Why undertaking can lead to the undertaker: Thai cop dies on way home as guard rail pierces car

[webfact]

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath reported on a grisly accident in central Thailand that claimed the life of a Chainat policeman on his way home.

 

It should serve as a warning about undertaking or overtaking on the left hand side of the road.

 

Provincial Chainat investigative officer Pol Corp Naphatraphee, 30, was driving a black Honda Civic on the Chainat to Takhlee Road.

 

At speed he went into a guard rail that pierced the windshield and sliced off half of his head before coming to a shuddering halt hitting a lamppost.

 

Ten meters of the guard rail went through the car.

 

The body of the officer was released to relatives after the accident at 12.15 this morning in Seua Hok sub-district.

 

Undertaking - a move that is highly illegal in many countries - is a standard driving habit in Thailand where many motorists hog the right hand lane often due to poor road surfaces caused by the braking of large trucks on the left, notes ASEAN NOW.

 

In this incident the driver appeared to have undertaken on the hard shoulder leading to his death.

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2023-02-21

 

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[BobBKK]

Silly headline (whoops unintentional pun as well - sorry).  Under tacking is waaaaay behind not indicating as a major cause of accidents.

[connda]

58 minutes ago, webfact said:

Undertaking - a move that is highly illegal in many countries - is a standard driving habit in Thailand where many motorists hog the right hand lane often due to poor road surfaces caused by the braking of large trucks on the left, notes ASEAN NOW.

Undertaking is passing cars on the shoulder usually aggressively and at excessive speeds.
If it is a highway with two (or more) lane traveling the the same direction, the same aggressive morons will also attempt passing on the right-hand shoulder.

It's just a form of aggressive driving - and aggressive driving can kill.  Thank goodness he didn't hurt anyone else.

[realfunster]

44 minutes ago, connda said:

Undertaking is passing cars on the shoulder usually aggressively and at excessive speeds.
If it is a highway with two (or more) lane traveling the the same direction, the same aggressive morons will also attempt passing on the right-hand shoulder.

It's just a form of aggressive driving - and aggressive driving can kill.  Thank goodness he didn't hurt anyone else.

About the only useful information I learnt during my Thai driving test was that undertaking is fully legal on dual carriageways and above here.

 

Not very clear why it is allowed here, whilst frowned upon in many other countries. Clearly, having higher speed vehicles coming back in to the inside (dual) or middle lane (expressway/motorway) to undertake means a mixing of vehicles at sometimes quite different speeds. That can be quite dangerous. 

 

Having said that, there is a related problem with people hogging the outside lane, which sometimes doesn't leave much choice but to undertake...  

[userabcd]

Wonder if they checked the overlapping section of the guardrails.

 

Usually these guardrails are overlapped in the direction of the traffic too prevent or reduce this sort of thing happening.

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, connda said:

Undertaking is passing cars on the shoulder usually aggressively and at excessive speeds.
If it is a highway with two (or more) lane traveling the the same direction, the same aggressive morons will also attempt passing on the right-hand shoulder.

It's just a form of aggressive driving - and aggressive driving can kill.  Thank goodness he didn't hurt anyone else.

As well poor rail set ups. What ever a stupid driver manage to do, this is not supposed to happen unless they mounted the rails wrong.

[mancub]

Undertaking, overtaking. turning and even trying to drive in a straight line safely are manoeuvres beyond many on these roads.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, userabcd said:

Wonder if they checked the overlapping section of the guardrails.

 

Usually these guardrails are overlapped in the direction of the traffic too prevent or reduce this sort of thing happening.

Not sure if they hand-out installation leaflets to Myanmar slave labourers who probably can't read Thai.

[Gandtee]

Undertaking on the inside shoulder is usually reserved for rescue vehicles incase of an accident and a road block.

[d4dang]

2 hours ago, Hummin said:

As well poor rail set ups. What ever a stupid driver manage to do, this is not supposed to happen unless they mounted the rails wrong.

in N America they put barrels containing pellets(plastic?) in front of many guard rails to absorb impact. They work in most cases for cars and pick ups. Never seen them in Thailand.

[Foghorn]

You would think that plod would know better , but  tit.   Same teachers and nurses with their Thai helmets / muzzles  

[digger70]

RIP .

Dumb cop should've known better.

[kidneyw]

2 hours ago, d4dang said:

in N America they put barrels containing pellets(plastic?) in front of many guard rails to absorb impact. They work in most cases for cars and pick ups. Never seen them in Thailand.

They would get stolen probably.

[Bangkok Barry]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Undertaking - a move that is highly illegal in many countries - is a standard driving habit in Thailand where many motorists hog the right hand lane often due to poor road surfaces caused by the braking of large trucks on the left,

I suppose constructing the road properly, as they do in other countries, is out of the question? You never read of accidents caused by vehicles being forced to use the fast lane because the slow lane is unusable elsewhere, do you.

In my area, roads have to be resurfaced every few months, and even then it is long after the surface has broken. I can only guess that if they have to do the job over and over again (with the same result of course) they make money from each repair. A bit like products that are built to break after a certain time.

[Tubulat]

The government make this stupid rules.

Take for example now the new rule on highways, only on the right lane it is allowed to drive max 120 km/hr.

So when somebody drive on that lane 100, it is not allowed to passing him, after all, on the other two lanes you are not allowed to go faster than 100....

[connda]

Guess what type of railing "end" is the most prevalent in Thailand?

???? "Ahhhh, the first one maybe?"

Yeah, we call that one, "The Spear!"  Or how to send undertakers to the undertaker. 

[connda]

16 hours ago, Tubulat said:

The government make this stupid rules.

Take for example now the new rule on highways, only on the right lane it is allowed to drive max 120 km/hr.

So when somebody drive on that lane 100, it is not allowed to passing him, after all, on the other two lanes you are not allowed to go faster than 100....

Again - enforceablity and fines.  The fines are so low nobody worries about enforcement.  Heck, a large segment of the population just don't pay the fines.  "You'll lose your license!"  What license?  ????

To get to "the big cities", i.e., Lamphun and Chiang Mai, I do most of my driving on Highway 11.  And Boy Howdy, do I see the worst of "kon Thai" driving every time I'm on that road.

Now regarding the right-hand fast lane.  I had to pass a large truck driving down the right hand "passing lane" along with everyone else on the road who were driving over 80 kph.  The truck driver was just poking along at maybe 60 kph.  As we came to a U-Turn-Of-Death I figured the truck was in the right lane to make a U-turn.  Nope!  He passes the U-Turn and keeps poking along in the right-hand lane.  Why?  Who knows.  But it is not uncommon.  I see that kind of selfish behavior often enough.  I just want to get around people like that as they tend to be unpredictable. 

[Liverpool Lou]

On 2/21/2023 at 11:50 AM, realfunster said:

About the only useful information I learnt during my Thai driving test was that undertaking is fully legal on dual carriageways and above here.

 

Not very clear why it is allowed here

That's not accurate according to the Road Traffic Act, B.E. 2522, Section 45...

"No driver shall overtake other conveyance by the left side of the overtaken conveyance, except in the following cases:

(1) the conveyance which is going to be overtaken is turning right, or gives right turning signal;

(2) such road is divided into two or more lanes of the same direction. The overtaking by the left side of the overtaken conveyance under (1) or (2) may be done only when there is no other conveyance following behind.