British Female Pedestrian Killed Crossing The Road

[sriracha john]

Tributes paid to judge's daughter killed in Thailand road accident

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to a judge's daughter killed in a road accident in Thailand.

Charlotte Heppel, daughter of the late Peter Heppel QC, was hit by a car while crossing a road in the capital Bangkok, where she had been teaching English.

The tragedy is the second to hit the family in recent years. Her father, a circuit judge who spent the spent the majority of his legal life in Yorkshire and the Humber, died after a heart attack in 2004, aged 55.

Ms Heppel flew out to Bangkok last year with her boyfriend Greg O'Donnell. Her childhood friends Caroline Woollen, 25, and sister Amelia, 24, were already teaching there.

The accident happened in the Samutprakarn district of the city at 2am local time on Saturday, as Charlotte was on her way home with Mr O'Donnell.

The girls' father Tony Woollen, of Brough, near Hull, had been visiting his daughters in Bangkok when the accident happened. He said: "Greg rang us to tell us the news in the early hours. Obviously he is devastated and so are my daughters.

"Charlotte had known my girls from four or five years of age. They have been teaching there since August and she and Greg came in November. It's appalling, dreadful."

An actor and singer, Ms Heppel did a postgraduate Certificate in Education in Edinburgh after graduating from the University of Salford, where she studied performing arts.

She then taught performing arts at Longcroft School, Beverley, East Yorkshire.

A close friend, who didn't want to be named, said: "She was hilarious, she was really, really fun-loving. She had a lot of close friends. She enjoyed going out with people and she was always the highlight of the night.

"She wanted the opportunity to travel before she settled down. She was having the best time of her life there."

01 March 2006

Yorkshire post

[leisurely]

Just goes to show you don't know the time or the place.

RIP and condolences to family

[alexjw]

Very sad. You always wonder, no matter how careful you are the traffic in Bangkok is always a threat.

[daleyboy]

Shame, another yong life lost

[britmaveric]

Rest in Peace!

[Rj 81]

Very sad

[redrus]

I know nearly all the places in England mentioned well, from Hull to Beverley to Salford.

Sad sad sad news.

redrus

[Doza]

Shame.

Can happen easily enough and in fact am surpised how little you see it.

I was hit by a car a while back on Sukhumvit and it scared the hel_l out of me (plus it hurt). Was walking across the crossing at soi 33 in front of 7/11. The first lane car saw me and stopped and out I walked a little less cautious due to a few beers I had enjoyed earlier. Went straight out in front of the car coming in the second lane which didn't bother to slow down / stop. I jumped up to save my legs, hit my head on the windsreen and (i assume but don't remember this bit) went flying off the front and ended up on the road in fron of Londoner (a good 10 - 15 metres!!!). Luckily only split my head open and had scrapes and bruises from the landing. No concussion miraculously! Driver was American funnily enough and very distressed and sorry but it was all cool in the end. Gave a hel_l ofa shock though as it was way too close formy liking!

Am now a helluva lot more careful. and urge others to be too.

[karazyal]

Shame.

Can happen easily enough and in fact am surpised how little you see it.

I was hit by a car a while back on Sukhumvit and it scared the hel_l out of me (plus it hurt). Was walking across the crossing at soi 33 in front of 7/11. The first lane car saw me and stopped and out I walked a little less cautious due to a few beers I had enjoyed earlier. Went straight out in front of the car coming in the second lane which didn't bother to slow down / stop. I jumped up to save my legs, hit my head on the windsreen and (i assume but don't remember this bit) went flying off the front and ended up on the road in fron of Londoner (a good 10 - 15 metres!!!). Luckily only split my head open and had scrapes and bruises from the landing. No concussion miraculously! Driver was American funnily enough and very distressed and sorry but it was all cool in the end. Gave a hel_l ofa shock though as it was way too close formy liking!

Am now a helluva lot more careful. and urge others to be too.

That's odd. Usually it's an American who gets hit by a car in Bangkok because he is used to traffic driving on the other side of the road.

