Early morning carnage! Six family members dead as van collides head on with 18 wheel truck in south

[billd766]

17 minutes ago, gerritkaew said:

your first reaction is to swerve  and also brake. but a truck loaded like this one not stop easy..

Beter run over the m bike, i would do...

Then again I wouldn't be so stupid as to overtake there anyway.

[KhunBENQ]

24 minutes ago, gerritkaew said:

Beter run over the m bike, i would do...

Do you know that this is/will would be a decision for autonomous driving?

Steer into power pole/moat and probably kill you, run over motorbike or frontal crash with a (mini) bus?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, MrJ2U said:

Taxes are way too high for the regular person to buy a new truck or car here. 

Apart from 7% VAT, what "way too high" taxes are payable on domestically manufactured cars/pickups at the time of purchase?

[Scott]

A derogatory post has been reported and removed:

 

14. You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, Thai people, Thai culture, Thai institutions such as the military, judicial or law enforcement system or specific locations within Thailand.

 

 

[still kicking]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

There is no need for a reward.

 

It is called doing their job properly.

Correct where I live the cops don't get any rewards, but they enforce the law 

[paulikens]

2 hours ago, Jack Cook said:

It is Thailand, it will never change. Amazing and sad that at least 4 of the 6 would have been fine if they bothered to buckle up.

Road safety is a totally moot point in Thailand, especially in Issan, they are experts up there at not keeping left or generally caring at all.

@Jack Cook Probably had their masks on though

[essex boys]

Sad that these people died, but I’ve been driving in Thailand for almost two years now and they just don’t give a toss about safety, regular occurrences are scooters pulling out of side roads onto main roads without looking or stopping, scooters without headlights or taillights on the road in complete darkness hoping you will see them, cars cutting corners on junctions instead of positioning them selves properly, I was following a saleng the other night it was impossible to overtake him because the junction was fast approaching, he had no light at all on the saleng, next think i know the impatient driver of the Toyota pick up behind me decides to overtake me, completely unaware of why I was driving slowly, as he overtook me the saleng decided to make a right turn, no indication, no brake lights, and no headlights or taillights, did he get wiped out by the overtaking Toyota pickup? Yes he got wiped out….did I stop?, no, I kept on going before the police turned up and put the blame on me as a foreigner. Unfortunately many Thai people cannot be educated it’s to late for them, let’s hope the younger generations can make changes to save lives

[Enoon]

11 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Fines are not the answer.

 

I am old enough to remember when Canada adopted the helmet law.  Fines were one thing points were another but the best solution was when they confiscated the bikes.

 

 

 

 

 

Making new laws and coming up with any number of "initiatives" is a total ******* waste of time.

 

You might as well strap a notice (saying "LAY MORE EGGS OR THERE WILL BE TROUBLE) to a lazy dog, leave it to sleep next to the chicken coop, tell the chickens to read the notice, then tell the cat to check up on both dog and chickens!

 

The place is a complete, dysfunctional mess.

 

But they are very good at carving fruit and vegetables into nice shapes.......and folding napkins, stuff like that......very good.

 

And:

"Yes, yes it's where they filmed The Beach y'know"

"Did they? Really? wow! awesome".

 

Yeah........ that's right, Thailand is really............*******................awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chongalulu]

16 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

19 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

I also believe that some kind of mental agility examination should be conducted on potential Licensees

Does your country do that or do you just want it for Thais who, you are clearly suggesting, must be less than "mentally agile"?

In effect (UK) there is just such a thing. You have to study to be able to pass a much more stringent theory test and you’ll have to display more mental agility to actually pass the practical. 
My main observation of Thai mentality on the roads is of driving without a scintilla of anticipation. But if you really wanted to focus on mental acuity do a search of average IQ by country and the same with the PISA educational tables . Some might argue that  it explains much…

[2baht]

18 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

By nothing, nothing will change

No, Thai's will always be Thai! 

[kwilco]

The salacious reporting of road accidents is nothing more than confirmation bias. In fact it distorts the picture and obscures the true situation with regards to road safety in Thailand by reinforcing archaic stereotypes. This in turns hinders understanding of road safety and the public's ability to understand how to deal with it 

[kwilco]

17 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

Let poor Thais abide to the rules, so that they wont get a fine.

"Abide to"?

[Ralf001]

On 4/1/2023 at 10:35 AM, Henryford said:

But you can bet none of them were wearing seatbelts.

They have seat belts ?

[MaiChai]

There is a simple fix. Thai gov have a campaign to educate people not to overtake unless they can see ahead there is nothing coming. This is the most frustrating thing i see driving in Thailand: dangerous overtaking.

[ikke1959]

10 minutes ago, MaiChai said:

There is a simple fix. Thai gov have a campaign to educate people not to overtake unless they can see ahead there is nothing coming. This is the most frustrating thing i see driving in Thailand: dangerous overtaking.

