Lines painted on Bangkok road to slow traffic after "Dr Kratai" is killed by 'big bike' riding policeman at zebra crossing

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

Simple solution is to put large speed humps on either side of the zebra crossing may slow many drivers but nothing will stop idiots.

 

My relatively small soi in central BKK has a public elementary school there, with lines and signs on the soi at the point where the students come pouring out of the school gate and into the soi...

 

Apparently that wasn't enough, because at some point, the authorities came along and installed several pavement speed bumps in the roadway on either side of the school gate...

 

Those seem to help slow drivers down some... if for no other reason than self interest in protecting their vehicles.

 

[SunsetT]

8 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

While the motorcyclist was clearly at fault, even in the UK, where crossings like these are abundant, you never just cross without looking and trying to catch the eye of drivers and riders ensuring that they are going to stop, often they do not. Its just basic survival and that is ever more important here in Thailand, where they have little understanding, or regard, of pedestrian rights and safety. 

Yes, not to excuse the killer policeman, but was she slowly zombieing across the road staring at her phone expecting all traffic to stop or or go around her as so many do in Thailand?

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

Yes, not to excuse the killer policeman, but was she slowly zombieing across the road staring at her phone expecting all traffic to stop or or go around her as so many do in Thailand?

You’ll be accused of victim blaming with that comment. 

 

But, there is an element of responsibility when crossing a road.... I wonder how careful she was and how unavailable her actions were.

 

I haven’t seen the CCTV and can’t find a link to any video of the incident to make a judgement.

 

However, from the stills taken from the CCTV it looks like she had plenty of time to cross and the motorcyclist simply sped straight into her -

 

Could she have avoided impact and saved her life? with 20:20 hindsight yes....  but the fault is still with the motorcyclist who hit a crossing pedestrian. 

 

 

[SunsetT]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

You’ll be accused of victim blaming with that comment. 

 

But, there is an element of responsibility when crossing a road.... I wonder how careful she was and how unavailable her actions were.

 

I haven’t seen the CCTV and can’t find a link to any video of the incident to make a judgement.

 

However, from the stills taken from the CCTV it looks like she had plenty of time to cross and the motorcyclist simply sped straight into her -

 

Could she have avoided impact and saved her life? with 20:20 hindsight yes....  but the fault is still with the motorcyclist who hit a crossing pedestrian. 

 

 

Jeez! Is that the bike that killed her? She almost made it to the other side! How could he not have seen her and swerved to avoid her?  My belated apologies to her as it seems as if he was the one lacking attention.

[richard_smith237]

Here... the tragic incident....

 

She looked, crossed the road into the first lane - strangely, another person waiting to cross the road chose not to at that time.

As the Dr stepped into the first lane, a car in the middle lane didn’t stop for her as it blew straight through the crossing, the Dr. timed her crossing to ‘cross’ behind the brown car (which didn’t stop for her).

A van in the middle lane politely slowed to allow her time to cross at which time the Dr. took her eyes away from the approaching traffic to look ahead in the direction she was walking.

 

The motorcyclist (Policeman on a Ducati) in the 3rd (right most lane) did not slow and sped through the crossing - the impact was high speed, the Dr. never saw the motorcyclist coming. 

 

Sadly the Dr. did not look before crossing into the 3rd lane a tragic and fatal lapse. 

The motorcyclist didn’t appear to brake at all, perhaps his eyeline of the crossing pedestrian was blocked by the van in the middle lane. 

The motorcyclist didn’t react (slow) to the van slowing as it approached a crossing. 

 

The realities of ‘western thinking’ is that the Dr should have been safe on a crossing.

Living in Thailand has taught most of us never to take our eyes away from incoming traffic when crossing.

Traffic rarely stops for a pedestrian on a crossing, in most cases it will simply ‘push-on’ expecting the pedestrian to get out of their way.

 

 

From 1:30 in the video linked below....   

 

https://www.thairath.co.th/video/news/topnews/hotclip/588596

 

 

 

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

6 hours ago, Boyn said:

Does anybody know what will happen to this policeman ? i suspect nothing will of course.

Down to the wat, quick ordination with short penance, lots of wais to family of deceased, top police general to attend funeral of deceased, donation from BiBs Central fund etc, etc, etc

[RJRS1301]

10 hours ago, Boyn said:

Does anybody know what will happen to this policeman ? i suspect nothing will of course.

He is being transferred to the road safety divison I guess, use his obvious incompetence to impress others

 

[Stargeezr]

I like the raised pedestrian crossings, and only use the zebra crossings when there is no other choice, then

I follow the Thai crowd to hopefully not get run over. That has worked out so far.  I also like the crossings

in Canada that have a solar powered system and the flashing lights help the motorists see that there

is someone in the crosswalk area. I cannot see these crossings being done in Bangkok with so many of them 

in existence.

