Thai's Attitude To Their Children's Safety.

[canadianmonkey]

OP seems to have forgotten that thai's all go to school at a young age and that due to being a really poor country+a lot of inbreeding the average iq for kid is one of the lowest in the world.. So that kid is probably one of the many dumb kids that have no hopes of understand the concept of a road even if their parents brainwas him for 3months chained to a pole.

Some people are dumb, some are clever.. this has nothing to do with thailand..

the only reason you could be right is because this country has more citizens, therefore more poor uneducated families. but in term of % the poor and dumb in this country are pretty much even has in any country.. theres just more of them because the population is larger.

But we can easly fix this problem.

You could learn how to drive and stay the FUK out of the inner lane? that's where u go when u want to cross and guess what when a car is coming u wait there instead of walking back to your side of the road.. Its quite clear that its not for you to drive there, they have side lines + metal blocks around it so that u will notice that you are driving in a forbiden zone.

So keep your SUV out of the middle lane and everybody will stay safe. My guess is you have the toyota SUV? the black one right?

[Gaccha]

I suppose this all enforces their possible belief in preordained destiny. They can do what they want as nothing will change their destiny. I don't know if this is their view but if it is then its possible they use the same philosophy towards their children.

I like this. Let me add.

The dead ones are not around to be aware that they made a mistake. You can't see dead people around the place indicating the accident they experienced so if you are one of the lucky live ones you conclude there is no risk. You only see alive people. So you literally don't see the problem. Everyone you see has not been killed in a car crash, ergo, there is no danger.

We westerners know otherwise through extraordinary amounts of indoctrination.

I ask again, if you have a finite amount of resources do you spend it in the way that maximises the numbers to survive or because of some irrational basis such as fear, public opinion. Look at the UK, the government policies on safety literally make no sense. We all know that. This is because they follow the following rules:

1. respond to public fear, no matter how silly

2. if see danger, danger must be reduced to zero, or at least to the extent that a report can say "it will never happen again"

3. if danger is not observed, ignore

e.g. police officers are not allowed to ride bicycles in the UK without special training, I am not joking. This is a known danger. Police cannot approach a scene where there is a gunman, since there is a threat to their lives. But, as the astute among you will readily notice, both these safegueards, actually generate new dangers. For example, no police on the scene means more innocent members of the public can be shot at by the gunman. No police riding on a bicycle, then robbers can wander around with greater ease and increase their crime waves. These are unknown dangers (they are non-linear) so they fall into category 3 above.

A more topical asburdity: the Somalian pirates are able to track the big oil tankers because of the delicious irony that the tankers must use international homing beacons, for safety reasons.

Lets roleplay:

You are the Minister of Transport. You know that most train crash victims die from falling out the train windows during a crash. Do you make the train windows unbreakable? If you do this, thereby saving lives over the average number of accidents, it does mean you sending to their deaths anyone trapped in a train fire who cannot break the windows to escape. Well, what do you do? (All information in this roleplay is true and the government has decided, but you have to guess what they decided. How do you think they decided? With what logic? Should irrational fears be part of the policy making process?)

Bring this back to Thailand, how would you allocate resources?

Edited November 20, 2008 by Gaccha

[yabaaaa]

i always like the airline policy of daft front facing seats when surely? rear facing would be safer? however i digress.

[TexasRanger]

We in th West are educated from an early age on road safety, in UK we had the green cross man and Tufty the rabbit on TV (Remember them)?

Or the adverts like "Clunk click every trip (Jimmy Saville on seat belts) and others, I am nearly 40 and still remember them because it was drummed into us, we still have all the shocking drink driving adverts too, but I don't see much on the TV here in the safety vein.

I make a point of making my wife wear her seat belt, she never used to and refused until I had a strong brake one day and now she wears it, it still makes me fume seeing babies on bikes and one was killed here last year after it's blanket got caught in the rear bike wheel and was dragged off.

There are plenty of village busses and songteaws etc. so the not being able to afford a car argument doesn't satisfy me.

It took a while for my extended family to get used to me not letting the baby sit on a lap in the front of the car but they have got the message now, what they do when they are driving is their affair but when I am behind the wheel I call the shots.

They do love their kids of course, they are just poorly educated on safety and not a very forward thinking race ad a whole (IMHO) when it happens the address it, until then.... what time's dinner?

[HorseDoctor]

From behind , it looked as if she had one child , aged 4 riding behind her as she operated the motorcycle with one hand, dialing a cell phone with the other, cars whizzing by at 70 - 100 kilometers ann hour on the major artery through Puket . Passing her, she's got one, no- two more in front of her- a 3 yo toddler clutching an even younger child barely able to hold himself upright .

Amazing.

I know, I know...Thai Apologists - economics.... No excuse !! I've seen poor people all over the world, only here do they subject children to dangers as nonchalantly as this woman was..

