Recipe For Disaster ...

[thaibeachlovers]

<I just wish it was the gf’s nephew would have saw this so that he might have 2^nd thoughts attempting such foolish riding like this.>

I can only go by my own Thai nephew, but IMO it would make no difference. He cares nothing for anyone or anything else.

I see many many stupid things being done on m'bikes here every time I leave the house.

Perhaps I think too much of what could go wrong, but I'm still around.

[draftvader]

It is a savage thing to read. There is little that can be said to somebody who has witnessed something like this, they have to work it out for themselves, you can only be your best for them and give them all the love and support they need.

It saddens me endlessly when I am out of my bike that every time a rider uses that gap that I have decided against or rides up the inside of an indicating vehicle it is almost always a teenager without a helmet. We have all been teenagers and I have had my accidents, both in cars and on bikes. Luckily for me only one high speed accident, which shocked me so greatly I changed my entire life.

A small positive for you is the new campaign being run in parts of Bangkok (maybe all, but it appears sporadic to me) scaring riders to wear helmets. Recently any police stop I have witnessed has let riders rush through in the right hand lane, but has pulled over anybody without a helmet. The advertising posters are graphic enough, the traditional man lying on floor next to his bike with the contents of a broken egg falling out of his head. This is the same lesson my Dad gave me the first time I rode a motorbike at 13. Graphic and potent. It is going to take 20 years to change the attitudes of riders/drivers in the country, but every so often you see a small level of positive change.

I remember being a kid (in the 70s) and being free to sit in the boot of my Mum's estate car with 10 mates going out for the day. 30 years later.....seat belts compulsory, even in the back of the car. NCAP crash testing results now figure highly in most buyers car purchase criteria. This didn't happen overnight. The rear seat belt law only really came about in the past 5 years and there is still plenty way to go.

Again, sad to hear your news, maybe his death can be used to illustrate the dangers to other teenagers you know and another life can be saved.