Well known Thai touring cyclist killed by a truck in Nakhon Ratchasima

[Peterphuket]

21 hours ago, yawg said:

I'm a veteran cycling tourist and have cycled in Thailand extensively. On roads with a lot of traffic and on highways I always cycled on the wrong side of the road for safety reasons. I was always on the extreme right side of the road and saw all the oncoming traffic and everybody saw me. The safest way to cycle in Thailand.

 

Many cyclists have been killed riding on the left by cars and trucks whose drivers didn't pay attention or fell asleep (after the use of too much yabaa or just plain too much driving). The dead cyclists never saw them coming ...

 

 

To exercise I always cycle 5 times a week, I've also thought about driving on the wrong side of the road for the same reason you mention, but have not dared to date.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, pelagicpete said:

The one thing I always notice when the subject of road deaths in Thailand comes up, is that no one hardly ever mentions the fact that Thai people do not undergo the driving/riding education/training that exists in nearly every other country.

The latest attempt is to fill in, on line, a questionnaire, and you get a number of goes. Then you get a certificate to be presented to the office, and after the usual braking test etc, you get a licence.

The upshot of this system, combined with lack of enforcement, is that the standard of driving on the actual roads is not predictable.

So no one has standardised road behaviour protocols, no one can predict what will happen at any time.

Powerful education tools like adverts on tv, saying keep your lights down not on high, and safety, do not exist. Not to mention traffic police, lack of.

This sadly demonstrates the lack of willpower in the govt to change anything.

I’m not sure what thread on Thailand traffic you have been reading... Lack of driver education is the the one thing that everybody mentions when discussion the roads deaths....  

 

All of those things have been mentioned over and over again... 

 

You are in agreement with the vast majority of posters on this forum and quite likely the vast majority of people from developed nations who have undergone driver training and licensing.

 

If only those in decision making power cared enough, because I don’t believe they are stupid enough not to know, they just can’t be bothered to do anything about it, its someone else’s problem. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by richard_smith237

[GinBoy2]

8 hours ago, chalawaan said:

A good post spoiled by Thai bashing. 

A friend was almost killed in a head on with his scooter, in daylight, wearing hi-vis gear, in Christchurch, Aotearoa, by a Caucasian driver. 

But nobody posts about their racial "blind spots" for some reason.

Don't go down the Thai apologist road.

 

I don't think the poster was in any way Thai bashing.

 

But, in general riding a bicycle or motorbike in any country carries inherent risk. 

 

Bike versus a big hunk of metal, it's an obvious conclusion.

 

But to compare an 'almost death' in NZ to the daily carnage on Thai roads  is ludicrous.

 

I don't know, and I'm too lazy to look it up but I'd bet my next paycheck that the road deaths in NZ are a tiny fraction of that in Thailand.

 

Anyone who takes to the road in Thailand, except those driving an armored vehicle know they are at risk, and the smaller and exposed you are, the greater the risk

[ThailandRyan]

23 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

So many high profile cases this year alone.... I see a crack-down coming... 

 

Cycle lanes will be painted... 

However, as always the cars and motorbikes will drive in the cycle lanes like they do up Sathorn Thai Road, and the bicycle riders use the sidewalk....

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, chalawaan said:

A good post spoiled by Thai bashing. 

A friend was almost killed in a head on with his scooter, in daylight, wearing hi-vis gear, in Christchurch, Aotearoa, by a Caucasian driver. 

But nobody posts about their racial "blind spots" for some reason.

IF you want to shoe horn accusations of racism into this topic you first have to prove the road fatality statistic and cyclist death stats on Thai road to be proportionately less than other countries you’d wish to compare....  

 

... But you can’t do that, because, A, its not possible and B, it contradicts tour pathetic virtue singling !! 

 

Now, if you take off your ‘gone native Thai’s can do no wrong’ glasses you’ll see that the roads here are pretty shocking when it comes to risk for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists...   Stating facts is not racist...   

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, Road Warrior said:

and another road death by incompetent thai driving !!! so sad 

Perhaps it was another road death as a result of incompetent cycling? 

Where did it state that the truck driver was to blame?  So sad.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, bbko said:

Why are Thai drivers unable to turn their head a few degrees and see if there's oncoming traffic?

Maybe their cycle helmet restricts movement?

[freedomnow]

Is why I gave up cycling here...this 'keynote' has happened quite a few times niw...these international cyclists seem to get nailed to the ground here by idiots behind 4 wheels.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, 2long said:

@Tropposurfer was the first poster to offer his condolences after several other members went on and on ... and best wishes to his family.

