Fatal Bangkok motorcycle collision leaves unknown foreigner dead

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

 

No place for a "big bike" in Thailand, except on the race track. Riding a scooter is fast enough and carries enough risk. BTW: I'm a 40 rider of years' experience on large and small bikes. RIP the deceased. Vehicles emerging left from sois without looking right is standard practice for Thais.

 

 

Completely irrelevant....   If he (the deceased) were on a 'big bike' (whatever that is) or a small bike (whaterver that is)... 

... a complete tool still pulled out in front of him.... 

 

BUT... there is one point I'd like to make on that. 

 

1) I used to drive around in a large, very expensive 4x4 and it was incredible the 'tolerance' I was given on the road (i.e. other cars giving way more readily), this was particularly noticeable when I switched to my Wife's tiny little toy car where I was cut up and 'road bullied' to the degree that driving her car was a lot more dangerous. 

 

2) Moving to Motorcycles - I used to ride a taller larger ADV Motorcycle in Bangkok - with riding gear its, I suspect this was more visible and notable, so other riders and drivers would give way more readily, and not cut me up as often, compared to when I was riding a scooter.

Additionally, bigger bikes, although heavier, stop better. 

 

 

IMO - A bigger bike is safer, even in Bangkok....   BUT... and its a big but, the larger bikes are simply nowhere near as convenient as the scooter and this is why so many of us end up reverting to the scooter - its just so much more convenient. 

 

 

 

 

 

[cdemundo]

 

6 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

So you always have to drive at a speed where you can stop safely if someone suddenly pulls out of a side street directly into your path or it's your fault?  What speed is that, walking speed?  Do you drive at that speed all the time?  Doubt it.

"So you always have to drive at a speed where you can stop safely if someone suddenly pulls out of a side street directly into your path...?"

No you don't have to.

But if you want to live...

[richard_smith237]

Just now, cdemundo said:

"So you always have to drive at a speed where you can stop safely if someone suddenly pulls out of a side street directly into your path...?"

No you don't have to.

But if you want to live...

 

Sure... then get rear ended by an idiot using their phone... 

 

The safest speed to ride at (IMO) is with the flow of traffic (a lot of other factors too) but that principle is a strong one. 

[BangkokReady]

31 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Indeed....  because when we are riding 'with the traffic' at 30, 40, or 50 kmh and something pulls out in front of us, the bike we are on stops, but our bodies continue... 

 

 

Perhaps some people such as herfiehandbag think we should all ride around at 10km... then those very same victim-blaming characters would blame the motorcyclist for not riding with the flow of traffic and place blame on them when vehicle rear-ends them. 

 

I'm pretty sure people riding pedal bikes often go over the handlebars when they hit something.  I doubt he can answer my question and I don't believe that is a reliable rule of thumb.

 

Whilst everyone should, of course, be riding at a speed suitable for the road conditions, I don't think it is reasonable to expect people to be riding at a speed where they can always stop safely should someone suddenly pull out from a side street without looking and into their path (no matter how common that is in Thailand).

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, herfiehandbag said:

No, but in traffic, in a built up area, and in the inside lane you don't drive at speeds which, if you collide, throw bodies across the road

Doesn't take much.  A person riding a bike at, say, just 40kph, that stops dead on hitting another object, continues travelling at 40kph because of kinetic energy; they don't stop with the bike.  Low speed can easily send them across the road.

[BangkokReady]

2 minutes ago, cdemundo said:

No you don't have to.

But if you want to live...

 

Can you name the speed, though?  It sounds pretty impractical.  You're getting into the realms of riding at walking speed.

 

Remember that the speeds of the two vehicles combine as well.

[Captain Monday]

How do THEY know he was a foreigner if his identity is unknown?

He could hold Thai national even if he appears to have "white skin".

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

10 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

How do THEY know he was a foreigner if his identity is unknown?

He could hold Thai national even if he appears to have "white skin".

Gawd.  Pretty good guess, though, considering that the bike was owned by a foreigner, he looked like a foreigner and, if he was a Thai national, he would, more than likely, have carried his Thai ID card as they have to by law.

[transam]

10 hours ago, jippytum said:

Thai rider of the blue bike entered the major road from the left without stopping or looking right. Thai drivers of motorcycles do this all the time. 

Yes they do, and is something all of us should be aware of when driving/riding....🤗

[transam]

9 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

That the foreigner was at high speed has of course nothing to do with it. Just blame the Thais when you can.

If the Thai bloke pulled out without looking, he is at fault, regardless of the speed of traffic on the road he pulled out on......

[Captain Monday]

23 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Gawd.  Pretty good guess, though, considering that the bike was owned by a foreigner, he looked like a foreigner and, if he was a Thai national, he would, more than likely, have carried his Thai ID card as they have to by law.

 

OK. Rather than pouncing on a tiny detail of the .01 percent possibility the deceased is not a foreigner to criticize the RTP's investigation and reporting thereof, that provides nothing interesting to the conversation,  I probably should not have posted at all.