[Richb2004v2]

OP seems to have forgotten that thai's all go to school at a young age and that due to being a really poor country+a lot of inbreeding the average iq for kid is one of the lowest in the world.. So that kid is probably one of the many dumb kids that have no hopes of understand the concept of a road even if their parents brainwas him for 3months chained to a pole.

Some people are dumb, some are clever.. this has nothing to do with thailand..

the only reason you could be right is because this country has more citizens, therefore more poor uneducated families. but in term of % the poor and dumb in this country are pretty much even has in any country.. theres just more of them because the population is larger.

But we can easly fix this problem.

You could learn how to drive and stay the FUK out of the inner lane? that's where u go when u want to cross and guess what when a car is coming u wait there instead of walking back to your side of the road.. Its quite clear that its not for you to drive there, they have side lines + metal blocks around it so that u will notice that you are driving in a forbiden zone.

So keep your SUV out of the middle lane and everybody will stay safe. My guess is you have the toyota SUV? the black one right?

My vehicle is not a Toyota. It is not an SUV, and it is not black. Well done there, very astute of you. Not.

I did not pull into the inner lane. There was no inner lane. I was forced to move into the narrow outer lane close to the grass verge. I had to do this an another 'care free' Thai was overtaking me on a bend where there was not actually enough space to do so. Had I moved over into this lane, as the driver probably expected me to, the kid would be dead now.

So your posting and your advice was altogether useless. In future think before you post and berate someone in this forum.

[Maigo6]

From behind , it looked as if she had one child , aged 4 riding behind her as she operated the motorcycle with one hand, dialing a cell phone with the other, cars whizzing by at 70 - 100 kilometers ann hour on the major artery through Puket . Passing her, she's got one, no- two more in front of her- a 3 yo toddler clutching an even younger child barely able to hold himself upright .

Amazing.

I know, I know...Thai Apologists - economics.... No excuse !! I've seen poor people all over the world, only here do they subject children to dangers as nonchalantly as this woman was..

Like this you mean ? 8 people on that bike, including the baby the rearmost woman is carrying .

Edited November 21, 2008 by Maigo6

[kmart]

From behind , it looked as if she had one child , aged 4 riding behind her as she operated the motorcycle with one hand, dialing a cell phone with the other, cars whizzing by at 70 - 100 kilometers ann hour on the major artery through Puket . Passing her, she's got one, no- two more in front of her- a 3 yo toddler clutching an even younger child barely able to hold himself upright .

Amazing.

I know, I know...Thai Apologists - economics.... No excuse !! I've seen poor people all over the world, only here do they subject children to dangers as nonchalantly as this woman was..

Like this you mean ? 8 people on that bike, including the baby the rearmost woman is carrying .

Nice photo. Looks like some sort of Guinness World Record attempt.

[torrenova]

Don't people know that Thais value kids on motorbikes very highly ?

The only problem is that they value them as air bags.

[Samuian]

The cars 'speed' yet it's the children that are the problem?

>.............edited......

I really don't like this idea that cars (i.e. drivers) have the superior right of way and people should stay out of it.

.............edited......

thumbs up!

Blame the actual victim, it's the strange way we tend to perceive the man made environment, strange indeed!

And makes me think...lived for years in a rural environment, with very little traffic what a blissful life!

[patklang]

The worst one i have seen,i swear you not,was a new born baby in a basket on a motorbike.i had to wind the window down and say to her that it was realy bad.she growled at me and sped off fast on the bike.my stomach was nearly wrenching at this site.

[Samuian]

The worst one i have seen,i swear you not,was a new born baby in a basket on a motorbike.i had to wind the window down and say to her that it was realy bad.she growled at me and sped off fast on the bike.my stomach was nearly wrenching at this site.

Sorry, have you offered her a safe ride in your comfortable car?

Much is done out of pure poverty, necessity, what else, it works and most of the time I don't have the impression that they are doing it out of purpose or being simply suicidal...!

If she, the family would own a pick up or a Bentley they certainly would use it!

See the overloaded trains, ever seen an indian or pakistani train or lorry around holiday times?

[mc2]

The worst one i have seen,i swear you not,was a new born baby in a basket on a motorbike.i had to wind the window down and say to her that it was realy bad.she growled at me and sped off fast on the bike.my stomach was nearly wrenching at this site.

you probably endangered the child by distracting the mother while she was riding.

Some of those baskets are very big. As long as there is sufficinet cushioning and the baby is strapped in properly, the baby would be reasonably safe.

There are not a lot of options for a baby on a motorbike. The only other thing I can think of is a specially designed backpack , and they cost money.

[Maigo6]

See the overloaded trains, ever seen an indian or pakistani train or lorry around holiday times?

Never, these things only happen in Thailand

By the way, that pic I posted was taken in the Philipines and if you do a google search you will find whole families on motorcycles from the poor south american countries to the poor SE Asian countries to African countries if they can afford a motorcycle that is.

