I Take it..........

[spiekerjozef]

Tragic.... R.I.P little fellow.

[sammieuk1]

Lessons learnt zero another tot failed by idiots ????Rip

[thequietman]

21 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

..... or at any time of the day for that matter.

[Just Weird]

5 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

18 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Or, perhaps it happened just as the OP reported.

Maybe it did JW.......... I don't like the way I have started to view things since I moved to Thailand (22 years) ---2 people in the middle of a screaming argument, car crashes but no one can be arrested ...its the sole fault of the infant, stronger than the driver when he grabbed the wheel

The argument wasn't described a "a screaming argument" and, if the boy did grab the wheel, when the veering car's front wheel hits the kerb of the central reservation at an angle that can easily rip the steering wheel from the strongest man's hand and it's then out of control.

 

As both survivors were injured it's safe to assume that they were taken to hospital which would happen before any charges were made; just because charges weren't mentioned doesn't mean that there will be none.

[Wiggy]

How could a four year-old reach the steering wheel from mother's lap in the passenger seat? Even if he did, the driver would have the strength to wrestle it back. I don't believe a word of it. Fine and jail them both for causing death through negligence. Yeah, I know, fat chance of that.

[Metropolitian]

22 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Ignorance. Too stupid to understand the first thing about safety and what happens to anyone in a moving vehicle that is not restrained when it comes to an abrupt halt.

Very true.

 

One week ago I was riding over a busy street, and what I saw I wished it was taped and posting to cause rumor but which I believe is really useless they simply won't catch.

What? Three persons on motorbike, no not those children who just finished school, or skipping classes.

 

A young man, in his twenties, accompanied with a very young teenager (!) holding an innocent baby (legs still curled) with her right arm and her left hand was holding a big mobile phone, which was displaying one of those Mark-pages.

 

D I G U S T I N G and very (d-e-l-e-t-e-d) to see. 

Thoughts came trough my head, if she almost drops the phone would she drop the baby in an reflex? And if the baby was about the slide away, would she rather be done with her phone or...   damn..

 

 

Should lock them up and give the child to who really cares.

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Metropolitian
closing line

[Just Weird]

2 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

How could a four year-old reach the steering wheel from mother's lap in the passenger seat? Even if he did, the driver would have the strength to wrestle it back. I don't believe a word of it. Fine and jail them both for causing death through negligence. Yeah, I know, fat chance of that.

If the boy did grab the wheel, when the veering car's front wheel hits the kerb of the central reservation at an angle, that can easily rip the steering wheel from the strongest man's hand and it's then out of control.

 

"How could a four year-old reach the steering wheel from mother's lap in the passenger seat?"

Easily.  Have you ever been in an old Vios?

[Just Weird]

32 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

 

10 minutes ago, thequietman said:

..... or at any time of the day for that matter.

Cue all the foreign personifications of driving perfection whose comments seem to suggest that they have never operated, and would never operate, a vehicle with one hand! 

[sanuk711]

4 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

he argument wasn't described a "a screaming argument" and, if the boy did grab the wheel, when the veering car's front wheel hits the kerb of the central reservation at an angle that can easily rip the steering wheel from the strongest man's hand and it's then out of control.

 

As both survivors were injured it's safe to assume that they were taken to hospital which would happen before any charges were made; just because charges weren't mentioned doesn't mean that there will be none.

Honestly JW I don't know what happened  I was more commentating on the way I seem to be viewing things after residing here.

 

----2 lovers having an argument....I don't know where  the car hitting the kerb came from, the actual wording was---- - "the Vios veered all over the road" --THAT'S A TIME THING--"and ended up hitting a central reservation power pole".

 

[Daffy D]

51 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

As CGW mentioned the correct way now is the 3-9 position.

 

This is mainly because of airbags that can cause serious damage (de-gloving) if hand are in the old 2-10 position.

[Wiggy]

9 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

If the boy did grab the wheel, when the veering car's front wheel hits the kerb of the central reservation at an angle, that can easily rip the steering wheel from the strongest man's hand and it's then out of control.

