Harrowing scene as Canadian cries for his dead wife at early morning accident in Kanchanaburi

[Sydebolle]

A trip to the temple, ordained for three months, a nominal fine - file closed. Thailand's laws are good, the interpretation and execution though are a far cry from justice.

The least, this driver should be screened for is voluntary manslaughter as, irrespective of the (to me unknown) situation, the pick-up driver needs to be in control of his vehicle at all times. 
Not being so (due to speeding or whatever other reason) does not get voided by honking. 
 

"Thailand’s roads (are) the ninth most deadly in the world." I suggest Thailand does not upgrade itself from second to ninth - you can witness on a daily basis, how irresponsible, incapable and unable many drivers are on the road. 

I am truly sorry for the husband who lost his wife in another "casualty" of Thailand's roads; for the latter a statistical addition, for him the end of the world ......... Thailand, how dare you? 

[chuang]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Thailand appears to be killing off foreigners daily now. Becoming about as attractive to tourists as Mogadishu !

The mortality rate for locals is higher than foreigners. They are not killing off foreigners..

[NanLaew]

Sad ending to a bike ride. But it's not just bike or the 'lesser vehicles'.

 

About an hour ago, I'm taking my oldest to school and there's a point where road construction narrows it from 3-lanes to single-lane. It's reasonably well signposted and has been this way for well over 4 months already. Doing the school run before 6:30 is great because of the lighter traffic. I was about the third vehicle merging into single-file doing around 45 kph and I checked in the rear view and saw everyone was doing the same. However, an idiot in a pickup came flying up on the 'fast lane' and I only picked up his movement in my wing mirror at the last moment. Suddenly he's alongside and closing,  making no effort to slow down and hell bent on cutting me off. It was definitely a Hamilton v. Verstappen moment and with concrete bollards on my passenger side, I had nowhere to go so I nailed the brakes and avoided the side swipe. Luckily nobody run up my <deleted>. I gave him the floods, airhorns and bird but funnily enough, after the road opened up again, he had slowed right down and was tootling along at the same speed as everyone else. I would like to think he probably shat himself as he had bollards and oncoming traffic on his drivers side.

[vandeventer]

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

MY condolence to Joseph.  Thai roads are not safe period. especially the side roads.

 

The questions are  going to be asked and no one  here really cares.

 

Does anyone think the roads are going to get any safer  now that Thais are legally allowed to smoke weed.

 

 

At least they won't be so aggressive on the roads, as they will be in the twilight zone. God help us!

[freedomnow]

1 hour ago, bristolgeoff said:

You have to be very careful when riding a bicycle anywhere thailand is no different.

It is significantly different here...is why I dumped the bike that I would ride most other countries - barring main cities.

[Bangkok Barry]

55 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

If doing a full on emergency stop you’ll have both hands on the wheel and there’s no time to honk the horn . If he did that suggests he wasn’t doing all he could to stop and perhaps trying to scare her ?

Thai drivers think that honking, or more often flashing their lights, is all that is needed. Actually using the brake doesn't seem to occur to them.

[arick]

1 hour ago, cardinalblue said:

Bristol,

 

why don’t you answer the question the other way around….

 

why is there no respect for bicyclists by car drivers here?

 

I know a number of cyclists in my own compound…a question of respect or fear? They won’t ride with me in the surrounding villages b/c of immense fear about driving behaviors here….they won’t leave our own moobaan…it has nothing to do with cyclists’ respect.

There is respect! everytime I see a group bicyclist on the motorway  they have a lead car with flashing lights and a police escort. They even closed one side of the motorway for 6 km to allow them to have a race. If my memory is correct years back there was a guy serious injuries because a farmers truck didn't stop when turning onto the highway. He hit a guy on a motorbike that was in Kanchanaburi also. Driving any bicycle in a built up area dangerous. At least the pickup  driver is young so it can't be cataracts. 

[Peterphuket]

2 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

Bristol,

 

why don’t you answer the question the other way around….