[patklang]

The worst one i have seen,i swear you not,was a new born baby in a basket on a motorbike.i had to wind the window down and say to her that it was realy bad.she growled at me and sped off fast on the bike.my stomach was nearly wrenching at this site.

you probably endangered the child by distracting the mother while she was riding.

Some of those baskets are very big. As long as there is sufficinet cushioning and the baby is strapped in properly, the baby would be reasonably safe.

There are not a lot of options for a baby on a motorbike. The only other thing I can think of is a specially designed backpack , and they cost money.

be careful the cops dont arrest you for taking yabba.she wasnt ridind she was parked at traffic lights.you sound a brick short of a load mate.

[patklang]

this forum never changes,some idiots think that a baby in a basket is ok just because she ant afford a bentley????

whats wrong with a frigging baht bus at 10 baht.the mentality is overwhelming here,probably because you endanger lives of kids too???

[Samuian]

See the overloaded trains, ever seen an indian or pakistani train or lorry around holiday times?

Never, these things only happen in Thailand

By the way, that pic I posted was taken in the Philipines and if you do a google search you will find whole families on motorcycles from the poor south american countries to the poor SE Asian countries to African countries if they can afford a motorcycle that is.

Yep, and as it has been written here before, many tend to overlook that still many, many of the "others" tend not to have much "options" or choices of buying them MB, BMW, Porsche, Range Rover, name it, or even just a 2nd hand rusty old Pick Up... not to mention those "life saving devices" like special molded children seats which are fitted with the cars safety belts... ah' well... guess many can't look over their own plates rim....sad but true!

Come those poor people in mind which lost their feet, legs, hands to leper and are cruising on these tiny skate things through New Delhi's or Mumbai's traffic - UNHARMED!

Cows in the middle of the streets...

Ah, well... guess this is exactly why i love asia so much... no stiff, overly dominating cops, few mindless stiff enforced rules, because they are the rules... easy going and life is cheap!

[mc2]

this forum never changes,some idiots think that a baby in a basket is ok just because she ant afford a bentley????

whats wrong with a frigging baht bus at 10 baht.the mentality is overwhelming here,probably because you endanger lives of kids too???

instead of moaning, why didnt you offer her a ride in the safety of your automobile ?

[mc2]

shocking asia:

[Maigo6]

That's a great photo, kind of hits home that not all people have the luxury of sitting on their fat azz all day long moaning about how poor people live like poor people!!!!

If you don't wanna witness scenes that happen in developing countries, <deleted> are you doing living in one?

[patklang]

this baby was about 2 months old and you think she woyuld have accepted my lift,get a life sad man

[patklang]

ay mago they can do what they want to do,i dont realy give a rats if she crashed except to say how stupid she was.nothing more nothing less,and maybe i will offer a lift to everybody who looks like they have no money,how can we tell.the accusation is that they are poor not stupid,you realy think so,asumptions again.

[Maigo6]

this baby was about 2 months old and you think she woyuld have accepted my lift,get a life sad man

Perhaps her mummy had warned her never to get in a car with a strange man.

[Maigo6]

ay mago they can do what they want to do,i dont realy give a rats if she crashed except to say how stupid she was.nothing more nothing less,and maybe i will offer a lift to everybody who looks like they have no money,how can we tell.the accusation is that they are poor not stupid,you realy think so,asumptions again.

I can hazard a good guess of some people that appear to be totally stupid without actually seeing them in the flesh, a few posts on an internet forum gives me all I need.

[patklang]

ooooooooooooooooooooo you bitch mr magoo

[mc2]

If you don't wanna witness scenes that happen in developing countries, <deleted> are you doing living in one?

to look down on the lowly peasants, it makes them feel superior.

??

>>>

Walk in their shoes for a day . Their lives are not easy, often a struggle.

[Heng]

It all depends on who you associate with or choose to focus on. I know for my children, I make sure they are well protected but also exposed (as spectators) to the dangers of the world, while also ensuring that they get better air, water, food, medicine/health care, and shelter than the majority of the world's people.... the same as my Thai parents did for me, and their Thai grandparents did for them.

[patklang]

That was the answer i was praying for

HENG

you are a good father,i dread to think how these farangs on this board take care of their kids when they think its ok for a 3 month old baby to be in a basket at the front of a motorbike because the driver has no money

[mc2]

ay mago they can do what they want to do,i dont realy give a rats if she crashed except to say how stupid she was.nothing more nothing less,and maybe i will offer a lift to everybody who looks like they have no money,how can we tell.the accusation is that they are poor not stupid,you realy think so,asumptions again.

translation please

[dumball]

A word to all of you posters who seem to believe that just because they are poor it is okay to put their chidren knowingly in harms way , "It is not okay in any way shape or form to put any child in harms way ". You believe this , you should be castrated , you are not fit to have children .