A father in tears: 14 year old motorcyclist dies in NE in head on collision with pick-up - she was on the phone

[webfact]

Daily News Thai Caption: Looking at a phone while riding a motorcycle

 

A distraught father told how he had just given his daughter 60 baht on Sunday as she was going into school to practice some drama with friends.

 

Just a short while later he got a call every parent dreads.

 

His only daughter was dead - hit head on by a pick-up truck.

 

She wasn't going in the direction of the school. She was off to pick up a friend.

 

The driver of the Nissan Navaro said he saw her on the phone coming towards him. He braked coming to a halt but she rode into his lane on the two lane road and collided head on, reported Daily News.

 

Pol Capt Chawanai Marasri and rescue services had rushed to the Udon Thani to Nong Saeng Ban Lupwai Road in Muang district of Udon Thani. 

 

The pick-up had severe damage to the front and the young lady's red Honda Wave was nearby on the ground. 

 

The driver said he was delivering jelly to Nong Saeng when he saw the teen on the phone coming towards him.

 

A public health volunteer said this showed the danger of looking at phones while on motorcycles.

 

Such behavior breaks concentration, they said. 

 

Police are investigating the cause of the accident. 

 

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[jacko45k]

Father, perhaps she was too young to be riding a motorcycle to school.....

[itsari]

Seems a lot of damage to the front of the truck . If the driver was breaking then there would be less damage than is showing .

[AussieinThaiJim]

90% of children on motorcycles have a phone in the left hand! No helmet and no licence. It’s time that the police got serious and started a campaign to teach the kids and parents the risks. They also hoon and ride their modified bikes to fast! 
Get serious please Thai Police!

[AhFarangJa]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

A public health volunteer said this showed the danger of looking at phones while on motorcycles.

Therein lies the problem here, absolutely no mention of the fact she was underage, no licence, possibly no helmet(Not stated in the article).

R.I.P. to another young lady let down by the system.

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Kids can legally use a motorcycle here to get to school if there is no bus.....it's pretty sad tho' that this incident is not the first!

Down to what age is this, 4 or 5?

[Ralf001]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Down to what age is this, 4 or 5?

Think they start pre-school at 3yrs of age so using ChrisY1 theory.... they can legally ride at 3 !!

 

 

[seedy]

10 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

R.I.P. to another young lady let down by the system.

And what "system" would this be ?

The only system this young lady needed was instruction on how to operate a motorcycle on public roads.

Did she receive that ? Doubtful

Was she ever told to wear protective gear, stay off her fone ? Doubtful 2.0

 

[AhFarangJa]

1 minute ago, seedy said:

And what "system" would this be ?

The only system this young lady needed was instruction on how to operate a motorcycle on public roads.

Did she receive that ? Doubtful

Was she ever told to wear protective gear, stay off her fone ? Doubtful 2.0

 

Agree with you 100%. The "system" I refer to is the one operated by both the Ministry of Transport. the R.T.P. and to a certain extent the schools that should be educating children instead of indoctrinating them.

[ozz1]

I see this every day on the phone no helmet but they have a mask on!  more education needed for young riders they think they are bullet proof unfortunately

[KannikaP]

21 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Therein lies the problem here, absolutely no mention of the fact she was underage, no licence, possibly no helmet(Not stated in the article).

R.I.P. to another young lady let down by the system.

Not the system. The law says 15 to ride a moto, no phones and wear a helmet. She herself, and her father, let her down.

[OneMoreFarang]

Maybe it's easy for me to say this, I grew up without a mobile phone and a bike with clutch and I had both my hands maybe 99% of the time on the handlebar.

Now I still have both my hands 99% of the time on the handlebar. For me, that is the only way to ride a bike.

If I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket and if I expect an urgent and important phone call, then I stop my bike and then take the phone out. Why? Because that just the way it feels secure to do that. I wouldn't want to have a phone in my hand while riding. And I definitely wouldn't want to look at a phone at the same time when I look at the road.

