Woman killed in car crash, but son, 3, flies out of car and escapes with minor injury

By The Nation

 

 

A woman was killed in a car crash in Ubon Ratchathani province early on Tuesday while her three-year-old son miraculously escaped death.

 

At 2.10am, police went to rescue the victims after being notified of the incident. They found Sukanya Tawarom, 26, trapped inside the vehicle.

 

The officers spent 10 minutes trying to pull her out of the car but by the time paramedics came to give her first aid, she was already dead.

 

Meanwhile, her three-year-old son was found outside the car in the middle of the road. He reportedly flew out of the car during the accident. The boy only had a minor injury.

 

Police said the car was being driven at high speed and crashed into an electric post. Sukanya had reportedly left her boyfriend as she had posted a message five hours prior to the accident. Police will call him for questioning.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30396854

 

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I hope this doesn’t give ‘dumb people’ cause not to place their kids in child seats or use seatbelts. 

 

 

26 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I hope this doesn’t give ‘dumb people’ cause not to place their kids in child seats or use seatbelts. 

 

 

What do you mean? Not using car seats is already the standard arrangement in Thailand and other developing countries. Only upper middle class people use them and that's a tiny percentage of the population. 

6 minutes ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

34 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I hope this doesn’t give ‘dumb people’ cause not to place their kids in child seats or use seatbelts. 

 

 

What do you mean? Not using car seats is already the standard arrangement in Thailand and other developing countries. Only upper middle class people use them and that's a tiny percentage of the population. 

 

.......or use seatbelts.

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

.......or use seatbelts.

 

 

 

Yes, rear seat belts are almost never used (and they weren't even installed into most new passenger cars until about 10 years ago) while usage of front seat belts seems to hover around the 50% mark. A big increase from earlier days, but far from universal. 

See it almost everyday...one person driving the passenger in the front with the kid on the lap - no seat belt.  Also, we get lots of weird looks from cab drivers as wifey and I get belted-in in the back of cabs.  

True, I once refused to pay the taxi fare and asked to let me out after I realized there is no possibility to buckle up in the rear seat. As far as I know it is required by law to buckle up in any seat and accidents happen, even with taxis in Bangkok.

 

Just wondering why they waited for paramedics to arrive and give first aid. Aren't officers trained in first aid?

57 minutes ago, Mak25 said:

Just wondering why they waited for paramedics to arrive and give first aid. Aren't officers trained in first aid?

This is Thailand.

can it be so that having the seatbelt isn't always the ideal solution? i can't help feeling pity for the 3 yo kid

One of way too many killed on thai roads ....but wait. Another covid case found. ????

i guess she was driving under influence of being emotional

You just know the relatives will pick the son up and drive back with him sat on their lap unsecured

23 hours ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

Yes, rear seat belts are almost never used (and they weren't even installed into most new passenger cars until about 10 years ago) while usage of front seat belts seems to hover around the 50% mark. A big increase from earlier days, but far from universal. 

 

Most (if not all modern cars) beeb when the front seatbelts are not used forcing people to use them (or purchase the outrageously moronic ‘dummy devices’ which plug in). 

 

My question to the Car Manufactures would be: Why don’t you also make the rear-seats beeb ????? 

All this money is spent on the ‘stop start’ technology, yet existing safety is not applied to rear seats. 

Why not put Air-bags in the rear of the front seats to protect the rear-passengers ?

 

 

8 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

You just know the relatives will pick the son up and drive back with him sat on their lap unsecured

 

Unfortunately that truth is the sad consequence of ineffective education. An issue which could be addressed easily with ‘driver education videos’ showing the consequences of no seatbelts, child seats, helmets etc put on a Prime Time TV between the popular soaps.

 

By not attempting to educate people to make their own informed choice the government is failing massively. 

21 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Most (if not all modern cars) beeb when the front seatbelts are not used forcing people to use them (or purchase the outrageously moronic ‘dummy devices’ which plug in). 

 

My question to the Car Manufactures would be: Why don’t you also make the rear-seats beeb ????? 

All this money is spent on the ‘stop start’ technology, yet existing safety is not applied to rear seats. 

Why not put Air-bags in the rear of the front seats to protect the rear-passengers ?

