Three 14-Year-Old Boys Killed in Motorbike Crash on Their Way to Celebrate End of Term

[LennyW]

Do the police here ever visit schools and give lectures on the laws of driving, the dangers, do's n dont's, general safety awareness etc.?

[brewsterbudgen]

Just now, LennyW said:

Do the police here ever visit schools and give lectures on the laws of driving, the dangers, do's n dont's, general safety awareness etc.?

 

If they do, it's completely ineffective!

[roo860]

1 minute ago, LennyW said:

Do the police here ever visit schools and give lectures on the laws of driving, the dangers, do's n dont's, general safety awareness etc.?

Kids coming out of school on motorbikes, police stopping traffic 😑 they don't give a flying f.

[Jim Blue]

On 3/8/2025 at 6:59 AM, mikebell said:

The police can put a cop every ten metres when a VIP comes to town.  When it comes to enforcing helmet use; red light observance; speeding; they are invisible.

Yes of course for a  day or less .?

[mikebell]

1 hour ago, Jim Blue said:

Yes of course for a  day or less .?

Why not every day or don't kids' lives matter?

[Jim Blue]

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

Why not every day or don't kids' lives matter?

Because , going back to Lord's original comment , the RTP don't get the resources or back

up to do the job they need to . 

[mikebell]

On 3/9/2025 at 3:06 PM, Jim Blue said:

Because , going back to Lord's original comment , the RTP don't get the resources or back

up to do the job they need to . 

My original comment was they can put a cop every ten metres when a Big Wig comes to town.  They are then never seen again saving lives on the roads.

[Jim Blue]

58 minutes ago, mikebell said:

My original comment was they can put a cop every ten metres when a Big Wig comes to town.  They are then never seen again saving lives on the roads.

Yawn....

[Ralf001]

On 3/9/2025 at 8:33 AM, mikebell said:

Why not every day or don't kids' lives matter?

 

Why are underage kids riding bikes everyday and why is it on the police, parent needs to held accountable.

[Moonlover]

On 3/8/2025 at 8:30 AM, simon43 said:

Except that it's probably not heartbreaking for the community.  For them It's karma and now the boys are now in their next life.

 

One of my Thai nieces (when younger), used to show me photos of her best friend with her head splattered all over the road after headbutting a concrete post.  Not a tinge of sadness as she explained how they had to pick bits of brain out of the grass verge..... she's gone onto her next life - that's all.

And I suspect that you have hit upon the most important aspect of all as far as Thai culture is concerned. Death is not the end as far as they are concerned. It's merely a transient stage until they are reborn. 

 

I've lived in my wife's village for 8 years now and seen many folks pass away, but there is no sense of loss or grieving. They go through the funeral rites, have a bit of a party, a few prayers and simply get on with their lives.

[mikebell]

14 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Why are underage kids riding bikes everyday and why is it on the police, parent needs to held accountable.

 IF police did their jobs & enforced laws which include fines for riding without a helmet or licence or insurance; if this redounded on the parents then casualty rates would go down. 

[mikebell]

14 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

Yawn....

So much for your passionate interest in saving kids' lives.

[Jim Blue]

18 minutes ago, mikebell said:

So much for your passionate interest in saving kids' lives.

Grow up ...blaming the bobby on the beat .....?

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

 IF police did their jobs & enforced laws which include fines for riding without a helmet or licence or insurance; if this redounded on the parents then casualty rates would go down. 

 

Always the angle to move blame onto the police.

[lordgrinz]

2 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

Grow up ...blaming the bobby on the beat .....?

 

They could step out on the street in front of their AC offices and start handing out tickets, better than beating off to anime on their smartphones all day.

[richard_smith237]

On 3/7/2025 at 6:11 AM, ikke1959 said:

14 year olds are not allowed to drive a motorcycle, wearing no helmets and no drivers license.... Many more to follow this week as nobody cares... teachers, parents, RTP... Sadly loss of young lives but if nobody does anything more are following...

 

100% agree... 

 

And how many times did these 3x 14 year old boys ride past policemen, 3 up on a motorcycle, all without helmets...  

 

And....  how many times did all 3 sets of parents see them doing this ???

 

 

BUT... then there is the point - would another two years have made any difference, would they be doing the same thing at 16 years old ???....  (riding in that manner I mean), if they were riding legally, two on the bike, both with helmets, would they still pull off such manoeuvres as cutting across and oncoming car at speed and colliding head on ?

 

Given Thailands stats and the all too common stories we read on here (which are the tip of the iceberg) the answer is a very firm 'yes'...    even when legal, licensed, with a helmet the manoeuvres undertaken often completely defy self-preservation.

 

So sad that a family have lost their son, that friends have lost a close mate, and that they themselves may never recover to full health....   and why ???    I see two reasons (but no doubt we'll get a thesis from a favourite road safety pedant).

