Riding in the back of the Pick-Up ... lunacy or practical reality?

[itchybum]

We used to do that back in Au before it became a police state and freedoms starting vanishing

Freedom has responsibilities and consequences....

Give me freedom any day !

Stoopid people cannot think of the consequences.

[simple1]

We used to do that back in Au before it became a police state and freedoms starting vanishing

Freedom has responsibilities and consequences....

Give me freedom any day !

fine, so long as you register with the government that you will not receive tax payer funded assistance from emergency services and hospital care. All services to be paid for out of your own pocket should you have an accident whilst not wearing a helmet, safety belt etc. No funds, no assistance, no welfare benefits paid whilst recovering

Edited October 4, 2013 by simple1

[lineofentry]

My mother in law would sooner be in the back, she's 70 something, says she doesn't like air con.

[circusman]

The song tao, where I live now, have two legs to the journey to get to the next town. The first leg is three clicks. It's covered in under two minutes. The drivers are all over the road, wrong side on blind curves, sometimes mowing roadside grass, driving like the offspring of Helen Keller and Mario Andretti.

Then they pull in a gas station and punch the clock.

Then they smoke a cigarette while talking to the attendant who is filling tanks.

Then they drag themselves back out on the road and drive the next 25 clicks at about 70 kph.

I once asked a driver why he didn't leave his station a minute earlier. He just stared at me.

Now I ride the scooter.

What the hell is a click? Use English please.

[pgrahmm]

All in all I think it's safer than scooters - you've got some armor around you and 4 wheels on the ground.....

[pgrahmm]

All in all safer than a scooter....at least you have some armor around you and 4 wheels on the ground.....

[Jim walker]

Everyone has to make their own judgement regarding who the driver is and is my life worth the risk for this journey then get in or stay out, I would rather walk than sit in the back of a pickup to me it’s never worth the risk.

Edited October 4, 2013 by metisdead
Oversize font reset to normal. Please do not post using overly large font.

[stoli]

Replying to Riding in the back of the Pick-Up ... lunacy or practical reality?

Riding in an aluminum tube in the sky going 600 mph ... lunacy or practical reality?

Until time travel is invented, we are going to be taking chances in any way in which we travel. I am going for a walk now. Wish me luck!

[Cuban]

Funny thing about this is that the driver and front seat pax are required by law to have their seat belts fastened.

Not so those riding in the truck bed!!

Where fitted, it is compulsory in Thailand for Front Seat (since 1996) passengers to have seat-belts fastened AND Rear Seat (since 2009) passengers to wear seat-belts as well!

Seems that many people are ignorant of this law.

As I recall passengers are not permitted to travel unsecured in the load-space of a pick-up truck, both illegal and has insurance implications.

As ever these laws receive variable enforcement within Thailand.

[robertson468]

IF they drive slowly and carefully no problem.....

When I was in the army (2000) in Europe they transported us with trucks driven by 18 year olds....not much better....

Hello, I was one of these 18 year olds!!!! Well to be honest, I was one of these 18 year olds in 1962 driving a thing called a 3 ton TCV (Troop Carrying Vehicle). I really enjoyed it, but daren't ask my buddies in the back. Just in case they gave me the answer I didn't want . Sorry for straying off topic peeps.

[LennyW]

Can be problematic......

[robblok]

All in all safer than a scooter....at least you have some armor around you and 4 wheels on the ground.....

I am not so sure that its that much safer as on a scooter.. if your impacted hard your launched.. at least on a scooter your wearing a helmet. But it all depends on the accident.

[wileycoyote]

Providing you have a good driver in the front,room to move in the back,and roads that are good and quiet -it should be safe enough !

[belg]

better in back of truck

than whole family, on one motosay

and noone wearing helmet, maybe except the "good" dad

[Rorri]

Funny thing about this is that the driver and front seat pax are required by law to have their seat belts fastened. Not so those riding in the truck bed!!

TiT!!

Mac

Ever try fitting seatbelts onto the truck bed.

[harrry]

Not many places make it compulsory for the only vehicles allowed tourists to ride in would be ilegal in most of their home countries.

[natas]

Living in a country that is overly obsessed with safety trying to find ways for no one to die ever is driving me crazy and I am on my way to Thailand to get away from such things. (Not the biggest thing but still a factor)

I have kids, I don't want anything to happen to them, but I also want them to learn to use their own common sense and make use of practical sensible ways to live their lives in an enjoyable manor, relaxed and peaceful. Spending half your daily energy/money/time to try not to be a statistic that is probably set because of idiots who will always exist just doesn't make sense to me.