 

why is there no respect for bicyclists by car drivers here?

 

I know a number of cyclists in my own compound…a question of respect or fear? They won’t ride with me in the surrounding villages b/c of immense fear about driving behaviors here….they won’t leave our own moobaan…it has nothing to do with cyclists’ respect.

That question is simple to answer, but i have to be polite.

But the motorcyclist who are thinking they are TT-drivers with a lot of noise and speed, if they later drive a car, they keep the same habits.

I live here on a main road, so many times daily I hear that people come by, and now they are thinking they are Verstappen.

The sister of my gf, is also fatally injured by such a rider, here on the same road.

If nothing is done about it, nothing will ever change.

Unfortunately I have been saying that for many years that I live here.

And yes, I'm also a cyclist.

[Fore Man]

45 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It seems they are smart. They accept reality that life for bicycle riders in Thailand is dangerous. And the smart way is to avoid excessive danger.

 

It doesn't really matter why there is no respect. There is no respect. That's reality. And better accept that or it may cost your life!

 

What's the point of having a few seconds time to think "but I had the right of way" before you die?

This sums up my thoughts precisely and succinctly.  Well said, OneMoreFarang and you’ve hit upon the tragic truth here. Tourists who are hugely ignorant (or hugely arrogant) can make terribly bad decisions to ride a bike or simply take a stroll in a country rampant with unsafe and unpoliced driving habits and customs.  It’s blatantly obvious when pedestrians here are killed at supposedly safe zebra crossings!   Anyone here longer than a few days quickly learns not to carry on as if they’d never left their homeland.  
 

RIP dear lady and my heart and prayers go out to her bereaved husband.  I cannot even imagine the deep pain he must be suffering. 
 

 

[Peterphuket]

1 hour ago, AhFarangJa said:

Sorry, but how do they attribute this as a freak accident.

Definition of freak accident..."a very unusual and unexpected event or situation"

Sadly, on these roads it is neither unusual, nor unexpected. The selfish moron was driving too fast, and ploughed on with the standard "I am bigger than you, and more important than you" attitude..............

I apologise in advance if this seems like a rant. 

My sympathy to the Husband who will probably never see proper justice done.

R.I.P. Young Lady.....
 

 

Very nicely said.

[Randy99]

Not so long ago, I was stopped at a red light.  A lady driving a lexus stopped behind me began advancing and pushing my bike out into the intersection with a series of little bumps by her bumper on my back wheel.  I locked up my brakes to no avail.  I turned around and gave her the finger.  She returned the favor.  Stunnung display of me, me, me syndrome.

[apetryxx]

Rules of the Road in Thailand, huh? What rules?

RIP

[grego49]

Traffic enforcement in Kanchanaburi is non-existent,you have to feel for the poor man,RIP,

[worgeordie]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

freak road traffic accident

Noting freak about that , driver going to fast, must have

seen the lady , as he sounded the horn , but failed to brake

and slow down it seems .RIP the lady

regards worgeorde

[Peterphuket]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Nothing 'freak' about this accident, many  people lose their lives on Thai roads daily in all sorts of manner of road's misadventure that we don't get to hear about those, when i ride i see many 'almost an accident' instances happening around me, this is the nature of Thai roads and the manners of driving/riding and this time it happen to a couple who only wanted to go out on a morning ride...

Since the mobile phone came it has only gotten worse.

Even that its use is prohibited while driving.

[VocalNeal]

Canadian. She looked the wrong way. left, right, left instead of right, left, right? RIP.

[phetphet]

47 minutes ago, Excel said:

Not all of them, in fact a few are very good, courteous and drive accordingly. It's in the main the male pick-up drivers who are the senseless morons who should be removed.

Some are careful drivers, but in general I find Thai drivers to be inconsiderate and have a real Me Me attitude.

I think it's due to a lack of both proper driving lessons and road policing.

