Kids On Roads.

[Moonrakers]

Sorry for the Thai bashing, actually no, I take that back as I am not sorry about it at all.

But from my balcony I can look directly down onto the road below. It is a reasonably busy side road, with the occasional car and plenty of motorbikes.

Yet what do I also see but about 10 kids aged 7ish-13ish running around and playing on the road. They are running up and down and from one side to the other, even running out from behind parked cars without looking.

And where are the parents? They are sat there in viewing distance, eating som-tam, chewing the fat and paying no particular attention to these kids doing incredibly dangerous things.

As a driver myself this kind of thing infuriates me and also angers my Thai wife. The sad thing is that this is far from an isolated case as I see this kind of thing almost daily and not just on my street.

I understand that the education system is lacking here but how difficult would it be to educate both children and parents about the dangers of this? Is there any kind of road safety awareness campaign or education in place?

[Maigo6]

You think that Thai people want their children to be involved in Road Traffic Accidents ?

So when a kid runs out in the street in UK or USA, does that make people from UK or USA oblivious to their childrens welfare ?

I think you're just Thai bashing, very unusual on this Forum......

[Maigo6]

My friends and I used to play in the streets when I was a kid too.

That was in the UK.

Global, you've just got old mate!

[Moonrakers]

You think that Thai people want their children to be involved in Road Traffic Accidents ?

So when a kid runs out in the street in UK or USA, does that make people from UK or USA oblivious to their childrens welfare ?

I think you're just Thai bashing, very unusual on this Forum......

The cast majority of people in the UK, USA ect would not allow their kids to play on the road in the first place.

Which is why I asked is there is any form of awareness campaign/education in place.

If I am just Thai bashing, then it is at least a well intention bash.

[Moonrakers]

My friends and I used to play in the streets when I was a kid too.

That was in the UK.

Global, you've just got old mate!

Oh sh*t, a terrifying realisation indeed.

[lazeeboy]

on samui the 7ish and 13ish are riding the bikes ,normally 3up and on the wrong side of the road

[Maigo6]

When I was a nipper we all played in the streets, I really don't see your point.

It's not like you see kids playing football on the Sukhumvit Road with trucks and cars speeding along, as I say, you're just getting old and grumpy.

Remember when you was a kid and your parents told you to do this, and not to do that ?

Did you take any notice, I know I didn't.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Same with me and all our friends playing in the streets in Detroit. It was great fun when the roads got slick we would run up behind a car and grab the bumper and see how far we could go. My mother could not understand how I could wear my boots out so fast. She would have had a fit if she knew what we were doing. Thats way before TV and computers.

In LOS I think the driver is resonsible for not hitting animals, kids, adults or other vehicles.

[elkangorito]

I don't see a problem.

I used to play on our street when I was a kid. Actually, all of us kids did. But we did actually know to move out of the way of oncoming traffic.

So, what is your beef? Kids who fail to recognise "oncoming traffic", your car/personal insurance or do you simply disapprove of this?

Please explain.

[Maigo6]

I don't see a problem.

I used to play on our street when I was a kid. Actually, all of us kids did. But we did actually know to move out of the way of oncoming traffic.

So, what is your beef? Kids who fail to recognise "oncoming traffic", your car/personal insurance or do you simply disapprove of this?

Please explain.

[Boater]

I cannot help but notice two posters mentioning they played on the streets when they where youngsters ... that is all well and good, but how long ago was this.. Maybe the 50 's????... alot has changed since then !

I agree with the OP.. i see this so many times in Phuket, and the worst part is when i am driving along the road with the kids playing in the middle of the road, the parents do not even shout at there kids to move out the way!, sometime i have had to come to a complete stop until the child has relised there is a car coming through

on samui the 7ish and 13ish are riding the bikes ,normally 3up and on the wrong side of the road

very true and also very worrying

[elkangorito]

I cannot help but notice two posters mentioning they played on the streets when they where youngsters ... that is all well and good, but how long ago was this.. Maybe the 50 's????... alot has changed since then !