Excessive rules turn us into Robots - when all given situations are governed by rules there is no more free choice, no more need for human interaction, just follow the program and on paper you are happy, but not deep down inside where it counts. It's quite sad actually to see these people who are this way.

Recently they lowered the speed limit in the entire city to 40 k/h here, even on wide streets with no pedestrian or bicycle traffic. Because statistically you have less serious injury accidents that way. Well statistically Im sure if we roll ourselves in bubble wrap and hide in a corner we would be safer also.... helmets 24/7 for everyone, no more concussions ever. Steel toed boots for everyone no more stubbed toes.

You get my point and my opinion.. I choose freedom, I choose personal choice, I choose to choose my fate and destiny myself. Accidents happen, idiots exist, why punish yourself because of those facts that you have little or no control over.

Thanks and see ya'll soon in LOS & wind in your hair!

[Noistar]

Living in a country that is overly obsessed with safety trying to find ways for no one to die ever is driving me crazy and I am on my way to Thailand to get away from such things. (Not the biggest thing but still a factor)

I have kids, I don't want anything to happen to them, but I also want them to learn to use their own common sense and make use of practical sensible ways to live their lives in an enjoyable manor, relaxed and peaceful. Spending half your daily energy/money/time to try not to be a statistic that is probably set because of idiots who will always exist just doesn't make sense to me.

Excessive rules turn us into Robots - when all given situations are governed by rules there is no more free choice, no more need for human interaction, just follow the program and on paper you are happy, but not deep down inside where it counts. It's quite sad actually to see these people who are this way.

Recently they lowered the speed limit in the entire city to 40 k/h here, even on wide streets with no pedestrian or bicycle traffic. Because statistically you have less serious injury accidents that way. Well statistically Im sure if we roll ourselves in bubble wrap and hide in a corner we would be safer also.... helmets 24/7 for everyone, no more concussions ever. Steel toed boots for everyone no more stubbed toes.

You get my point and my opinion.. I choose freedom, I choose personal choice, I choose to choose my fate and destiny myself. Accidents happen, idiots exist, why punish yourself because of those facts that you have little or no control over.

Thanks and see ya'll soon in LOS & wind in your hair!

I think you'll find Thailand is the hub of Robots. Look at school kids uniforms.

People exercise their freedom, possibly recklessly, because there is no-one telling them what to do. I think you'll find that is how Thais are intended to be.

I doubt they even understand what crash helmet and seat belt laws exist for. Witness the motorcyclists carrying crash helmets and putting them on one-handed when they approach known police traps.

It's not so much freedom, as the ignorance to understand why. Which is why it's so strange to witness Farang without crash helmets - "look at me, nobody's telling me what to do".

Impresses me no end.

[pomchop]

Like my wife being saved from serious injury while wearing her crash-helmet, it only hits home when you see the effects of it.

My (step) brother-in-law's wife is permanently paralyzed. She was the most seriously injured of 4 people in the back of a truck which left the road in Doi Inthanon.

When will an accident affect you? Obviously reckless motorcyclists and pick-up passengers know.

Being on any form of transport in Thailand is dangerous enough, without asking for trouble.

Wearing a motorbike helmet likely saved me from being dead or a comma or who knows what....and I was going about five miles an hour with not a car in sight when it happened....broke my collarbone but it could have been much much much worse......it is truly amazing how quickly and unexpected an accident can happen...

I would no more ride a motorbike without a helmet than I would fool around in pattaya with no condom......wrap up the big head and the little head and your chances of living to see another day/girl are much greater.

[geronimo]

I think it's practical reality.

[Noistar]

Like my wife being saved from serious injury while wearing her crash-helmet, it only hits home when you see the effects of it.

My (step) brother-in-law's wife is permanently paralyzed. She was the most seriously injured of 4 people in the back of a truck which left the road in Doi Inthanon.

When will an accident affect you? Obviously reckless motorcyclists and pick-up passengers know.

Being on any form of transport in Thailand is dangerous enough, without asking for trouble.

Wearing a motorbike helmet likely saved me from being dead or a comma or who knows what....and I was going about five miles an hour with not a car in sight when it happened....broke my collarbone but it could have been much much much worse......it is truly amazing how quickly and unexpected an accident can happen...

I would no more ride a motorbike without a helmet than I would fool around in pattaya with no condom......wrap up the big head and the little head and your chances of living to see another day/girl are much greater.

Like you, my wife's motorbike accident was while traveling at a snails pace. Starting at traffic lights on a green light, she was forced over attempting to avoid a motorcycle speeding through a red light on a major road. Her crash helmet was smashed and she had severe bruising down one side of her body - it could have been far worse. That smashed crash helmet would have been her head.