Why do mostly younger people do that?

I guess if they try that for the first time, they must feel uncomfortable and realize they can only concentrate on one of the other. And after they (tried to) brake hard the first time they should also realize that braking hard with one hand on the handlebar just doesn't work.

So why do they still continue with that dangerous habit?

IMHO people who do this must be intellectually challenged, otherwise they wouldn't do it. 

[mikebell]

Another fail for Thai police and Thai parenthood.

[sammieuk1]

Land of the colorful ways to die needlessly ????Rip

[Jonathan Swift]

1 hour ago, itsari said:

Seems a lot of damage to the front of the truck . If the driver was breaking then there would be less damage than is showing .

"braking", not breaking. You don't know how fast the motorbike was going, do you? A modern vehicle is built so flimsily using mostly plastic, this sheet metal,  and very little reinforcement that a front end of a car just about explodes upon any serious impact. At the posted speed limit a motorbike is heavy enough to become a deadly projectile if it hits head on. This is not a fender bender event. Why would you want to shift blame to the driver? 

[Jonathan Swift]

31 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe it's easy for me to say this, I grew up without a mobile phone and a bike with clutch and I had both my hands maybe 99% of the time on the handlebar.

Now I still have both my hands 99% of the time on the handlebar. For me, that is the only way to ride a bike.

If I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket and if I expect an urgent and important phone call, then I stop my bike and then take the phone out. Why? Because that just the way it feels secure to do that. I wouldn't want to have a phone in my hand while riding. And I definitely wouldn't want to look at a phone at the same time when I look at the road.

Why do mostly younger people do that?

I guess if they try that for the first time, they must feel uncomfortable and realize they can only concentrate on one of the other. And after they (tried to) brake hard the first time they should also realize that braking hard with one hand on the handlebar just doesn't work.

So why do they still continue with that dangerous habit?

IMHO people who do this must be intellectually challenged, otherwise they wouldn't do it. 

Motorcycle rider here, accident free since 1987. I think motorbike safety is not something that is emphasized sufficiently in school or at home. The risks are not taken seriously until something happens. I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence, it is a failure in common sense and awareness. I blame parents and schools mostly. Nobody can change or remedy bad parenting, so the slack needs to be taken up by the schools - schools should teach every pre teen and teen about the dangers of reckless driving, there should be graphic films showing the carnage. The dangers of motorbikes should be emphasized, that is the biggest danger to these kids. But I also know this is Thailand. It's very sad, so much grief. Imagine the other driver, knowing that a young girl died right in front of him as he sat helpless. 

[2long]

Who bought her the phone and the bike? Or who allowed her to use them? Maybe the parents?

I have hardly spoken to my 17 year old daughter for nearly a month because she sat in the passenger seat of her friend's car to get rides home from school. This was after me repeatedly telling her not to, and that I would catch her if she did, and punish her.

Motorbikes (which I love) are far more dangerous here in Thailand. KEEP kids off them!

[AsianAtHeart]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Father, perhaps she was too young to be riding a motorcycle to school.....

I was driving a car, legally, with a driver's license, at the age of 15.  And I was a safe driver.

 

The problem is not the age.  In fact, the younger one is when he or she learns to drive, the better it is for training one's driving reflexes and habits.

 

The problem here was clearly the phone addiction.  Maybe she was too young to have a phone.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

I was driving a car, legally, with a driver's license, at the age of 15.  And I was a safe driver.

 

The problem is not the age.  In fact, the younger one is when he or she learns to drive, the better it is for training one's driving reflexes and habits.

 

The problem here was clearly the phone addiction.  Maybe she was too young to have a phone.

Nonsense, she was illegal to drive a motorcycle..... 

Many use a phone at the same time... had one coming at me only yesterday doing exactly that. Parents don't prevent it, nor think of possible consequences. 

[Thailand]

Very sad, RIP young lady.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

I believe 14 year old can ride bikes under 100cc.????

If you do not know for sure, best you do not comment. 