[Kenneth White]

21 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

As the saying goes "Better late than never but better never late" - Unfortunately the horse has gone in this case, shame they acted too slow !!

It is sad that someone has to die before something is done. It's the same in my county as well.

 

[itsari]

Most Thai drivers have no respect for lines painted on the road , for example  the double yellow lines separating a four  lane road are crossed all the time . A definite no no in the real world .

[Pique Dard]

21 hours ago, webfact said:

in Phayathai Road painting traffic slowing marks in the area leading up to a zebra crossing at the Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital.

they can paint traffic slowing marks all over  thailand, but as long as as drivers wouldn't  respect them, it's just a waste of time and money. in my opinion, there is a need of good and serious driving schools in thailand where future drivers should  learn to be responsible

[rodknock]

speed bumps will be useless!!

you will never change the mindset of drivers.

did they move the police guy to an inactive position???

[brianthainess]

20 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

While the motorcyclist was clearly at fault, even in the UK, where crossings like these are abundant, you never just cross without looking and trying to catch the eye of drivers and riders ensuring that they are going to stop, often they do not. Its just basic survival and that is ever more important here in Thailand, where they have little understanding, or regard, of pedestrian rights and safety. 

In the UK if you have one foot on the crossing, then vehicles are obliged to stop by law, plus there, they have flashing beacons to warn motorists of a crossing, but here zero zilch nana.

[richard_smith237]

12 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Jeez! Is that the bike that killed her? She almost made it to the other side! How could he not have seen her and swerved to avoid her?  My belated apologies to her as it seems as if he was the one lacking attention.

He was travelling too fast. 

 

At speed the gyroscopic forces (of the spinning wheels) lock’ the bike into its upright position. 

It becomes difficult to quickly ‘flick’ the bike around off its line unless an experienced rider who can quickly counter steer to unbalance the bike and manoeuvre. 

 

In this case this was just a guy (policeman) who’d apparently borrowed an impounded bike (as I read somewhere) - so its very doubtful he had any real experience of riding a larger bike.

 

He (the bike rider) was clearly going too fast. 

As sad as it seemes, everyone now wishes the young lady paid that extra bit of attention and then double, then triple checked before stepping into the 3rd lane of the crossing.

 

A tragic situation which highlights just how careful and alert we have to be whenever crossing the road in any country.  Never let complacency slip in. 

 

It astonishes me how often I see someone using a pedestrian crossing in the UK while buried in their phone !!! - that’s placing a huge degree of trust in the road users around them.

Edited January 26, 2022 by richard_smith237

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

Simple solution is to put large speed humps on either side of the zebra crossing may slow many drivers but nothing will stop idiots.

I have always been against speed humps on any road as they slow down emergency vehicles which are often in a life saving situation.

[Doctor Tom]

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

vehicles are obliged to stop by law

Yes, and often they don't.  A friend of mine lost his wife on such a crossing, when she was hit by a driver who was not speeding,  but said that he hadn't seen the crossing, or her. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Doctor Tom

[roo860]

5 hours ago, rodknock said:

speed bumps will be useless!!

you will never change the mindset of drivers.

did they move the police guy to an inactive position???

Moved to monkhood, temporally.

[billd766]

19 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

My Triumph Thruxton is called Brian.

 

Sensible, and would help.

IMHO a set of steel spikes 15 to 20cm long and spaced about 3cm apart rising up perhaps 20cm and actuated by pedestrian controlled lights would be a stopper. After you have gone through a couple of sets of tyres you wont be doing it a 3rd time. As for motorbikes the riders would certainly be thrown off and the bike wrecked if they try to go over the barrier. A steep and expensive lesson for one and all.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

they can paint traffic slowing marks all over  thailand, but as long as as drivers wouldn't  respect them, it's just a waste of time and money. in my opinion, there is a need of good and serious driving schools in thailand where future drivers should  learn to be responsible

 

But it makes them APPEAR to be doing something in response. And as we all know here, mere appearances outrank truth and reality every time.

 

[KhunLA]

????????????

 

[Meat Pie 47]

11 hours ago, roo860 said:

Moved to monkhood, temporally.

speed humps work perfectly well in the west

[roo860]

9 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

speed humps work perfectly well in the west

But they're not used to slow traffic down prior to a pedestrian crossing. Not in my country anyway.

Possibly could work in this situation in Thailand.

Edited January 27, 2022 by roo860

[actonion]

That looks like the paint  they use on all zebra crossings,  a regular Emulsion Paint that gets worn away  in a matter of weeks, instead  of   the Thermoplastic   hot melt marking paint , harder wearing and reflective

[jacko45k]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:35 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 

 

Those seem to help slow drivers down some... if for no other reason than self interest in protecting their vehicles.

 

Perhaps rumble strips would work here as a half measure.