They can see ahead?? I think most drivers don't look further than the end of their car.. So many times that they even can't steer to right or left to pass the car in front of them when it is turning into a street or something..They stay behind till the road is free again to drive on..And others need to drive in three lanes switching constantly without looking if it is possible because of slower traffic...Indeed you are right first start to educate them instead of giving a driverslicense...becaus herein  lies the problem, no education at all

[kingstonkid]

On 4/1/2023 at 2:03 PM, Bob12345 said:

You do understand that many Thais need a motorbike to reach work and the fines you propose can be their total monthly wage?

 

Maybe look at the USA to see how high fines and long jail times work out. They punish harder there than most countries, and now have one of the largest prison populations in the world combined with a very violent and criminal society.

 

Fining poor Thais 5k baht will result in people losing work, being financially destroyed, and going into criminality to get an income. If you want more poverty and misery it might be a good approach.

BOB you miss the point.  Fines are not there to make life easy they are there as a deterrent just like prison and jails in the U.S.

 

Look at it this way I agree that 5k is a lot of money, but if I have a choice lose my bike pay a fine or buy and wear a helmet.  It becomes a no-brainer.

 

Yes the U.S. has a lot of people in jail but look at the crime rate.  

 

Which causes more poverty and misery Dad having to buy a helmet and wear it or losing dad because he had an accident and did not have a helmet?  Which one causes more poverty?

 

[kingstonkid]

On 4/1/2023 at 10:53 PM, essex boys said:

Sad that these people died, but I’ve been driving in Thailand for almost two years now and they just don’t give a toss about safety, regular occurrences are scooters pulling out of side roads onto main roads without looking or stopping, scooters without headlights or taillights on the road in complete darkness hoping you will see them, cars cutting corners on junctions instead of positioning them selves properly, I was following a saleng the other night it was impossible to overtake him because the junction was fast approaching, he had no light at all on the saleng, next think i know the impatient driver of the Toyota pick up behind me decides to overtake me, completely unaware of why I was driving slowly, as he overtook me the saleng decided to make a right turn, no indication, no brake lights, and no headlights or taillights, did he get wiped out by the overtaking Toyota pickup? Yes he got wiped out….did I stop?, no, I kept on going before the police turned up and put the blame on me as a foreigner. Unfortunately many Thai people cannot be educated it’s to late for them, let’s hope the younger generations can make changes to save lives

Problem is that the young people are now the biggest probloem.  Take the invincibility of youth, lack of edcuation and the general lack of enforced rules kids don't care.

 

They are not taught being responsible for anything

[kwilco]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

BOB you miss the point.  Fines are not there to make life easy they are there as a deterrent just like prison and jails in the U.S.

 

Look at it this way I agree that 5k is a lot of money, but if I have a choice lose my bike pay a fine or buy and wear a helmet.  It becomes a no-brainer.

 

Yes the U.S. has a lot of people in jail but look at the crime rate.  

 

Which causes more poverty and misery Dad having to buy a helmet and wear it or losing dad because he had an accident and did not have a helmet?  Which one causes more poverty?

 

The "deterrent " argument is rather ŵeak one.

You need to consider how the law works in Thailand and not the US, which ƁTW, has a really bad road safety record for a developed cou try.

 

[kwilco]

On 4/1/2023 at 4:43 AM, ezzra said:

These are unacceptable number of casualties even for a large country like Thailand, the sad part is that there is nothing one can do about it, not that the relevant authorities didn't try, it's just that Thai people and driving are not a good match.

That's only one statististic.

Thailand has the same number of crashes as the UK.

Thailand has slightly less fatalities in 4 wheeled vehicles than the uSA.

So you need to analyse the statistics to work out why the actual death rate is so high.

[kingstonkid]

20 minutes ago, kwilco said:

The "deterrent " argument is rather ŵeak one.

You need to consider how the law works in Thailand and not the US, which ƁTW, has a really bad road safety record for a developed cou try.

 

Actually, the deterrent factor works well. When was the list time you saw anyone in the west riding a motorcycle without a helmet?

 

The challenge is not the rules but the enforcement of the rules.

[kwilco]

30 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Actually, the deterrent factor works well. When was the list time you saw anyone in the west riding a motorcycle without a helmet?

 

The challenge is not the rules but the enforcement of the rules.

. Helmet wearing varies from region to region in Thailand  You are making a connection that is on association rather than causation . It's like you're looking out of your window and making generalisations on personal/anecdotal evidence.

The key factor is enforcement - in Thailand making something "illegal" doesn't mean you can't get away with it....you can often pay the police and it "goes away"

 

you may be the kind of person who does stupid things until someone fines you but most people act on a  safety factor because they understand that it makes sense.

Simply winding up the fines on their own achieves nothing significant. They need to be part of a "holistic" road safety policy that at present the  Thai authorities don't have.

 

 

[kingstonkid]

2 minutes ago, kwilco said:

. Helmet wearing varies from region to region in Thailand  You are making a connection that is on association rather than causation . It's like you're looking out of your window and making generalisations on personal/anecdotal evidence.

The key factor is enforcement - in Thailand making something "illegal" doesn't mean you can't get away with it....you can often pay the police and it "goes away"

 

you may be the kind of person who does stupid things until someone fines you but most people act on a  safety factor because they understand that it makes sense.