I agree with the OP.. i see this so many times in Phuket, and the worst part is when i am driving along the road with the kids playing in the middle of the road, the parents do not even shout at there kids to move out the way!, sometime i have had to come to a complete stop until the child has relised there is a car coming through

on samui the 7ish and 13ish are riding the bikes ,normally 3up and on the wrong side of the road

very true and also very worrying

I shall not presume about your idea(s) & as a result, I ask you the same question: What is your beef (problem)? Kids who fail to recognise oncoming traffic, your car/personal insurance or your disapproval of kids doing such things?

Please do not presume that I know anything about what you may be thinking, as I simply cannot do so.

[Maigo6]

My Mother used to encourage me to play on the Motorway, you think she was trying to tell me something ?

[elkangorito]

I was constantly told, "There's a bus in 5 minutes. Be under it".

[Boater]

I cannot help but notice two posters mentioning they played on the streets when they where youngsters ... that is all well and good, but how long ago was this.. Maybe the 50 's????... alot has changed since then !

I agree with the OP.. i see this so many times in Phuket, and the worst part is when i am driving along the road with the kids playing in the middle of the road, the parents do not even shout at there kids to move out the way!, sometime i have had to come to a complete stop until the child has relised there is a car coming through

on samui the 7ish and 13ish are riding the bikes ,normally 3up and on the wrong side of the road

very true and also very worrying

I shall not presume about your idea(s) & as a result, I ask you the same question: What is your beef (problem)? Kids who fail to recognise oncoming traffic, your car/personal insurance or your disapproval of kids doing such things?

Please do not presume that I know anything about what you may be thinking, as I simply cannot do so.

My promblem is, and as the OP was pointing out ' CHILD SAFETY '

This has nothing to do with insurance or anything of that nature

[Wrong Turn]

Sorry for the Thai bashing, actually no, I take that back as I am not sorry about it at all.

But from my balcony I can look directly down onto the road below. It is a reasonably busy side road, with the occasional car and plenty of motorbikes.

Yet what do I also see but about 10 kids aged 7ish-13ish running around and playing on the road. They are running up and down and from one side to the other, even running out from behind parked cars without looking.

And where are the parents? They are sat there in viewing distance, eating som-tam, chewing the fat and paying no particular attention to these kids doing incredibly dangerous things.

IMO, this is purely a cultural difference. Possibly, some NCF - No Concept of the Future.

Stay out of it, and enjoy the views. I bet that accidents are rare.

Cheers.

[Moonrakers]

I don't see a problem.

I used to play on our street when I was a kid. Actually, all of us kids did. But we did actually know to move out of the way of oncoming traffic.

So, what is your beef? Kids who fail to recognise "oncoming traffic", your car/personal insurance or do you simply disapprove of this?

Please explain.

My beef is that the I am scared shiteless of hitting and possibly killing a kid (Or an adult for that matter), my insurance is not in my mind in the occasions that I have had to react quickly to avoid an accident, I am nowhere near that selfish.

What I do disapprove of is the fact that several adults, of which no doubt at least one was a parent of one of these kids knew full well the danger that these kids where in (Or were they aware of the danger? which is why I mentioned education). Althoug that danger is blatantly obvious.

No doubt I played in the street as a kid myself, and when I was caught doing so by my parents or another adult then I (along with any of my friends), would get a right royal rollicking for doing so and under no circumstances would I be ALLOWED to play in the road with parents/adults knowing about it.

I think that my post may have a been a bit misleading as I was not intending to criticise the kids, but the parents.

If you were to see your children playing on a busy street would you think "It's OK, I used to to that myself?". I think not.

[girlx]

you think that's bad OP- kids in the village i lived in down south got their first motorbike at age 6 or so!

[elkangorito]

Ok. Insurance & kids failing to recognise "oncoming traffic" have been eliminated. All that is left is the shocking emotion of killing or injuring someone, which nobody wishes to endure.