🤫

[Harsh Jones]

2 hours ago, Korat Kiwi said:

I fail to see how facts become cheap shots. 

 

 

We all know how ppl drive here. Can you enlighten me as to why the farang wasn't aware and alert to take slight avoiding action ? 

[transam]

1 minute ago, Harsh Jones said:

We all know how ppl drive here. Can you enlighten me as to why the farang wasn't aware and alert to take slight avoiding action ? 

None of us were there.........

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, Harsh Jones said:

We all know how ppl drive here. Can you enlighten me as to why the farang wasn't aware and alert to take slight avoiding action ? 

Wife Son & I in a Grab car the other evening. 
 

Driving down a sub Soi, narrow lanes, oncoming traffic (wide enough for two cars to pass, just about).

A win Motorcycle overtaking row of cars coming towards us.

Car approaches from a blind alley to the left at the same time the motorcycle reaches us….

Driver can’t swerve left, car to the left pulled out too far & was inches away from our Grab car. 

Motorcyclist squeezed though a gap that wasn’t there. 

Impossible for our driver to avoid, although I suspect some may suggest he should have been going at walking pace so he can stop instantly….  But that may not have prevented the car from being hit from the left by the car & head on by the dumb motorcyclist. 
 

Sometimes, no matter how careful we are and accident is unavoidable.

 

I’ve been hit twice (in my car while stationary !) 

[herfiehandbag]

8 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Indeed....  because when we are riding 'with the traffic' at 30, 40, or 50 kmh and something pulls out in front of us, the bike we are on stops, but our bodies continue... 

 

 

Perhaps some people such as herfiehandbag think we should all ride around at 10km... then those very same victim-blaming characters would blame the motorcyclist for not riding with the flow of traffic and place blame on them when vehicle rear-ends them. 

OK, let's cut to the quick. You ride at the speed dictated by the road conditions, the traffic conditions, and dare I say it your experience of the driving habits and likely behaviour of other road users. So yes at times, in some places, depending on those factors, progress can be glacial.

 

If, however you have a large motorcycle, consider yourself sufficiently skilled or experienced, or dare I say it entitled to drive at a greater speed, and such an accident should happen, then put bluntly, it is your own <deleted> stupid fault.

[kwonitoy]

23 hours ago, jippytum said:

Thai rider of the blue bike entered the major road from the left without stopping or looking right. Thai drivers of motorcycles do this all the time. 

Thai driving philosophy  

 

If you don't look you won't see

If you don't see, there is nothing there

[Skipalongcassidy]

20 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Does 'at a high rate of speed' mean FAST?

Go back to school and pay attention... then you would have a more expanded vocabulary... maybe.

[Skipalongcassidy]

15 hours ago, Korat Kiwi said:

I fail to see how facts become cheap shots. 

 

 

Maybe your "facts" are only yours and not the real story...

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Go back to school and pay attention... then you would have a more expanded vocabulary... maybe.

Why use four words when one will do is what I was taught at Grammar School.

[FritsSikkink]

On 4/4/2024 at 5:26 AM, jippytum said:

Thai rider of the blue bike entered the major road from the left without stopping or looking right. Thai drivers of motorcycles do this all the time. 

True, that is why you shouldn't drive at high speed in the city.

[Korat Kiwi]

18 hours ago, Harsh Jones said:

We all know how ppl drive here. Can you enlighten me as to why the farang wasn't aware and alert to take slight avoiding action ? 

No.  Because I'm not that farang and he can't give you the answer either. 

[Korat Kiwi]

5 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Maybe your "facts" are only yours and not the real story...

It does not matter as to ownership of 'facts'. 

 

 

[peter zwart]

Many reasons not to drive at high speed. 

[Gottfrid]

On 4/4/2024 at 4:23 PM, transam said:

If the Thai bloke pulled out without looking, he is at fault, regardless of the speed of traffic on the road he pulled out on......

Nope, not in Thailand, and that´s where it happened, right? UK laws does not apply here.

[Gottfrid]

On 4/4/2024 at 12:42 PM, richard_smith237 said:

 

Exactly... Gottfrid is clearly victim blaming... 

 

Unless of course he is correct and the 'the large green motorcycle, which was travelling at a high speed' was travelling significantly faster than all other traffic around him....    (which we do occasionally see here).... 

 

On the other hand, if the 'the large green motorcycle' were 'rear ended' by a lorry, people like Gottfrid would have blamed them for going too slowly and not flowing with the speed of the traffic (gaslighting I know)...   But my point here is that people like this poster [Gottfrid] always find a way to run against the obvious and shoe-horn out a way to blame the foreigner in Thailand...

 

 

While you always protect the foreigner, disregarding what really happened.

[Gottfrid]

On 4/4/2024 at 12:37 PM, richard_smith237 said:

We'll never know of course, but one thing I am quite sure of - the witness statement which states the "the large green motorcycle, which was travelling at a high speed" is an unreliable statement because the time frame which which he had to make this observation was a split second.

Sure. Only right if you had been the witness, as you are always the one who knows best.