Motorcyclist Killed in Crash at Phuket's Notorious 'Danger Curve'

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture and video captured from CCTV.

 

A foreign man, whose identity has not been disclosed, lost his life on the morning of January 4, after his motorcycle veered off the road and collided with a guardrail at the infamous Kuan Lim San curve on Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu District, Phuket.

 

Police from Kathu Police Station, accompanied by medical examiners from Vachira Phuket Hospital and Kusoltham Foundation rescue workers, rushed to the scene after receiving reports of the crash.

 

At the crash site, officials discovered a red-plated Honda ADV motorcycle lying in the middle of the road. Evidence of the collision, including long scrape marks on the guardrail and debris pointed to the severity of the incident. Upon inspecting the ravine, approximately three metres deep, they found the body of the victim, a foreign male, wearing a blue t-shirt and shorts. He was lying face down in the grass, having suffered a fatal head injury.

 

The body was recovered and transported to Vachira Phuket Hospital for further examination. Meanwhile, police continued their investigation, collecting evidence at the scene and reviewing nearby CCTV footage to determine the exact cause of the crash.

 

According to witness Mr Thaworn, a street vendor driving behind the victim, there were warning markings placed near the curve to caution motorists. However, he observed the motorcycle speeding past his vehicle before losing control at the sharp bend. The motorbike struck the guardrail, causing the rider to be thrown into the ravine while the vehicle skidded across the road. Mr Thaworn immediately stopped his car to prevent further incidents and called the authorities.

 

Local residents report that the curve is a frequent site of crashes, with many resulting in serious injuries or fatalities. The sharp bend and tendency of vehicles to travel at high speeds have earned it the grim nickname "Danger Curve."

 

-- 2025-01-05

 

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

15 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

foreign male, wearing a blue t-shirt and shorts. He was lying face down in the grass, having suffered a fatal head injury

Unskilled, no helmet, at speed.......yep, good way to kill yourself. 

 

We have lots of these foreigners riding at speed, unskilled, no helmet riding around Pattaya. 

 

[NoDisplayName]

I guess he found out for himself that everyone was right.

[ikke1959]

I don't think the curve is/was the problem

[Mike_Hunt]

What a surprise.  He was not wearing a helmet.   

[ozz1]

Another one bites the dust no helmet speed thinking their invincible just another day in paradise rip

[PJ71]

3 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Unskilled, no helmet, at speed.......yep, good way to kill yourself. 

 

We have lots of these foreigners riding at speed, unskilled, no helmet riding around Pattaya. 

 

Yip, and these scooters they continue to come out with the bigger engines don't help, more power, faster with with smaller wheels....hmm

[blaze master]

4 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Yip, and these scooters they continue to come out with the bigger engines don't help, more power, faster with with smaller wheels....hmm

 

I have a forza and find the handling and breaking brutal. The stock parts are no where near good.enough for the speeds that bike can do.

[PJ71]

2 minutes ago, blaze master said:

 

I have a forza and find the handling and breaking brutal. The stock parts are no where near good.enough for the speeds that bike can do.

Yeah, i like the look of the ADV's, test drove one and then decided to abort - horrible.

[fredwiggy]

4 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Unskilled, no helmet, at speed.......yep, good way to kill yourself. 

 

We have lots of these foreigners riding at speed, unskilled, no helmet riding around Pattaya. 

 

We also have thousands of times more locals doing exactly the same things.

[Briggsy]

Another Darwin moment.

 

Going into the corner at that speed was very poor decision making. Perhaps he had been drinking. Certainly overestimated his ability.

 

I have owned the ADV 350. It handles absolutely fine. This is probably the 160 but same applies. It has better suspension than the PCX and Forza. The issue was not the bike, it was primarily the speed but also the line taken into the corner. You can add no helmet, jacket or even long trousers to that!

[Briggsy]

Apparently it was a rental from JK.

 

No word on the John Doe yet.

[JetsetBkk]

So two other motocys just ride on by... 

 

[richard_smith237]

6 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

10 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Unskilled, no helmet, at speed.......yep, good way to kill yourself. 

 

We have lots of these foreigners riding at speed, unskilled, no helmet riding around Pattaya. 