Realising that you can't change the attitude of the kids' parents, would surely make it easier to endure the trauma of such a shocking accident...would it not? I'm assuming that the driver of a vehicle is not at fault here.

[Moonrakers]

Ok. Insurance & kids failing to recognise "oncoming traffic" have been eliminated. All that is left is the shocking emotion of killing or injuring someone, which nobody wishes to endure.

Realising that you can't change the attitude of the kids' parents, would surely make it easier to endure the trauma of such a shocking accident...would it not? I'm assuming that the driver of a vehicle is not at fault here.

Having never been in such a situation (Of actually hitting a kid). This question is impossible for me to answer although I doubt it very much. Would anger towards negligence (Lets call it blame) really help anybody in that situation?

[elkangorito]

Ok. Insurance & kids failing to recognise "oncoming traffic" have been eliminated. All that is left is the shocking emotion of killing or injuring someone, which nobody wishes to endure.

Realising that you can't change the attitude of the kids' parents, would surely make it easier to endure the trauma of such a shocking accident...would it not? I'm assuming that the driver of a vehicle is not at fault here.

Having never been in such a situation (Of actually hitting a kid). This question is impossible for me to answer although I doubt it very much. Would anger towards negligence (Lets call it blame) really help anybody in that situation?

Even if you have never been in this situation & you were not "in the wrong", would you wish to torture yourself for years on end for something over which you had no control?

I think that the answer is quite simple.

Extraneous children on the street are not ones responsibility. Defensive driving is all one can do. If an accident should occur, one can only grieve for a certain amount of time before life "continues on". If one chooses to grieve indefinitely, then this is ones choice.

At the end of the day & if you wish to make a difference, stop the vehicle & speak to the parents of the "road playing" children. If it falls on deaf ears, sleep peacefully knowing that you have tried.

[serpentine]

Gotta agree with OP. Dunno about in big cities but we live in a tourist resort that didn't have any cars at all 10 yrs ago. I often see kids (babies crawling and toddlers stumbling) running around on the side street next to me. Every time I drive by I see a baby nearly get squished by one of the hundreds of racing taxis, tourists on scooters etc I shiver. Everyone laughs when the "near miss" occurs and an angry parent comes out and expresses distain for the fact that someone nearly ran down the kid.

If it one of the local cabs they ignore it, and if it is a farang they get scoulded. In the end if a major incident occurs it wont make a difference who's was at fault, especially at the funeral. I gotta admit I am stunned at the parent who lets a toddler play on a busy road. When I was a kid we did always kick the footy on the road, race our billy carts etc. But we were old enough to know the dangers. Don't think a 2 yr old is so aware?

[DP25]

Thais just don't have a good concept of road safety. Mortality statistics are many times higher than what they are in any developed country, and even are much higher than those at similar levels of development. About 15,000 people die per year in road accidents in Thailand, most of these are motorcyclists and pedestrians. That's far more than any country in Europe, more than Indonesia which has 4 times the population, and about 1/4th of the total for China, which has 20 times the population.

[elkangorito]

I really think that if any of us gave a <deleted> about "road safety", we would drive at a speed of no greater than 40 km/h & with one foot poised over the brake pedal.

Since this is not the case, it makes no sense whatsoever to cite road statistics since we (not me...I don't drive or ride anything here) are a part of these statistics. Many TV members have even proudly announced travelling at very high speeds on a highway in Thailand. What about the other motorists with cars etc full of people?

Regarding the reactions of "locals", what can one do about it besides speak to them? Nothing!

Defensive driving will certainly help. Sensible driving will certainly help. Driving according to the road conditions is always advisable. Nothing can stop those who are not in control of themselves or their loved ones. Avoid being one of the statistics (on either end).

[dave_boo]

Well, I was a child during the 80's. And I played on the streets in the US. Everything from baseball to football to jumping our bikes over improv ramps (think a 2x4 and a concrete block) and the worst that any of us suffered was road rash. Granted we understood what we were getting into, but that still didn't deter us.

