British Biker Hits Truck And Dies Instantly

[Rimmer]

Pattaya, Friday September 4, [PDN]: A 25-year old, British man was speeding his motorbike along the unfinished section of Jomtien 2nd Road and crashed into a truck which was being driven towards the traffic, so the man died on spot immediately.

At 6.00 pm,on September 3, Police Lieutenant Padipat Moonlee, of Dongtan Police Station was informed that a fatal accident had occurred on Jomtien Second Road, near Rompoh Jomtien market. A police team, along with Sawang Boriboon Rescue, rushed to the scene of the accident.

At the scene, the new road had two lanes separated nicely but not in a completed condition, and officials found a black Toyota Fortuner truck (Reg. No. 3782, Bangkok), with a sticker reading “Tulip House and Travel,” which was parked on the road with bad damage on the front part.

A big Honda CBR , 800 CC, black and red motorbike (No. 710 Chonburi] was lying nearby, and the victim’s body also lay on the road. He was identified as Mr. Michael Dalton [25], a British national and his body was covered by many wounds; - Hs neck and skull were broken, and his helmet was also found broken and lying on the road.

A Thai woman, the truck’s driver [name withheld] was waiting to report and surrender herself to the police. The woman said she was driving towards the traffic [on the right lane] at a normal speed. Suddenly, she saw two foreign men on two big bikes riding with high speed like they were racing. The woman continued saying, when they were at the scene, Mr. Michael’s bike crashed into her truck and he died constantly. His friend did not have any injury but the details have been held by the police.

Mr. Michael’s body was sent to the Banglamung hospital for temporary keeping,and the female driver was taken to the police station for further inquiries.

Source:

http://pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000010259

[John1012]

Pattaya, Friday September 4, [PDN]: A 25-year old, British man was speeding his motorbike along the unfinished section of Jomtien 2nd Road and crashed into a truck which was being driven towards the traffic, so the man died on spot immediately.

At 6.00 pm,on September 3, Police Lieutenant Padipat Moonlee, of Dongtan Police Station was informed that a fatal accident had occurred on Jomtien Second Road, near Rompoh Jomtien market. A police team, along with Sawang Boriboon Rescue, rushed to the scene of the accident.

At the scene, the new road had two lanes separated nicely but not in a completed condition, and officials found a black Toyota Fortuner truck (Reg. No. 3782, Bangkok), with a sticker reading "Tulip House and Travel," which was parked on the road with bad damage on the front part.

A big Honda CBR , 800 CC, black and red motorbike (No. 710 Chonburi] was lying nearby, and the victim's body also lay on the road. He was identified as Mr. Michael Dalton [25], a British national and his body was covered by many wounds; - Hs neck and skull were broken, and his helmet was also found broken and lying on the road.

A Thai woman, the truck's driver [name withheld] was waiting to report and surrender herself to the police. The woman said she was driving towards the traffic [on the right lane] at a normal speed. Suddenly, she saw two foreign men on two big bikes riding with high speed like they were racing. The woman continued saying, when they were at the scene, Mr. Michael's bike crashed into her truck and he died constantly. His friend did not have any injury but the details have been held by the police.

Mr. Michael's body was sent to the Banglamung hospital for temporary keeping,and the female driver was taken to the police station for further inquiries.

Source:

http://pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000010259

Is it legal to drive towards the traffic? Does this mean the truck was driving against the legal flow of traffic on the road? What is a normal speed for driving against the flow of traffic? I presume that because the bikes were 'at high speed' travelling with the flow of traffic it will be the Brits fault that he hit a car travelling the 'wrong way' up the road and that the 'illegal ' driving of the truck will go unpunished. One day I will make an error and not look to my left when pulling out into the traffic flow and maybe write off one of the many 'illegal' motorcycles travelling against the legitimate flow of traffic, sometimes quite quickly. It will be my fault of course, as a Farang, even though the instigator of the collision was travelling illegally. About time the traffic police started impounding these cars/bikes/lorry's that travel against the traffic.

