Six Year-old Driver In Car Tragedy

[george]

Six year-old driver in car tragedy

CHACHOENGSAO: -- A six year-old boy whose parents regularly allowed him to use their car was killed this morning when the car overturned.

The accident occurred when the boy from Muang district, out driving in tambon Klong Luang Pheng, served to avoid a pothole. The car overturned, sending the boy shooting out of the vehicle before landing on his head.

Local residents told Pol. Maj. Gen. Samran Khamwattana, a traffic police superintendent at Muang district police station, that the boy’s parents regularly let them drive around their shrimp farm and even around local villages. The parents were apparently convinced that their son could drive and did not pose a danger to himself or others.

--TNA 2004-10-16

[davethailand]

A tragic shame but the parents should be punished for complete stupidity.

[francois]

irresponsability is a part of ignorance.

ignorance often leads to trajedy.

sad to see that it can lead to human loss too often

francois

[Nam Kao]

My Neighbor asked me to go out one night to some bars about 20 mins drive away.

My wife, neighbor, neighbors 11 year old son and myself piled into his truck and

hit the bars. The 11 year old slept in the back of the truck.

At about 2am we are all smashed and climb back into the truck to go home.

I get in the back seat with my wife. The neighbor goes to the back of the truck

and throws the 11 y/o son in the drivers seat sitting him on a pillow.

The neighbor jumps in the passenger side and said " Bye en".

So the 11 y/o fires up the truck and takes off spinning rubber and drove

perfect all the way home as I chewed my fingernails off.

[sriracha john]

A tragic shame but the parents should be punished for complete stupidity.

Not that much of a stretch to consider this level of irresponsibility as "child abuse."

[astral]

Parents should be accountable for the actions of their children,

then they might take a little more notice of what they do.

Rather than bailing them out with pat on the head and "mai pen rai".

[IamMaiC]

My Neighbor asked me to go out one night to some bars about 20 mins drive away.

My wife, neighbor, neighbors 11 year old son and myself piled into his truck and

hit the bars. The 11 year old slept in the back of the truck.

At about 2am we are all smashed and climb back into the truck to go home.

I get in the back seat with my wife. The neighbor goes to the back of the truck

and throws the 11 y/o son in the drivers seat sitting him on a pillow.

The neighbor jumps in the passenger side and said " Bye en".

So the 11 y/o fires up the truck and takes off spinning rubber and drove

perfect all the way home as I chewed my fingernails off.

A Night you will never forget ehhh??

[Mr_Happy]

hmmm

Natural selection comes to mind, easy to see Darwin at work in LOS

[kat]

I'm not surprised that this occurs because I see so many children operating motorbikes on busy Bangkok streets. Children are not old enough to legally obtain a license, so why should they operate a motorbike unsupervised? A motorbike is a motorized vehicle with an even higher mortality rate than cars, so I fail to understand the widespread acceptance of children even on motorbikes.

[Pattayaguy1999]

I'm not surprised that this occurs because I see so many children operating motorbikes on busy Bangkok streets.  Children are not old enough to legally obtain a license, so why should they operate a motorbike unsupervised?  A motorbike is a motorized vehicle with an even higher mortality rate than cars, so I fail to understand the widespread acceptance of children even on motorbikes.

I all comes down to police enforcement, or lack of. In Pattaya you see underage moto drivers everyday. Why? Because the police do not stop them and impound the motorbike. Until the traffic police enforce the laws consistantly, Thais and farangs alike will ignore them. What percentage of motorbike riders have a valid drivers license; current tax sticker; legal license plate; insurance and a proper helmet buckled on? Very few would be be the winning answer. Right across the border in Malaysia traffic laws are enforced much more consistantly. I do not have the figures, but I would bet Malaysia has far fewer fatalites per miles driven than Thailand. I am not holding my breath until the Thai traffic police start enforcing existing laws.