Two killed, several injured after ‘drunk’ foreigner crashes into motorcyclists in Hua Hin

[richard_smith237]

11 minutes ago, ctxa said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 Many foreigners in Thailand have had better driver education, so it would be expected that they are better drivers with a better understanding of the consequences.

 

No correlation at all. We foreigners may have had better driver education and be better amazing drivers back in our farangland country. But once you drive in mostly any Asian country, if you continue with your farangland country driving education and rules in mind, you won’t enjoy the road here and you will actually be dangerous and end up causing an accident. 

 

If you are suggesting that the road education we receive in the West is of no benefit to us in Thailand, then I disagree. 

 

However, if your point is that if we insist on driving to Western rules and standard in Thailand (i.e. UK road rules and standards) we would present more risk to ourselves and others, then I agree. 

 

Driving here defiantly requires adaptation - I would argue that part of driving education in the West is learning to adapt to different conditions. i.e. being aware of aquaplaning, using a low gear to descend steep slopes so as not to overheat our brakes, even basic such as seatbelt and helmet wear, always stopping at red lights, not tailgating, braking distances, not overtaking on a blind bend, mirror before manoeuvre, checking blind spots etc... 

 

None of the above make us perfect drivers (no one is), however, when applying a generalisation, in aggregate being more aware of the consequences of poor driving makes us (Westerners) safer through our knowledge. 

 

Safer and arguably better is the driver who has excellent driver education and who is also able to adapt to local driving standards within reason. 

 

Notice I wrote adapt to local driving standards and not adopt local driving standards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by richard_smith237

[ctxa]

14 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

If you are suggesting that the road education we receive in the West is of no benefit to us in Thailand, then I disagree. 

 

However, if your point is that if we insist on driving to Western rules and standard in Thailand (i.e. UK road rules and standards) we would present more risk to ourselves and others, then I agree. 

 

Driving here defiantly requires adaptation - I would argue that part of driving education in the West is learning to adapt to different conditions. i.e. being aware of aquaplaning, using a low gear to descend steep slopes so as not to overheat our brakes, even basic such as seatbelt and helmet wear, always stopping at red lights, not tailgating, braking distances, not overtaking on a blind bend, mirror before manoeuvre, checking blind spots etc... 

 

None of the above make us perfect drivers (no one is), however, when applying a generalisation, in aggregate being more aware of the consequences of poor driving makes us (Westerners) safer through our knowledge. 

 

Safer and arguably better is the driver who has excellent driver education and who is also able to adapt to local driving standards within reason. 

 

Notice I wrote adapt to local driving standards and not adopt local driving standards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well said, I agree. 
 

In my personal case since I moved to China at a very young age, I had to learn there how to drive. And while I certainly would have liked  to get a better driver education like the one you get in the West (for example, I don’t even know how to drive manual, as all the courses were with automatic, and thus I’ve always bought automatic all my life). 
 

But I can tell you that there’s one advantage to that, very few things surprise me on the roads here in Thailand (except motorcycles, or some a*hole speeding or drink driving). Things like getting overtaken on the left, cars coming to a stop in the middle of the road, car coming opposite way to you on a two way road after overtaking someone,  daily occurrence. Now, I’m not excusing these practices, but we can’t fight them alone, and again once a freshly arrived foreigner arrives to Thailand and starts driving only to suddenly get overtaken on the left or something similar  he may suddenly become nervous and end up being a risk to himself and others.

[poppysdad]

A typical example of Thai driving standards which we all experience regularly just 30 minutes ago. A car pulls out directly in front of me causing an emergency stop, the driver then proceeded at a snails pace until the next junction at which with no indications turns right without stopping nearby causing yet another accident at which I can now see in his driving mirror that he’s on his phone. He now gets to crossroads where he stops in the middle causing some problems for everyone at which point I now give him a few bursts of my horn to which my Thai girlfriend now gives me a blasting for being intolerant. I reply that the man is breaking every law in the book, a danger to everyone else and you take his side. 
You just cannot make this stuff up can you. 

[Sid Bream]

I am quite intrigued. How does anyone know what happened prior to the Ranger coming into the picture that shows the driver veering onto the other side of the road and killing people. Do tell.

[nauseus]

1 minute ago, Sid Bream said:

I am quite intrigued. How does anyone know what happened prior to the Ranger coming into the picture that shows the driver veering onto the other side of the road and killing people. Do tell.

 

Agree - they don't know - even after 13 pages of prejudgments, speculations and other assorted gibberish.

[nauseus]

On 1/29/2021 at 6:56 PM, rott said:

I did not see anyone say that anything on here would influence the outcome. The post was straightforward. 

 

I thought it was rather backward. 