[JustinCredible]

quote]

Is it legal to drive towards the traffic? Does this mean the truck was driving against the legal flow of traffic on the road? What is a normal speed for driving against the flow of traffic? I presume that because the bikes were 'at high speed' travelling with the flow of traffic it will be the Brits fault that he hit a car travelling the 'wrong way' up the road and that the 'illegal ' driving of the truck will go unpunished. One day I will make an error and not look to my left when pulling out into the traffic flow and maybe write off one of the many 'illegal' motorcycles travelling against the legitimate flow of traffic, sometimes quite quickly. It will be my fault of course, as a Farang, even though the instigator of the collision was travelling illegally. About time the traffic police started impounding these cars/bikes/lorry's that travel against the traffic.

Quite right. When will the authorities wake up to this dangerous and idiot road behaviour. So many lives could be spared if Thai people would just "engaged brain" when driving,

[Pitbullman1]

I have had this out on many occassions in the way that the Thai people drive in what can be described as an extremely carefree dangerous manner. The reponses which I get from well educated Thai people when I ask such a question is this "We have always driven like this, we want to adapt to the Western life but it won't happen overnight!" My reply, "Hang on a minute I have been living here for 8 years and it is getting worse by the day, not better." No repsonse!!!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!

[Samuian]

She did nothing wrong - that is for sure"only" rode her car against the flow of traffic!

Causing the death of a man!

Sad, very sad !

R.I.P.

[InTheCrackMan]

From the photos, from where the truck and bike are stopped, it looks like the truck was traveling on the left-hand side of the road. I don't know what the writer means by driving against the flow of traffic (but that's nothing new with these reporters).

Too bad for the biker...there is no reason to be renting these high-powered bikes in Pattaya but I guess there is too much money to be made to stop it.

[KhaoNiaw]

Maybe 'right' means 'correct' here?

Also, if the road is not complete, it could explain why either party was on the wrong side of the road.

[Lancelot]

Very suprised that she bothered to stop.

I always asume every driver on the road is trying to kill me; extreme defensive driving

[doggie888888]

Quite right. When will the authorities wake up to this dangerous and idiot road behaviour. So many lives could be spared if Thai people would just "engaged brain" when driving,

Yes true. It would also help if Brits on holidays brought their brains along. After all, they were speeding and racing on a road that can be best described as a "work in progress".

John1012...i was hit by a motorbike coming the wrong way as I turned into a main road...police were callled and they immediately said the motorcyclist was in the wrong. Not true that the "foreigner" is always wrong. Maybe I was lucky.

[Basil B]

Quite right. When will the authorities wake up to this dangerous and idiot road behaviour. So many lives could be spared if Thai people would just "engaged brain" when driving,

Yes true. It would also help if Brits on holidays brought their brains along. After all, they were speeding and racing on a road that can be best described as a "work in progress".

John1012...i was hit by a motorbike coming the wrong way as I turned into a main road...police were callled and they immediately said the motorcyclist was in the wrong. Not true that the "foreigner" is always wrong. Maybe I was lucky.

Please, it is not just Brits who seem to leave their brains behind...

Some points to note:

• It seems the bike rider was wearing a helmet, but seems in this instance the best helmet in the world would not have saved him.
  
• In Thailand when roads are under construction or closed it seems a useless point in placing any barriers to prevent use because the first bloody minded and selfish Thai to come a long will kick them out of the way and just drive through.
  
• As the road was under construction it's possible that road traffic rules do not apply here.
  
• Generally road rules are a joke in Thailand with little enforcement and everybody knows you can ride around without a helmet with the exception of the traffic lights at South Pattaya/Second Rd with very little chance of being stopped.
  

As a Brit I am horrified at what I see in Thailand and it scares me to think that a Thai with a valid Thai Driving Licence and IDP can legally drive in the UK, in the UK I think it is a £60 fine and 3 penalty points for for no helmet, get caught 4 times in 3 years for almost any driving offence and you can say good bye to your licence, get caught without a licence it is big trouble especially if you are a banned driver, you can end up in prison.

Yet in Thailand the fines are a joke to most farange more an inconveniance with something like 200B for no helmet and 200B for no licence, pay the fine and ride away (even if you have no licence), I have witnessed on two occasions Thai bikers failing to stop for no helmet at South Pattaya/2nd Rd junction, on the second occasion the officer had hold of the bike but had to let go when the rider just accelerated through a red light, puled up 50m away and stuck his finger up at the cop then drove on, the cop did not even bother to note the bikes number.

[moo9]

Well....how many cars I still see everyday on the Sukhumvit bypass, travelling againt the traffic flow.