[dighambara]

Its not any more dangerous than the baht buses really, its a reality, 30 years ago riding in the back of a larger truck was the only transport. And it depends on the driver. I've safely accommodated 25 in total, 8 upfront all the littlies and 17 in the back. Of course if I'd had an accident I'd be screwed. A whole lot of family wanted to go to a funeral in Phichit about 600k from here, I took 12 that time 6 up front 6 in the back.

You want to go then that's where you sit

Agreed ... first time I travelled 'in the back' was when I went to a funeral.

As did the 6 or 7 other relatives who had no other means of getting there.

@ NBD ... agreed ... some crazy ... some practical.

On a motorway, bald tyres, overloaded is just asking for trouble ... ... what were they (not) thinking!

T.I.T. where common sense - the western version - is nonexistent. Riding in the back is always very dangerous. Bald tires and overload only make it more so. I am reminded of my childhood, when a family in Oregon was enroute to a picnic - a fast turn on a slick road put most of them in the morgue.

[Noistar]

Mind you, to use what seems to be a Thai habit when answering a non-Boolean question:

"sheer lunacy or a practical reality in Thailand?" - YES

[Guest Gandtee]

With todays news that eighteen were killed in a pickup crash I suppose that is the answer to the question is it is lunacy? But then the driver was found to have ya ba in his pocket and booze in his body. What a combination! Eighteen in a pickup? This will be forgotten in a couple of days.

[Guest Gandtee]

I must agree with Natas. Is it not the lack of controlling rules and regulations the reason why we live here? The UK and I suppose many other western countries have a Big Brother attitude. It's almost like having to have a permit to break wind. Common sense is the answer, but when our leaders seem to show a lack of it what hope is there for the masses?

[Roadman]

With todays news that eighteen were killed in a pickup crash I suppose that is the answer to the question is it is lunacy? But then the driver was found to have ya ba in his pocket and booze in his body. What a combination! Eighteen in a pickup? This will be forgotten in a couple of days.

At least 16 people were killed when a pickup truck crashed into a tree on a rural road in Thailand's northeast on Monday, police say.

The truck was carrying a number of construction workers in the back when it hit the tree next to a road in Ban Dan district in Buriram province, 300 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, police Colonel Suthee Setthawong said.

He said 10 men, including the 24-year-old driver, and six women were killed, while at least five others were injured and taken for hospital treatment.

"The accident happened on a straight stretch of the road and there was no rain. No other cars were involved. At this point, it's likely he was falling asleep while the car was traveling at high speed."

Police also found a tablet of methamphetamine in the driver's pocket and a bottle of alcohol next to his seat, Suthee said.

Staff were working to identify the construction workers, as well as their nationalities.

The driver was a Thai national.

As posted on a Kiwi website. As someone who understands and deals daily with risk, consequence and frequency then straight out lunacy. For the average thai practical reality. For those thai's responsible for roadway risk, consequence and frequency yet another show of their incompetence and corruption.

[klubex99]

I saw 3 young Thai guys sat on the edge of the tailgate which was in the open position, dangling their legs over the road, the pickup was traveling on the Korat bypass at around 90 KMH with a bus only about 5 Meters behind doing the same speed....... crazy as hell. The back of the pickup was totally empty and the only thing between these idiots and certain death was a small flimsy chain holding all their weight.

What the hell was the driver thinking to allow that? I wish I had taken a picture, but was driving at the time.

I have also seen a pickup so overloaded, it was swaying from left to right by about 12 inches either way at the top, when I say overloaded, I mean just scraping through the clearance of a bridge.

What crazy stuff have you seen on the roads?

Edited October 7, 2013 by klubex99

[somtampet]

Much prefer the dangers of sitting in the back of a truck than mountain climbing,parachuting,bungy jumping etc etc

[kannot]

With todays news that eighteen were killed in a pickup crash I suppose that is the answer to the question is it is lunacy? But then the driver was found to have ya ba in his pocket and booze in his body. What a combination! Eighteen in a pickup? This will be forgotten in a couple of days.

couple of minutes if that more like!

[Dancealot]

Depends entirely on the driver innit.

I never allow my kids in the back except at songkran and then we are driving very slow around town only....and I drive.

Very true, ithybum.

I have driven kids back and forth for hundreds of miles like this.

I gave my heart and all my concentration for them not to be harmed in any way.

If this meant driving 30km/h for 2 hours straight, so be it.

This is excactly what this driver thought when he took care and ensured his friends, family and customers would return home safely.