Does it matter?  Condolences are an expression of sympathy to the bereaved, not virtue signaling to the members of an English-language forum.  Do you really think that the cyclist's family is reading Thaivisa?  

 

And "best wishes" is not the most appropriate sentiment to a bereaved family!

Edited June 11, 2022 by Liverpool Lou

[San Fran Dan]

They should be peddling a armored  car 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

6 hours ago, 2long said:

@Tropposurfer was the first poster to offer his condolences after several other members went on and on about how cycling is safe or dangerous or how bad Thai drivers are.

 

RIP to the poor guy and best wishes to his family.

Expand  

Have you sent your thoughts and prayers, or just posted on an anonymous forum that his family and friends will not read ?

Hear, hear.

[Liverpool Lou]

13 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

these international cyclists seem to get nailed to the ground here by idiots behind 4 wheels.

Maybe this death was the result of an idiot on two wheels getting himself "nailed to the ground".   Maybe I missed where it has been stated that the truck driver was at fault, but I doubt it.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

15 minutes ago, San Fran Dan said:

They should be peddling a armored  car 

Armoured car manufacturers are peddling [sic] them!

[Twigtom]

9 hours ago, phetphet said:

Was he driving with his eyes closed?

Agreed and did he have the "curtain" across the bottom half of his windscreen making it impossible to see anything close by?

[freedomnow]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Maybe this death was the result of an idiot on two wheels getting himself "nailed to the ground".   Maybe I missed where it has been stated that the truck driver was at fault, but I doubt it.

Maybe you did.

[Excel]

Whilst there is the usual going on as whose fault was it, dangers of cycling on Thai roads etc etc the piece in the article I picked up on was this;

 

The accident occurred at the construction site of an elevated road junction

 

Now it also said he was cycling on a road ( surprise surprise) so one can deduce then he was cycling on a road at a construction site where no doubt there is a lot of construction traffic. My thoughts are was or should he have been riding at a construction site anyway if he had any thought to the dangers involved ? And would a construction truck driver have been anticipating any cyclists on a construction site anyway ?

 

If that report was factual then the cyclists surely must be as much to blame as anybody for his own demise due to the fact he was cycling in an unsafe area ( a construction site ). 

 

[metisdead]

An off topic deflection post and a reply has been removed.

[Liverpool Lou]

19 hours ago, freedomnow said:

22 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Maybe this death was the result of an idiot on two wheels getting himself "nailed to the ground".   Maybe I missed where it has been stated that the truck driver was at fault, but I doubt it.

Maybe you did.

The thing is, I didn't, you'd have pointed out the part that I missed if that was the case.   Nowhere has it been reported that the truck driver was at fault or that the cyclist wasn't.

[peter zwart]

RIP best man. I will keep it to my bicycle at the gym.

[Dumbfounded]

On 6/10/2022 at 5:37 PM, kingkenny said:

Yet I cycled from Bangkok to Phuket,  850lm without incident as well as hundreds of other practice rides. 

 

Cycling has a risk anywhere in the world, probably amplified in Thailand but it's not a cert you will be involved in an accident.

Would it be ok if I take out a life insurance policy on you?  Bitcoin's down at the moment ????

[kingkenny]

On 6/11/2022 at 7:42 AM, Excel said:

Hope that is not your last post ????

I'm still here ????

 

I stopped cycling a few years back and much prefer regular golf now.

[RocketDog]

On 6/10/2022 at 5:37 PM, kingkenny said:

Yet I cycled from Bangkok to Phuket,  850lm without incident as well as hundreds of other practice rides. 

 

Cycling has a risk anywhere in the world, probably amplified in Thailand but it's not a cert you will be involved in an accident.

Just keep telling yourself that.

 

BTW, how far is 850lm? Maybe you just got lucky.

 

Being anywhere within sight of a highway, road, sidewalk, trail, or dirt path is dangerous in the Kingdom.

[Henryford]

Reminds me of the sad story of the farang couple that decided to cycle around the world. They had completed most of their route and, you guessed it, were killed cycling through Thailand. Just don't do it.

[kingkenny]

2 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Just keep telling yourself that.

 

BTW, how far is 850lm? Maybe you just got lucky.

 

Being anywhere within sight of a highway, road, sidewalk, trail, or dirt path is dangerous in the Kingdom.

850km, typo.

 

I have lived here 17 years, I don't need reminding how dangerous the place can be. I simply stated I have cycled thousands of km here without incident, as I am sure many others have, just as I know others have not fared so well.