Not at 30 km/h but some at 80-100 km/h. Wish I had a Leopard Tank some times!

[JimmyTheMook]

Guy was only 25 years old

[toptuan]

Very suprised that she bothered to stop.

Likewise. I kept waiting to read that all too familiar phrase in Thai news: "...fled the scene..." I guess that's only for bus and truck drivers!

[davethailand]

Jomtien 2nd. Road is not complete and should not be open to traffic. However it is used daily. There are no road markings. I suspect that the driver of the Fortuner was going in a southerly direction toward her office which is located close to soi 9 on Beach Road. If she took the 2nd. Road on the left hand side, she would have had to go past the intersection with soi 9 and do a U Turn at the end of the completed new road then turn left into soi 9. Most drivers don't do this but take the shorter way along the right hand carriageway then turn right into soi 9. As the road is not operational yet and there are no road markings this seems to be acceptable and is probably not against the law. Condolences to the bike rider, friends and family.

The u turn

[davethailand]

Jomtien 2nd. Road is not complete and should not be open to traffic. However it is used daily. There are no road markings. I suspect that the driver of the Fortuner was going in a southerly direction toward her office which is located close to soi 9 on Beach Road. If she took the 2nd. Road on the left hand side, she would have had to go past the intersection with soi 9 and do a U Turn at the end of the completed new road then turn left into soi 9. Most drivers don't do this but take the shorter way along the right hand carriageway then turn right into soi 9. As the road is not operational yet and there are no road markings this seems to be acceptable and is probably not against the law. Condolences to the bike rider, friends and family.

The u turn area has now been dug up meaning its very difficult to use it now so most people drive down the right hand section, I don't think the woman is entirely too blame as everyone drives down there, also it is an empty stretch where bikes do race up and down but a tourist here would not know that that section of road has traffic on it going in both directions, there is also a hill on the stretch of road that completely blocks all vision of whats infront, I was travelling down the same stretch going quite fast and the hill caught me out as I had to brake quite heavily as I drove over it as the accident was in front of me, I was there about 10 mins after the crash, the body had already been taken away but the bike and fortuner were still there.

If there is any blame it should be on the city for not sorting the roads out properly and not having any signs.

[topben]

From the photos, from where the truck and bike are stopped, it looks like the truck was traveling on the left-hand side of the road. I don't know what the writer means by driving against the flow of traffic (but that's nothing new with these reporters).

Too bad for the biker...there is no reason to be renting these high-powered bikes in Pattaya but I guess there is too much money to be made to stop it.

.....there are many errors in the report , like in previous others, i believe, by the same writer whose first language is not likely to be english. it is therefore a bit confusing to read between the lines of this writer's reports..... ....

let's wait and see what other details may follow to this tragic incident......

one thing for sure though ....lots of testorones to burn and adrenalin rushes in pattaya .....though both thais and locals are equally culpable these days......

[madjbs]

Jomtien 2nd. Road is not complete and should not be open to traffic. However it is used daily. There are no road markings. I suspect that the driver of the Fortuner was going in a southerly direction toward her office which is located close to soi 9 on Beach Road. If she took the 2nd. Road on the left hand side, she would have had to go past the intersection with soi 9 and do a U Turn at the end of the completed new road then turn left into soi 9. Most drivers don't do this but take the shorter way along the right hand carriageway then turn right into soi 9. As the road is not operational yet and there are no road markings this seems to be acceptable and is probably not against the law. Condolences to the bike rider, friends and family.

The u turn area has now been dug up meaning its very difficult to use it now so most people drive down the right hand section, I don't think the woman is entirely too blame as everyone drives down there, also it is an empty stretch where bikes do race up and down but a tourist here would not know that that section of road has traffic on it going in both directions, there is also a hill on the stretch of road that completely blocks all vision of whats infront, I was travelling down the same stretch going quite fast and the hill caught me out as I had to brake quite heavily as I drove over it as the accident was in front of me, I was there about 10 mins after the crash, the body had already been taken away but the bike and fortuner were still there.

If there is any blame it should be on the city for not sorting the roads out properly and not having any signs.

Don't let the facts get in the way of the Thai Visa forum warriors, they wont be happy unless the Thai driver is 100% to blame as they will have to give up a chance to bash, blame and moan.