Simply winding up the fines on their own achieves nothing significant. They need to be part of a "holistic" road safety policy that at present the  Thai authorities don't have.

 

 

YOu need to go back and re read my post.

 

You obviously have not read it properly.

 

Yes there is a fine and most Thais simply ignore them.  The deterrent is the loss of the bike until they buy and wear a helmet.

 

Explaining to Thais that it is safer is a joke they all know it.  They don't care because they don't have to.  Nothing happens if they get caught.

The fact that the bike is impounded and that it is mandatory removes the ability of the person to just pay a few baht. 

 

I am not generalizing just look at the facts of how many people die in accidents that do not have helmets.

 

But then again you live in your rose coloured world and I will live in mine.

 

 

[Rimmer]

Some off topic bickering posts have been removed

[Damrongsak]

On 4/1/2023 at 11:53 AM, essex boys said:

Sad that these people died, but I’ve been driving in Thailand for almost two years now and they just don’t give a toss about safety, regular occurrences are scooters pulling out of side roads onto main roads without looking or stopping,  .....

I hit a motorbike with two kids on it, broadside. That was 45 years ago.  They ran a stop sign at a t-intersection, hidden by a stopped box truck.  They just suddenly appeared in front of me.  I flew over the handlebars of my motorcycle and did a belly flop into a ditch.  No significant damage to my bike or me.   But the next day I felt like I sprained each and every part of my body. 

 

I think the kids were OK.  I don't think I hit their legs.

[kwilco]

On 4/1/2023 at 4:53 PM, essex boys said:

Sad that these people died, but I’ve been driving in Thailand for almost two years now and they just don’t give a toss about safety, regular occurrences are scooters pulling out of side roads onto main roads without looking or stopping, scooters without headlights or taillights on the road in complete darkness hoping you will see them, cars cutting corners on junctions instead of positioning them selves properly, I was following a saleng the other night it was impossible to overtake him because the junction was fast approaching, he had no light at all on the saleng, next think i know the impatient driver of the Toyota pick up behind me decides to overtake me, completely unaware of why I was driving slowly, as he overtook me the saleng decided to make a right turn, no indication, no brake lights, and no headlights or taillights, did he get wiped out by the overtaking Toyota pickup? Yes he got wiped out….did I stop?, no, I kept on going before the police turned up and put the blame on me as a foreigner. Unfortunately many Thai people cannot be educated it’s to late for them, let’s hope the younger generations can make changes to save lives

I've been driving extensively for over 20 years in Thailand and I can say that Thai road users DO care a lot about road safety.

You also make a classic foreign driver's mistake. 

Thailand has a priority from the left rule ...... they pull out because they can. This is engrained in Thai driving, you need to learn and adapt.

Years ago the priority from the right rule in France caused British driver's to moan about it in France for the same reasons.

When you drive in a foreign country you need to learn to drive to their highway codes and not expect people to drive like they do back home.

Thai drivers are familiar with driving in Thailand you only have a short period of experience and you need to anal,yse more what is going on around you.

If you find youself getting angry with other road users in Thailand  the fault is most likely with you.

[essex boys]

@kwilco you need to re read my post, I said scooters pulling out onto a main road without looking, I drove in California for 8 years and more recently in france for four years so I think I’m pretty well educated regarding turning left or right on red lights. Also trying to find where I said I was angry I don’t need to analyse what’s going on around me, you need to be able to read what’s been posted correctly.

[kwilco]

4 hours ago, essex boys said:

I said scooters pulling out onto a main road without looking

You need to read both the Thai road rules and then read the road...... you are in the wrong! "main road" - really!?? that is of course a British definition.

 

It is a common symptom of foreign drivers in Thailand that especially from countries with low fatality rates, that they fail to realise wht bad drivers they themselves are and how their home road safety sytem protects then=m from their own stupidity.  - take for instance the riding of motorcycles wiithout crash helmets or protective clothing - as soon as the law turns its back, the stupidity returns.

[essex boys]

@kwilco thankfully this forum has a facility to block people, so off you go!

[wprime]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:41 PM, MrJ2U said:

There in lies the problem. 

 

Taxes are way too high for the regular person to buy a new truck or car here.   They have to rely on riding scooters, rain or shine. 

 

Dangerous!

There isn't enough road capacity for everyone to have cars.

[Andre0720]

On 4/1/2023 at 2:03 PM, Bob12345 said:

You do understand that many Thais need a motorbike to reach work and the fines you propose can be their total monthly wage?

 

Maybe look at the USA to see how high fines and long jail times work out. They punish harder there than most countries, and now have one of the largest prison populations in the world combined with a very violent and criminal society.

 

Fining poor Thais 5k baht will result in people losing work, being financially destroyed, and going into criminality to get an income. If you want more poverty and misery it might be a good approach.

You do understand that many Thais use their motorbike to go to work, and kill themselves and others at the same time, because it is for them paramount to get there 15 seconds earlier.

Perhaps a fine equal to at least the monthly cost of the poison they buy, and appear to smoke it as if it was the only way to show their virility...

Women are lucky that they are quite less influenced to fall for that horrible habit...