I guess we were all products of child abuse/neglect because the only thing that would have upset our parents would have had the police involved. Of course the parents also taught personal responsibility, so I suppose those who think that everyone should be protected from themselves would have a problem with a child having a little bit of independence and the chance to learn.

[serpentine]

Yes DP25. U can't argue against the statistics. Also in Thailand when a pick-up rolls with 20 people in the back the statistics are inflated. Perhaps in rural China people arn't in pick-ups speeding down the hiway at 160 kmh with a bloke behind the wheel with a bottle of Sangsom in his hand. (although I haven't been so I don't know).

This is not uncommon at all here. Infact in the south I would go as far as to say it is the norm....

Would like to see stats for Vietnam. They take the cake as far as I'm concerned. A country where everyone rode around on push bikes, and very quickly needed to adapt to roads with cars.......unsuccessfully. Anyone who's been there knows. The vietnamese even make India look relatively safe on the roads.......

And of coarse if you are driving a merc in Thailand they are not any road rules to obey.

I was about to add a smiley but I gotta admit I am not sure a smiley is appropriate when a discussion about thais and road safety is in progress.....

[Mossfinn]

Yet what do I also see but about 10 kids aged 7ish-13ish running around and playing on the road.

Without wishing to trivialize it, as the actual reality is a little frightening, but globalj, did you not play Kerbs when you was a kid? oh, just remembered you wear the red and white, so you would have missed

And I didn't do it in the 50's I was watching Langan, Aldridge, Big Billy and Burton from the terraces as a youngster

Good Luck

Moss

Edited September 8, 2008 by Mossfinn

[yabaaaa]

Sorry for the Thai bashing, actually no, I take that back as I am not sorry about it at all.

But from my balcony I can look directly down onto the road below. It is a reasonably busy side road, with the occasional car and plenty of motorbikes.

Yet what do I also see but about 10 kids aged 7ish-13ish running around and playing on the road. They are running up and down and from one side to the other, even running out from behind parked cars without looking.

And where are the parents? They are sat there in viewing distance, eating som-tam, chewing the fat and paying no particular attention to these kids doing incredibly dangerous things.

IMO, this is purely a cultural difference. Possibly, some NCF - No Concept of the Future.

Stay out of it, and enjoy the views. I bet that accidents are rare.

Cheers.

13000 dead (not injured) just on motorcycles alone in Thailand each year, speaking as someone who was actually hit and ended up in hospital for 11 days with a severed ear maybe you could try to understand what (a) the driver felt after hittin g me when he was not at fault and ( my parents felt seing me in the road blood puring from head and unconscious.

Dead people can't learn much, educate the living they risk not only their own lives but like many in Thailand everyone elses running in and out of parked cars.

Oh before you ask how my accident hapened I was being chased by an older kid wanting me to go into some parkland with him!!!!! I wa s 10 years old............ Ive still got the ear it was sown back on but I couldn't feel anything touching it for about 10 years, now its fine.

[daveh]

I think the OP has been overly sensitized by the media. In this day and age, it seems you are considered a child abuser if you don't bubblewrap your kid and protect him from any and all possible dangers, no matter how unlikely they are to occur. Search for freerangekids and read the blog. Times have changed. We are raising a bunch of people who cannot take care of themselves by being overly protective.

I think Thailand is simply behind the West, as they are in many things. When I was young, you could ride your motorcycle without a helmet, drive your car without a seat belt, and ride in the back of a pick up truck. These things have been outlawed in farangland, but are still quite common in Thailand. Give it 20 years or so and Thailand will catch up.... well, at least up to how we do things in the West these days. By then in the West all people will be walking around wearing protective bubbles and helmets. Sure Thais won't be riding motorcycles without helmets, or driving cars without seatbelts, but how does that protect the pedestrian? Then someone will make a comment on some web site about how stupid Thais must be to allow their kids to walk around without helmets to protect them from the rare chance of something dropping on their heads or being hit a car.

It's all relative. Those same Thai people are probably looking at Westerners thinking how restrictive it must be to be a western kid.