[Joey Boy]

Its supprising more people arent killed on roads like sukhumvit, where cars are traveling in the same direction on both sides of the road half of the time.

RIP

[englishoak]

RIP

[jas007]

I'm an American and almost got clobbered by a car the first time I was in Thailand. I was used to cars driving on the other side of the road and looked the wrong way! I've learned to be very very careful.

J

[andyfletch]

It wourld seem that an additional hazard has also been intorduced for the unwary pedestrian - the traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing!!

In recent months 5 have been installed along the length of Asoke, between Sukhumvit and Petchburi roads.

I have nearly been flattened on a couple of these crossings, while the lights for traffic are on red, the most recent being a pickup which ran the inside lane ( traffic in the middle having stopped) at about 40-50kph, just as it was getting dark. He had no lights on, and the only indication he wasn't going to stop was a blast on his horn !

The only time even these crossings are 100% safe is during the rush hour, when there are policemen manning the crosings, and they stop the traffic when the lights go to red.

I remember arriving in Seoul, Korea about 10 years ago, and one of the first things I was told by a long time resident, pointing to what looked like a pedestrain crossing, was " That is not a pedestrian crossing, it's to tell the ambulance where to come WHEN you get knocked down!!"

Thankfully I never had to test the theory, but it is something that applies all across Asia - the cars rule the roads, pedestrians beware!!

[Artisan]

This posting describes an accident in Pattaya but refers to an accident involving a European female pedestrian..so, I guess that my story is appropriate.

Two years ago, I was driving my car on a very busy Beach Road in Pattaya and, just near Mike Shopping Mall, I saw a European family waiting to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing there. The family consisted of mam and dad, a boy of about 11, a girl of about 7 and a third girl of about 5. I was driving in the promenade side lane and stopped to let them across. A pick-up, driven by another foreigner in the other lane stopped also. The dad smiled and nodded his gratitude and the family started to cross the road. As they reached the midpoint of the road a Thai girl on a motorbike sped between my car and the pick-up beside me and slammed into the the 7-year old girl. The impact set the young girl spinning and tumbling on to the road. The Thai motorcyclist wobbled, but never stopped nor glanced back, and took a very quick left hand turn up the soi near Pattaya Central Hotel....fleeing the scene. Everything happened so quickly and, even though there were many witnesses, no-one was able to recollect the number of the motorbike. Fortunately, the young girl wasn't seriously injured....grazed knees and a bruised arm.

Pedestrian crossings are the most dangerous places to attempt to cross a road in Thaiand.

[ourmanflint]

very sad indeed.. from my neck of the woods as well!

[Artisan]

Sometimes, I wonder if that European family ever came back to Thailand. At the time, they were more shaken and shocked than angry.

[alexth]

This posting describes an accident in Pattaya but refers to an accident involving a European female pedestrian..so, I guess that my story is appropriate.

Two years ago, I was driving my car on a very busy Beach Road in Pattaya and, just near Mike Shopping Mall, I saw a European family waiting to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing there. The family consisted of mam and dad, a boy of about 11, a girl of about 7 and a third girl of about 5. I was driving in the promenade side lane and stopped to let them across. A pick-up, driven by another foreigner in the other lane stopped also. The dad smiled and nodded his gratitude and the family started to cross the road. As they reached the midpoint of the road a Thai girl on a motorbike sped between my car and the pick-up beside me and slammed into the the 7-year old girl. The impact set the young girl spinning and tumbling on to the road. The Thai motorcyclist wobbled, but never stopped nor glanced back, and took a very quick left hand turn up the soi near Pattaya Central Hotel....fleeing the scene. Everything happened so quickly and, even though there were many witnesses, no-one was able to recollect the number of the motorbike. Fortunately, the young girl wasn't seriously injured....grazed knees and a bruised arm.

Pedestrian crossings are the most dangerous places to attempt to cross a road in Thaiand.

As a friend told me a while ago, the pedestrian crossings in Thailand are just for "fashion", I've never seen any drivers (especially thais) giving a ###### about it.

RIP and condolences to family, it must be terrible