 

We also have thousands of times more locals doing exactly the same things.

 

Agreed....  Some are unable to mask their prejudice against other foreigners...  that just strikes me as being very strange. 

 

 

The reality is - there are a lot of fools on the roads of any nationality who through no other reason that their own stupidity end up in situations like this.

 

Kwilco will soon be along to blame the road-engineering...  But, as you can see, the only way this road could be made safer is to make it a straight one, but stupid people would still find a way to kill themselves - he will of course disagree, tell us all how little we know about road safety, somehow shoe-horn in accusations of prejudice and racism, and then copy and paste pages and pages of text-book-theory... 

 

[KannikaP]

39 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

but stupid people would still find a way to kill themselves

Did I not read in the Death Statistics that of the 85% killed on motorcycles, most were on straight roads

[NoDisplayName]

39 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

the only way this road could be made safer is to make it a straight one,

 

I had read somewhere, long ago, that western road engineers will occasionally ADD unnecessary curves to extremely long sections of straight highway to relieve boredom and improve safety.

[roo860]

5 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Another Darwin moment.

 

Going into the corner at that speed was very poor decision making. Perhaps he had been drinking. Certainly overestimated his ability.

 

I have owned the ADV 350. It handles absolutely fine. This is probably the 160 but same applies. It has better suspension than the PCX and Forza. The issue was not the bike, it was primarily the speed but also the line taken into the corner. You can add no helmet, jacket or even long trousers to that!

A mistake made by alot of rookie riders(if he was one) is poor positioning before the bend, object fixation (looking at the barrier) and actually not turning your head and looking around the corner. 

[richard_smith237]

33 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

the only way this road could be made safer is to make it a straight one,

 

I had read somewhere, long ago, that western road engineers will occasionally ADD unnecessary curves to extremely long sections of straight highway to relieve boredom and improve safety.

 

Yes, I also read that....    so theoretically, a road with a bend in it is safer... 

 

Until someone approaches it at speed, while unable to ride...   

 

[richard_smith237]

40 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Did I not read in the Death Statistics that of the 85% killed on motorcycles, most were on straight roads

 

Interesting, and quite possible....     people who ride like this, may also end up going into stationary objects too !!! 

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, JetsetBkk said:

So two other motocys just ride on by... 

 

How do you know they rode on by? Smart motorcyclists, even moderately smart ones, don't brake on bends!

[Captain Flack]

A number of reported bickering posts, which are deflecting the topic has been removed. Lets discuss the topic without attacking each other yet again.

[London Lowf]

5 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

So two other motocys just ride on by... 

 

 

What should they have done?

 

Clearly, the guy had just sped by them and they had seen that he was a helmetless fool (they were both wearing helmets!) and decided that their existing plans were not worth changing for his sake.

 

I have witnessed numerous road accidents but I'm not a rubber-necker or a paramedic and I don't speak Thai and so I continue with my journey.

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, London Lowf said:

 

What should they have done?

 

Clearly, the guy had just sped by them and they had seen that he was a helmetless fool (they were both wearing helmets!) and decided that their existing plans were not worth changing for his sake.

 

I have witnessed numerous road accidents but I'm not a rubber-necker or a paramedic and I don't speak Thai and so I continue with my journey.

 

Stop and call an ambulance at the very least.

 

Riding past like that shows a lack of humanity.

 

It is perhaps different for you as you can't speak Thai, but you could still flag down another car / bike and ask them to call and ambulance - thats just the human thing to do, especially if you are first on the scene. 

 

If there are a load of other people there already, then I see no reason to stop if you have no first aid training.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

How do you know they rode on by? Smart motorcyclists, even moderately smart ones, don't brake on bends!

 

They (the other motorcyclists were no going that fast), slowing and braking on that bend would not have impacted them. 

 

Thats not the reason they didn't stop... 

 

 

You imply its possible that they stopped out of screenshot - given their speed and the fact that they clearly did now slow, do you really believe they may have stopped ??

 

 

The good think about Thailand, and anywhere else - there are always good people around and someone always does stop - lots of stories on here attesting to people helping out in such situations. 

[London Lowf]

18 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Riding past like that shows a lack of humanity.