[richard_smith237]

25 minutes ago, Sid Bream said:

I am quite intrigued. How does anyone know what happened prior to the Ranger coming into the picture that shows the driver veering onto the other side of the road and killing people. Do tell.

 

What we do know is that the Range was on the wrong side of the road heading towards motorcyclists while not applying any brakes whatsoever (no brake lights illuminated in the video)

 

So.. whatever happened, there was no reaction at all from the driver, or, brake light failure, and do we really believe a new car like that had brake failure or brake light failure?

 

 

[richard_smith237]

22 minutes ago, nauseus said:

 

Agree - they don't know - even after 13 pages of prejudgments, speculations and other assorted gibberish.

 

Well, there’s prejudgements and speculation which is pretty much the bread and butter of any forum designed specifically for discussion....  

 

..... There is also gibberish such as discussing the validity of the pre-judgements and speculations and whether they should even exist which is somewhat ironic given that such takes the discussion from the topic at hand to whether or not the discussion of the topic should be discussed in the first place !!!

 

Thus, I am now discussing whether the discussion of the discussion is worth discussing.....  see what your ‘assorted gibberish' gets you?  !!!  

 

 

 

[kokesaat]

Still nothing in Thai media about the accident....searched Thai websites for accidents in TaKieb on the 28th, Ford Ranger, people dying.......nothing.  A link, other than the video, would help!

[mike787]

thanks Mr Foreigner for destroying peoples lives and giving the rest of us no hope of being accpeted, it's no wonder why thais dont want us here.

[Knocker33]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:33 AM, robblok said:

I trust the Thai police in instances like this. If he was over the limit they will find it and either charge him with it or extort money. I doubt they will make up charges of drunk driving. Enough problems for this guy already to extract money. No need to invent more.

 

 

So where in the report does it say that the police are saying he is drunk. It's only mentioned in the usual clickbait head line by Webfact.

[nauseus]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Well, there’s prejudgements and speculation which is pretty much the bread and butter of any forum designed specifically for discussion....  

 

..... There is also gibberish such as discussing the validity of the pre-judgements and speculations and whether they should even exist which is somewhat ironic given that such takes the discussion from the topic at hand to whether or not the discussion of the topic should be discussed in the first place !!!

 

Thus, I am now discussing whether the discussion of the discussion is worth discussing.....  see what your ‘assorted gibberish' gets you?  !!!  

 

 

 

 

Is this a five minute argument, or the full half-hour? 

[kralledr]

11 hours ago, kokesaat said:

Still nothing in Thai media about the accident....searched Thai websites for accidents in TaKieb on the 28th, Ford Ranger, people dying.......nothing.  A link, other than the video, would help!

Yes, nothing at all, maybe the thaimedia not care, who know..

[Histavia]

On 1/30/2021 at 6:08 AM, richard_smith237 said:

The Thai Highway code, which is actually called the 'Land Traffic Act B.E. 2522’ very closely matches the British Highway Code (so much is it clearly based on it). 

There are significant differences - I think it probaly has more in common with the Japanese highway code.

Turning left on red lights is one and probably the most significant is priority to traffic on the left which is used in France and EU but obviously from the right.

[Histavia]

On 1/30/2021 at 6:08 AM, richard_smith237 said:

The video footage is damning. There is no doubt about fault. 

There is only doubt about extenuating circumstances or lack there off if the driver is proven drunk.

Speed can readily be established with video analysis.

It should have already been established if the driver was drunk or had a medical condition. 

 

This makes me wonder if you have any idea how an RTI is investigated. Video is osmetimes a useful "witness" it ca also be horrendously misleadin and mist interpreted. As I said crashes in countries like UK and EU are meticulously measured out and the speed/distance, road conditions, weather drivers vehicles are closely examined and collaborated and the information is collated and available to the publ;ic. THis means the statistics are accurate and ca be used by any body trying to research road safety. Here we get a bunch of cliches and a video.

 

PS - if you want to get an idea of how little information is gathered in Thailand and the amount of information gathered elsewhere in a country with low road deaths just spend and hour or so wandering through the pages available here - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-accidents-and-safety-statistics

Edited January 31, 2021 by Histavia

[Histavia]

On 1/29/2021 at 2:26 PM, H1w4yR1da said:

the word 'drunk' was in quotation marks. Hence it was reported speech.

sorry that's incorrect - in quotation marks it is QUOTED speech. Reported speech doesn't have quotation marks, it begins with words like "that" - e.g. he said that he was drunk.

 

however in the case of the OP it doesn't appear to make clear how inebriated the person was scientifically speaking and how much the behaviour was affected, so the comment is purely subjective and speculative.

[HampiK]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:37 PM, impulse said:

 

True.  But most guys on visa exempt don't buy a vehicle in Thailand.  Screening the long term stays would prevent a lot of the problem. 