 

 

They beep for a little while then stop (though this depends on the make/model and year of manufacture). Many Thais (and Asians in neighboring countries) prefer to put up with a 30 second beeping rather than put on their seatbelts.

Anyway, it's been very rare that I've been in a car driven by another person in Thailand in recent years. 99.5% of all my trips have been me behind the wheel. This also applies to trips to neighboring countries where I either take my car across the border or rent one locally. The one country where I still regularly use drivers is Myanmar, seeing that self-drive car rental is not available at the border, though it's now an option in several locations further inside the country. This means if you fly in, you can go and pick up a car straight away, but for land based entries you first need to hire a driver to get you to the nearest pickup location.

 

From my observations, few Burmese drivers or passengers wear seatbelts, far fewer than even in Thailand.

25 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Most (if not all modern cars) beeb when the front seatbelts are not used forcing people to use them (or purchase the outrageously moronic ‘dummy devices’ which plug in). 

 

My question to the Car Manufactures would be: Why don’t you also make the rear-seats beeb ????? 

All this money is spent on the ‘stop start’ technology, yet existing safety is not applied to rear seats. 

Why not put Air-bags in the rear of the front seats to protect the rear-passengers ?

 

 

Only the top end models and imported ones tend to have rear side collision airbags. This applies to, for instance, the top of the range Toyota Hilux REVO pickup truck, with it's 7 airbags, but standard models only tend to have 3 (an improvement from the 2 during the previous Hilux VIGO range). The third airbag being on the driver's knee. 

 

However, the same models manufactured in Thailand for foreign markets tend to have 5-7 airbags throughout their range, in line with government requirements in those countries.

 

It's almost a sick joke (and a massive insult to Thai people) that they have to pay MORE for a Thai manufactured vehicle with fewer safety features than one that is exported to Australia and New Zealand but costs 30% LESS even after incorporating the shipping fees. At the end of the day, only the top end models, which are massively overpriced, are even comparable in terms of features to the ones sold in overseas markets. 

40 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Unfortunately that truth is the sad consequence of ineffective education. An issue which could be addressed easily with ‘driver education videos’ showing the consequences of no seatbelts, child seats, helmets etc put on a Prime Time TV between the popular soaps.

 

By not attempting to educate people to make their own informed choice the government is failing massively. 

They do make you watch a funny and somewhat informative 40 minute video when you go for your driving license renewal though. Problem is, most Thais just sit in the room and play with their phones rather than paying attention to the content of the video. 

 

The occasional signs with pictures of accidents at certain intersections don't seem to deter anyone either. You are totally right though, but it seems that they will either need to massively increase their education campaign or nothing will ever change. I think it can only change if some foreign agency or institution provides a grant, as clearly the Thai government doesn't have the resources or know-how to solve this problem.

 

Remember, no matter how much Thailand appears to have developed over the years, we should never lose sight of the fact we're still dealing with a third world country here. You can't have the same expectations as in developed countries.

 

On a more puzzling matter, it does concern me that Pakistan has built and opened 1943km of intercity expressway (motorways) meanwhile much richer Thailand, with it's far less difficult terrain has only managed to build about 250km in all these years, and not a single road tunnel. These figures exclude urban expressways, which in Bangkok's case adds up to several hundred km extra and a few hundred in Pakistan. 

 

I wonder how embarrassed Thais will be when they find out that Laos' first expressway between Vientiane and Vang Vieng, built by a Yunnanese company in a record 2 years and including twin tunnels about 845/875m in length, and 109km length overall, opens on December 2 this year. Meanwhile, Thailand's two tunnel-less expressways, the one to Korat and the other one to Kanchanaburi have been delayed for another 2-3 years after already being under construction for 4 years. 

 

I won't be surprised if the Chinese manage to complete the entire network of expressways up to the Chinese border at Boten before the one to Korat is opened here; despite the far greater engineering challenges in Laos, especially north of Vang Vieng, where there will probably be several tunnels (probably 10 or even 20) drilled through the mountains. 

On 10/27/2020 at 9:18 PM, RichardColeman said:

You just know the relatives will pick the son up and drive back with him sat on their lap unsecured

Not exclusive to Thai. I have seen many expats doing the same thing.