 

"How could a four year-old reach the steering wheel from mother's lap in the passenger seat?"

Easily.  Have you ever been in an old Vios?

Yes, I used to own one. And there's no way a four year-old's arm could reach the wheel unless sat near the middle of the car. Total negligence by the adults. Pity the kid had an idiot for a mother. RIP little one.

 

[Susco]

6 minutes ago, Daffy D said:

1 hour ago, tinca tinca said:

i was taught to always HAVE TWO HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL at ten to two !!!

As CGW mentioned the correct way now is the 3-9 position.

 

This is mainly because of airbags that can cause serious damage (de-gloving) if hand are in the old 2-10 position.

 

I have used the 3-9 position or just one hand with manual since the day I started to drive a car, now more than 40 years ago.

 

The only people who I see use the 2- 10 position are the 80 year olds who sit so close to the steering wheel that 3-9 is uncomfortable to hold

[drbeach]

Interesting story of a young guy going for a cougar (older women) 9 years his senior with baggage (a child) to boot. Of course, one never hears about the rather strange personal relationships of people here until a news article publishes an absolutely horrendous and unnecessary tragedy like this.

 

I must say I'm also surprised by Thairath NOT mentioning that it's negligent to have a child sitting up front in the passenger seat. While I don't want Thailand to go the nanny state way of say Australia, with it's child seat laws for children up to the age of 12 I think it is now, I think there is a severe shortage of common sense in this country. I mean, most Thais didn't just start buying cars last year - for the last 20-30 years there has been a significant fleet of vehicles owned by the middle classes. One would think that's enough time to understand that having a little child, who doesn't like to sit still should not be seated unrestrained on a parent's lap next to the driver. That and a basic understanding of the laws of physics should be enough to know it's dangerous.

[tifino]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

1 hour ago, tifino said:

sounds like the mum may have lurched over towards the driver, to do whatever... 

- meanwhile the kid gets sent flying bu her lurching, and probably tangled the wheel?

Or, perhaps it happened just as the OP reported.

 

my angle, being that the kid must have had very long arms, to reach the wheel (by itself) from mums lap

(bucket seats incurs quite a gap between seats)

 

[smedly]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Ignorance. Too stupid to understand the first thing about safety and what happens to anyone in a moving vehicle that is not restrained when it comes to an abrupt halt. The mother should be charged for causing the death, while the driver should also face charges for allowing it to happen in a vehicle he was driving. There are way too many unnecessary deaths caused here by ignorance, which is no defense under the law.

people will continue to do stupid things on the roads until the police actually start doing their job of detection and prosecution - if laws are not properly enforced people will not observe them - simple as that

 

If UK police announced tomorrow that they would no longer be enforcing traffic laws how long before we would see the same carnage on UK roads as Thailand and lets go all the way and scrap the MOT system - that is basically what you have here - people can generally do whatever they want on the roads with little fear of being caught and punished 

 

If this child had been in the back in a seat designed for his age and fully restrained - he would still be alive today

 

RIP 

Edited February 18, 2020 by smedly

[mercman24]

was it only yesterday i read a baby sitting on grandmas lap was crushed to death literally, (i believe they all perished). they never comprehend, when a vehicle come to a (dead!) stop, (being the operative word), an unrestrained body continues at that given speed, (why dont i shut up) this is a farang site, i remember in the distant past at our village fete, they had a ramp contraption, you got belted in the the seat was released you hit the buffers at 10 mph, that was imprinted in my brain about 60 years ago.

[Borzandy]

2 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

4 yo in the front on mother's lap.   Nothing more to add really.

Can we add this accident was caused by the 4 yo?

[richard_smith237]

These children in the laps of adults are becoming as dangerous as those rainy roads causing cars to skid and the failing brakes causing sleeping drivers to crash.... 

 

 

 

[tifino]

6 minutes ago, Borzandy said:

Can we add this accident was caused by the 4 yo?

The Thread Title appears to suggest that implication