Taxi driver charged with negligence in death of Swiss tourist in Phuket

[webfact]

Picture: PPTV

 

A Phuket taxi driver has been charged with negligent driving causing death after an accident on Monday on the holiday island in the south of Thailand.

 

PPTV reported that a witness heard a loud bang and found the 57 year old Swiss national face down and unresponsive.

 

CPR was given at the scene to no avail and the tourist was pronounced dead in hospital.

 

The body is being kept at Vachira hospital and relatives and the swiss embassy have been informed. 

 

Police charged Somchai Kopkoi after the accident on the way to Nai Han in Rawai sub-district. 

 

The victim was approaching on a motorcycle when the taxi driver lost control and collided with him, reports suggested. 

 

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[Damrongsak]

RIP Mr Swiss man.  Somchai, they should make you eat that motocycle, piece by piece. 

[steven100]

RIP swiss guy.

rot in hell taxi.

[Dmaxdan]

Charged with negligent driving? What does that even mean here?

A slap on the wrist and then told to not do it again?

 

R.I.P the the deceased.

[dinga]

4 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Charged with negligent driving? What does that even mean here?

A slap on the wrist and then told to not do it again?

 

R.I.P the the deceased.

Nah - Ordination here he comes (1 week'll do it)

 

[KarenBravo]

Oh dear........no rain to blame it on.

[wensiensheng]

It wasn’t just negligent. The force with which the car hit the bike and ploughed through concrete roadside posts then flipped over onto its side, clearly show that excessive speed must have been a factor. That’s dangerous driving, not negligent.

[4MyEgo]

As much as I feel for any loss of life, this coming from someone who once was a big bike rider most of my life, I know riding a bike of any type here in Thailand, regardless of ones own riding experience/capabilities, one is left exposed to either death or serious injury every single day one rides a bike of any kind.

 

Do I miss riding, hell yes, do I value my life here more, hell yes, so I made the choice to live as opposed to potentially dying earlier in life.

 

The above said, even if your injured, you have more chances of the person hitting you, not stopping in fear of having to cough up, then you have the hospital and rehabilitation costs to come up with, if not funeral expenses the family will have to pay for.

 

Now would there be a solution to reducing road deaths here in the LOS, hmmmm, I don't know, maybe we should ask the Thai police force what they think ?

 

RIP Mr Swedish man.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, steven100 said:

RIP swiss guy.

rot in hell taxi.

A fine and back on the road... jail time is very unlikely.

[Robin]

NO fine; he is a poor Thai, struggling to earn his living.  probably could not afford any third party insurance or a driving license either.  The sun was in his eyes, so he could not see.  Slow down?  Why? e knew there is never any traffic on that road

[madmitch]

7 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Charged with negligent driving? What does that even mean here?

A slap on the wrist and then told to not do it again?

 

R.I.P the the deceased.

Maybe he'll get a 20 point deduction from the 100 points, which he'll be able to get back by sleeping through a video.

[alien365]

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

Oh dear........no rain to blame it on.

From a poster yesterday:

 

"The Swiss “tourist” actually lives in Thailand and is well known locally as a keen cyclist. The taxi (according to the yellow taxi identification sticker on the side) apparently went too fast over the crest of a hill, lost control as a result of water on the road coming from a washing machine station by the roadside, crossed onto the wrong side of the road and simply smashed into the oncoming motorbike.." 

 

So it looks like he'll blame the water on the road still rather than his inexcusable driving. 

[Bangkok Barry]

This Swiss death (whether from a tourist or not) follows the murder of a Swiss woman in Phuket not many weeks ago. So better that TAT cross Switzerland off the list of European arrivals.

[Will B Good]

8 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

It wasn’t just negligent. The force with which the car hit the bike and ploughed through concrete roadside posts then flipped over onto its side, clearly show that excessive speed must have been a factor. That’s dangerous driving, not negligent.

They could get evidence from that Red Bull police expert.......he'll state the taxi was touching 20 mph?

[Captor]

9 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

As much as I feel for any loss of life, this coming from someone who once was a big bike rider most of my life, I know riding a bike of any type here in Thailand, regardless of ones own riding experience/capabilities, one is left exposed to either death or serious injury every single day one rides a bike of any kind.

 

Do I miss riding, hell yes, do I value my life here more, hell yes, so I made the choice to live as opposed to potentially dying earlier in life.

 

The above said, even if your injured, you have more chances of the person hitting you, not stopping in fear of having to cough up, then you have the hospital and rehabilitation costs to come up with, if not funeral expenses the family will have to pay for.

 

Now would there be a solution to reducing road deaths here in the LOS, hmmmm, I don't know, maybe we should ask the Thai police force what they think ?

 

RIP Mr Swedish man.

This is something that really attracts the high earning, high quality tourists...

[brianthainess]

17 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

Oh dear........no rain to blame it on.

Apparently from a previous report I read, there was a laundry that let water flow out onto the road that caused him to aquaplane. No doubt that is still operating with immunity. 

[robblok]

17 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

As much as I feel for any loss of life, this coming from someone who once was a big bike rider most of my life, I know riding a bike of any type here in Thailand, regardless of ones own riding experience/capabilities, one is left exposed to either death or serious injury every single day one rides a bike of any kind.

 

Do I miss riding, hell yes, do I value my life here more, hell yes, so I made the choice to live as opposed to potentially dying earlier in life.

 

The above said, even if your injured, you have more chances of the person hitting you, not stopping in fear of having to cough up, then you have the hospital and rehabilitation costs to come up with, if not funeral expenses the family will have to pay for.

 

Now would there be a solution to reducing road deaths here in the LOS, hmmmm, I don't know, maybe we should ask the Thai police force what they think ?

 

RIP Mr Swedish man.

I still ride my bike, but dread places where they have two way traffic. You never know what will happen there. In BKK on one way traffic and lower speeds i think you got a pretty good chance surviving. Not so much on those two way roads where they overtake on your side of the road flash their lights to signal YOU have to get out of their way instead of them not going when its not safe.

 

Oh... how did the Swiss turn Swedish in your post. Maybe all euros look alike to you ????

[Andre0720]

17 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

It wasn’t just negligent. The force with which the car hit the bike and ploughed through concrete roadside posts then flipped over onto its side, clearly show that excessive speed must have been a factor. That’s dangerous driving, not negligent.

Any of these types of death here are indistinguishable from 'murder'.

 

Borrowed the formula from Arthur C. Clarke, heheh.

[Damrongsak]

16 hours ago, hotchilli said:

A fine and back on the road... jail time is very unlikely.

They say "What is done is done" ...  But if that victim had been a Thai guy with good buddies, that driver might have been done and dusted by now.

[kcpattaya]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

the holiday island

Ahh... really?

[4MyEgo]

52 minutes ago, robblok said:

Oh... how did the Swiss turn Swedish in your post. Maybe all euros look alike to you ????

Really............ok my bad, feel better now ?

[robblok]

3 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Really............ok my bad, feel better now ?

I thought the emoticon behind the remark made it clear i was teasing / joking. Is it that bad to tease about a mistake you made ?

 

When it happens in a Thai story we all joke about it.. cant we do the same if a poster makes this mistake ?

 

Was in no way an attack on your sensible post.

Edited December 16, 2021 by robblok

[4MyEgo]

Just now, robblok said:

I thought the emoticon behind the remark made it clear i was teasing / joking. Is it that bad to tease about a mistake you made ?