[ezzra]

No matter what anyone says or do, riding motorcycles is a WAY OF LIFE in Thailand, and there are millions of them running around everywhere, kids to the very old, they all ride them live on them and i dare say that big part of Thailand commerce is done with the use of bikes, and as such, there will always be a price to pay for those who don't pay attention while using them...

[AsianAtHeart]

Just now, jacko45k said:

Nonsense, she was illegal to drive a motorcycle..... 

Many use a phone at the same time... had one coming at me only yesterday doing exactly that. Parents don't prevent it, nor think of possible consequences. 

I'm not saying she was legal.  Neither was it "legal" for my mother to take me out on a back road at the age of 13 and teach me how to handle our stick-shift car.  She wanted to know that, in the event of an emergency, I would be able to drive the car. 

 

In my experience, those who start driving earlier are better drivers.  Perhaps they have less confidence when they are younger, and therefore pay more attention to what they are taught, such as always checking the mirrors, doing head checks before changing lanes, etc.  And Thailand has no such thing as a learner's permit--so they cannot legally learn to drive.  This is why it then becomes needful to just "pass" them at the licensing office, with barely the skills to start the car and park it, when they obtain their full license.  Wouldn't it be better to issue a learner's permit that required, until they had their own license, that another driver be with them who had at least five years' driving experience?

 

As for motorcycles, I've seen what appear to be 8-year-olds driving them around here, and no one bats an eye.  They handled the controls just fine, too.  That's more than I could say for myself, as my parents firmly opposed "murder-cycles".  They thought they were too dangerous.

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

I'm not saying she was legal.  Neither was it "legal" for my mother to take me out on a back road at the age of 13 and teach me how to handle our stick-shift car.  She wanted to know that, in the event of an emergency, I would be able to drive the car. 

I really do not see what all this has to do with what happened to this poor girl. The law draws a line, and does so to protect people often from themselves. Being a scofflaw has consequences. 

[Denim]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

A public health volunteer said this showed the danger of looking at phones while on motorcycles.

 

Such behavior breaks concentration, they said. 

Who would have thought eh ?

 

These tragedies are going to keep on happening until the people learn to respect laws and laws are enforced.

 

We all know how long that is going to take. ????

[itsari]

54 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

"braking", not breaking. You don't know how fast the motorbike was going, do you? A modern vehicle is built so flimsily using mostly plastic, this sheet metal,  and very little reinforcement that a front end of a car just about explodes upon any serious impact. At the posted speed limit a motorbike is heavy enough to become a deadly projectile if it hits head on. This is not a fender bender event. Why would you want to shift blame to the driver? 

The truck bonnet is not plastic and neither is the bumper behind the plastic . Most motorcycles are traveling at a speed of 30 to 50 km per hour. The truck has to of been at high speed to create that damage.

BRAKING I don't believe too much.

I have seen a motorcycle go into the side of a vehicle one time and the damage on the stationary car was minimal. The rider got up and walked away.

I would be checking the young girls phone account to see if she was actually using the phone or not at the time of the accident .

[VocalNeal]

25 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

If you do not know for sure, best you do not comment. 

Please provide a link to the appropriate traffic law, then. For the benefit of all. ????

[steven100]

The father ... irresponsible .....  the girl ...  uneducated.

 

RIP young lady.

 

 

[starky]

Im gonna say this. I'm no accident investigator but I don't believe that car was fully stopped. Or that motorcycle was <deleted>n flying. So if that part of his story isn't true then....

[starky]

53 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

"braking", not breaking. You don't know how fast the motorbike was going, do you? A modern vehicle is built so flimsily using mostly plastic, this sheet metal,  and very little reinforcement that a front end of a car just about explodes upon any serious impact. At the posted speed limit a motorbike is heavy enough to become a deadly projectile if it hits head on. This is not a fender bender event. Why would you want to shift blame to the driver? 

So do you know how fast the motorcycle was going? How do you know the driver isn't lying? Were you a witness? Was there a witness? Cars "explode" do they?