- A complete absense of road / traffic policing

- A complete absense of road safety training

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

Grow up ...blaming the bobby on the beat .....?

 

How many times do think these very same kids, 3 up on a motorcycle, without helmets passed policemen ???

 

How many times have YOU @Jim Blue sat in your car, or on your bike and watched 3 kids (all very young, looking younger than 15) sat 3 up on a motorcycle, not helmet in site, sat next to a Police Box at the traffic lights ?

 

How many times have YOU @Jim Blue watched 3 kids (or more), all clearly under 15, crammed on a motorcycle, no helmets departing a school past the very policemen directing traffic ?

 

- The reason @Jim Blue I target you in this response is not to start an argument, but to highlight that it is you who argued "Grow up" to someone who pointed the finger at the absense of effective policing...     When it is the very absense of "growing up" that is the root-cause of so many meaningless and avoidable deaths of Thailands children (and lots of adults too)..... 

 

 

When a child, without a helmet rides a motorcycle past a Policeman who does nothing - that policeman is complicit in any accident that child has. 

 

Imagine, at 14 riding a motorcycle past the police without a helemet in the UK, the US, France, Australia... any country that has measurably better road fatality statistics than Thailand and we know with certainty that that child will be stopped very quickly, their bike will be confiscated, their parents fined..... 

 

Sorry to come down hard on you with this Jim Blue - but the utter apathy of policing here that is at the very birth of such issues and complicit in so any deaths through sheer lazy negligence. 

[richard_smith237]

17 hours ago, Moonlover said:

And I suspect that you have hit upon the most important aspect of all as far as Thai culture is concerned. Death is not the end as far as they are concerned. It's merely a transient stage until they are reborn. 

 

I've lived in my wife's village for 8 years now and seen many folks pass away, but there is no sense of loss or grieving. They go through the funeral rites, have a bit of a party, a few prayers and simply get on with their lives.

 

I'm not so sure about that... 

 

Every funeral I've been to, loved ones are besides themselves with grief...  

 

This idea that 'Buddhism and culture" allows for this idea that this life is not 'important' as they will be reborn is a falsification.

 

- No one wants to die.

- No one is ok with their loved ones dying.

- Those who lose loves ones are grief stricken.

 

 

The 'idea' that Thai's live, ride and drive with reckless disregard because there's a next life is a complete barstool myth...   

 

In my experience - everyday Thai's take about as much solace of the possibility of an afterlife / next life as most 'supposed Christians' do in the west - there's a mild comfort factor in the possibility, but thats about it... 

 

 

[Jim Blue]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 @Jim Blue

 

 

- @Jim Blue 

 

 

 

 

Imagine, at 14 riding a motorcycle past the police without a helemet in the UK, the US, France, Australia... any country that has measurably better road fatality statistics than Thailand and we know with certainty that that 

I apologise for my rudeness but  not the content.Firstly someone mixed up day to day policing with the VIP Diplomatic section which can command all the resources it needs .++

Secondly I take your point about lax policing but this is not the West.There are about a zillionbikes whizzing past every hour .......the method they choose is to make road blocks to check helmets  .Perhaps safer for the police .

Anyway this is my last word on the subject .

[lordgrinz]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

- No one wants to die.

 

I'm not so sure about that, based on how dangerously they drive, and their lack of self preservation. Unless they're completely oblivious to their own recklessness.

[richard_smith237]

20 minutes ago, Jim Blue said:

I apologise for my rudeness but  not the content.Firstly someone mixed up day to day policing with the VIP Diplomatic section which can command all the resources it needs .++

Secondly I take your point about lax policing but this is not the West.There are about a zillionbikes whizzing past every hour .......the method they choose is to make road blocks to check helmets  .Perhaps safer for the police .

Anyway this is my last word on the subject .

 

The Road Blocks 'method' to catch people (motorcyclists without helmets etc) is legacy policing, its lazy, extremely lazy....     You could have a driver visibly pished out of his head, but the'll ignore him because they are they to catch motorcyclists without helmets. 

 

It would be simple for the BiB to step out of their AC boxes at traffic lights and and confiscate the keys of any motorcyclist without a helmet - get them to push their bikes to the side of the road....

Come back and pick up their keys and bike when they can show they have a helmet and have paid a fine.

 

Thai Policing doesn't need to be as effective as it is in the west (not to start with), it just needs to be 'effective' in some way...  for at the moment, when each of us can count more than 100 times someone without a helmet etc... we know the police have seen them too.

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

- No one wants to die.

 

I'm not so sure about that, based on how dangerously they drive, and their lack of self preservation. Unless they're completely oblivious to their own recklessness.

 

There you have it..  completely oblivious...  living in the now, no concept of consequence.