 

In my home country 99% of people slow down purely to rubber-neck and/or pull out their phones.

 

Last week I was caught in a two-mile tailback on the M3, a major UK motorway - there was no incident on our carriageway but everyone was slowing to gawp at the carnage on the opposite side.

 

If the fact that I take no interest in things that do not directly effect me means that I am a bad person and lack humanity in your opinion then that's fair enough - I have enough of my own problems.

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, London Lowf said:

 

In my home country 99% of people slow down purely to rubber-neck and/or pull out their phones.

 

Last week I was caught in a two-mile tailback on the M3, a major UK motorway - there was no incident on our carriageway but everyone was slowing to gawp at the carnage on the opposite side.

 

If the fact that I take no interest in things that do not directly effect me means that I am a bad person and lack humanity in your opinion then that's fair enough - I have enough of my own problems.

 

I completely agree... I'll add to your point that 'rubber necking' actually causes accidents.

 

However, 'rubber necking' and stopping (if safe to do so) because we are first on the scene are different things.

 

 

When I'm riding / driving etc and something has happened, i.e. a major accident, of course its a natural human reaction to want to see whats going on so I'll want to look, but I can't becasuse of all the traffic around and elevated risk of an accident.

 

I've been 'first at the scene' three times.

1)  A drunk motorcyclist - hit the central barrier  (and ended up on the other side of the road in heap) - I stopped, soon others arrived, I was able to get them to use their phones to shine their light (it was night and dark) to stop cars driving over him... (about 20ppl in total helped in the end - I stopped the guy from getting up when he gained conciousness - he was breathing and had a strong pulse - not much more I could do. Paramedics came and I left.

 

2) Motorcyclist was side swiped by another (who fled), Motorcyclist was not injured, but bike was damaged. I was following and had it all on dash-cam. Police arrived and I gave them the dash-cam footage (Motorcyclist and BiB were thankful).

 

3) Incredibly drunk motorcyclist weaving about - I was following. The rider just slowed and then rode off the road into the grass, came off the bike. I slowed, to stop but he just sat up and looked ok - he was so drunk I didnt want to get involved so drove on.

 

 

There are plenty of incidents where I wouldn't stop - I think each situation depends on its individual merit, risks, whether I am first there etc...  

 

In this incident - I see no reason for the following riders not to stop and at least call an ambulance. 

[BangkokReady]

18 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Local residents report that the curve is a frequent site of crashes, with many resulting in serious injuries or fatalities. The sharp bend and tendency of vehicles to travel at high speeds have earned it the grim nickname "Danger Curve."

 

The problem is that speed restrictions are ignored by most people.  It's so bad that even if someone wants to drive slowly, it becomes unsafe to do so.  This means that people are often driving at 90kph+ in a 30, 50, 60 and so on, so when there's suddenly a sign saying they need to slow down, it is ignore like all the others, at least by people who are unfamiliar with the area.

 

It's very likely that the reason "danger curve" is so dangerous, is that people travel round it way too fast.

[hotchilli]

On 1/5/2025 at 4:07 AM, Georgealbert said:

Local residents report that the curve is a frequent site of crashes, with many resulting in serious injuries or fatalities. The sharp bend and tendency of vehicles to travel at high speeds have earned it the grim nickname "Danger Curve."

So do something physical leading up to the bend to reduce speed?

Some small speed bumps maybe to make it uncomfortable to travel fast until the end of the curve??

[baansgr]

22 hours ago, PJ71 said:

Yip, and these scooters they continue to come out with the bigger engines don't help, more power, faster with with smaller wheels....hmm

Exactly, used to be Honda wave or dreams with a few Harleys or Honda steeds...the last 5 or 6 years has seen everyone and their mates with forzas or xmax..a few of us started a riding group but as more people joined it became obvious it was a race to the finish..how many kms and how quick they do it...that isn't fun.

[newbee2022]

On 1/5/2025 at 4:24 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

Unskilled, no helmet, at speed.......yep, good way to kill yourself. 

 

We have lots of these foreigners riding at speed, unskilled, no helmet riding around Pattaya. 

 

Well, they get what they're asking for. Karma🙏