 

Everything from overtaking on bends or before the prow of a hill, to just parking their car in the middle of the road while they pop into 7-11.

 

They drive how they like without fear of any likely punishment.

 

[moe666]

Following her husband across the road, sounds like she rode infront of the pickup truck going across the road. A few days ago a large group of tourist had one lane of the soi blocked as they walked toward the traffic light. Tourist as well as Thais are responsible for their own safety not looking, total disregard for traffic flows will get you killed.

It is a shame when anyone dies in a traffic accident my best wishes to the husband of the dead woman.

[Peterphuket]

32 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Thai drivers think that honking, or more often flashing their lights, is all that is needed. Actually using the brake doesn't seem to occur to them.

If they are going to overtake they know very well how to flashing, "GO Away, Go Away...I'm Coming, go, go, go"

The Morons.

[Doctor Tom]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

in a freak road traffic accident when a pickup driver, travelling at speed,

So what was 'freak' about that? Its an everyday occurrence on these roads.  Very sorry for them both. 

[Old Croc]

59 minutes ago, DPKANKAN said:

Another local report says he did not honk his horn at all!!????????????????

Reading the linked article he stated he honked and expected her to stop.  

 

Like the French woman recently this Canadian lady crossed in front of a speeding, idiotic, Thai driver. You can't do that here, they don't have the skills, nor reflexes, to avoid collisions!

 

 

"He admitted to officers that he had been driving at speed and said he had, first of all, seen the Canadian man crossing the road on his bike.

He later saw the Canadian woman begin to cross the road on her bicycle and honked to warn her that it was dangerous.

Expected the woman not to cross after he honked at her while travelling at speed, could not stop on time and hit the Canadian, killing her instantly

However, the woman did not stop and when he attempted to brake with his vehicle it was too late to avoid colliding with Ms Marine who was killed instantaneously when she was hit by the pickup truck at speed."

[NanLaew]

27 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Canadian. She looked the wrong way. left, right, left instead of right, left, right? RIP.

Not to detract from the high likelihood of a bad driver behind the wheel of the pickup, you make a very valid point. Who's to know that her husband possibly looked the 'wrong' way first, totally overlooking the pickup coming from the other direction and she followed, not even looking? It's a very common error for pedestrians from certain countries when they try and cross the road here, they look the wrong way first and totally miss the closer traffic (which doesn't often 'miss' them).

 

RIP.

[ifmu]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

MY condolence to Joseph.  Thai roads are not safe period. especially the side roads.

 

The questions are  going to be asked and no one  here really cares.

 

Does anyone think the roads are going to get any safer  now that Thais are legally allowed to smoke weed.

 

 

comeon this has nothing to do with pot ........ this is normal crappy drivers  

[cjinchiangrai]

Look to the right when crossing the street. Thai roads are backwards.

 

[VocalNeal]

^ Backwards to whom?

 

Thailand drives on the left. It is neither backwards nor forwards?

[cjinchiangrai]

Just now, VocalNeal said:

^ Backwards to whom?

The majority of the planet.

 

[NanLaew]

I think there's also something to be said for a possible failure of, or at least deficiency in, depth perception? In the three times I have had to renew my Thai DL, I have observed that the 'two sticks' test is the one that the locals have the most 'mulligans' at. After that, it's the braking response test.

 

Combine their penchant to 'shoot the gap' when they see some impediment to their forward motion, with an inability to judge closing distances and an innate tendency to relegate the brake pedal to last option (after lights and horn), it's little wonder it's a bloody shambles.

[NanLaew]

2 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

3 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

^ Backwards to whom?

The majority of the planet.

When in Rome, etc..

[Noljam]

Walking can be a dangerous experience I nearly get run over every 2nd or 3rd day pedestrian crossings and traffic signals mean nothing as far as a Thai is concerned these are just lines and the road and lights on a pole and can be driven through at any time.

[VocalNeal]

4 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

The majority of the planet.

 

Or just the bit you are from?