 

But I think there would be a collective shudder of the expat community if they ever decided to stop giving extensions to expats who have DUI's in their past.  A lot of the guys I knew would be out.  Thailand seems to attract a lot of expats who didn't play well back home.

 

why a drinking foreigner should not be allowed to enter Thailand?
I guess there are a lot of drinking foreigner who not even own a car! Or as stated, people who drink or drive.

[H1w4yR1da]

23 hours ago, Histavia said:

sorry that's incorrect - in quotation marks it is QUOTED speech. Reported speech doesn't have quotation marks, it begins with words like "that" - e.g. he said that he was drunk.

 

however in the case of the OP it doesn't appear to make clear how inebriated the person was scientifically speaking and how much the behaviour was affected, so the comment is purely subjective and speculative.

Actually it's not wrong. Publications often use single ' ' marks as opposed to actual doube quotation marks " ". They're also used to show a word being taken from a sentence.

Edited February 1, 2021 by H1w4yR1da

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, H1w4yR1da said:

Actually it's not wrong. Publications often use single ' ' marks as opposed to actual doube quotation marks " ". They're also used to show a word being taken from a sentence.

 

Yes.. Quotation marks.... Quoted from speed or from a sentence. 

 

I have always used “ “ to represent quotation from speech and ‘ ‘ to represent quotation from a written document or publication. 

 

[richard_smith237]

23 hours ago, Histavia said:

sorry that's incorrect - in quotation marks it is QUOTED speech. Reported speech doesn't have quotation marks, it begins with words like "that" - e.g. he said that he was drunk.

 

however in the case of the OP it doesn't appear to make clear how inebriated the person was scientifically speaking and how much the behaviour was affected, so the comment is purely subjective and speculative.

 

Yep... Surely there is more information available by now.

 

However, as always we have a dramatic report and one which encourages a lot of discussion, but no followup. 

 

This is quite a disappointing as the significant factor of discussion is whether or not the foreigner was in fact ‘drunk’ or not. 

[mike787]

unfortunate people like this just don't destroy themselves instead of destroying innocent people....I hope he has a slow and painful long death worse than HELL.

[Histavia]

9 hours ago, H1w4yR1da said:

Actually it's not wrong. Publications often use single ' ' marks as opposed to actual doube quotation marks " ". They're also used to show a word being taken from a sentence.

That's called quoting. Reported speech has no inverted commas

Edited February 1, 2021 by Histavia

[dabhand]

So, no further updates on this tragic incident. The local HH FB sites (Expat + News) carry no reports at all. The vehicle involved had very distinctive livery yet only a passing comment from an earlier poster of previous similar instances.

The guy involved must have serious connections in HH and likely very deep pockets, into which the local plod are no doubt making extensive inroads. 

Where are TVF's finest when they are really needed? 

[balo]

On 2/2/2021 at 5:47 AM, dabhand said:

Where are TVF's finest when they are really needed? 

Yes we need a TV detective to solve this mystery.  

[AhFarangJa]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:03 PM, nauseus said:

 

Is this a five minute argument, or the full half-hour? 

I have told you once............

[PatOngo]

On 1/30/2021 at 9:37 PM, nauseus said:

 

Agree - they don't know - even after 13 pages of prejudgments, speculations and other assorted gibberish.

Ah, you just can't hold back the speculators! They can't help themselves!

[PatOngo]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:02 PM, kokesaat said:

Still nothing in Thai media about the accident....searched Thai websites for accidents in TaKieb on the 28th, Ford Ranger, people dying.......nothing.  A link, other than the video, would help!

Thai journalism at it's finest, don't expect too much!

[Charlie Halliday]

Tragic accident and RIP to the poor victims. Nobody knows if this guy was drunk, high or distracted or if his steering malfunctioned. There are even people in town who know him and say he stopped drinking years ago. So let the authorities do their investigation and reveal the truth. Watching the vidoe he wasn't going more than about 30km per hour. So all those wanting to hang him without evidence should consider if this was their husband, brother  or father and knew he didn't drink or take drugs. If he was drunk, then he will pay the price for his crimes. If it was a car malfunction, then why should he be hung out to dry... Its a tragedy whichever way you look at it but at least wait for the facts before executing the guy. And anyone who does drink and drive should stop right now and use Grab or other services. No excuse whatsoever with all the excellent and very cheap Grab service  now in Hua Hin. 

[nauseus]

9 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

I have told you once............

 

No you didn't. ????

[balo]

2 hours ago, Charlie Halliday said:

If he was drunk, then he will pay the price for his crimes.

Not likely, if he is influential with connections living in Hua Hin. 
He can afford to bribe himself out of it....

Edited February 6, 2021 by balo