Officials Combat Road Accidents By Monk Prayers

[Bpuumike]

a group of monks blessed holy water and sprayed the said substance on the road to chase away evil spirits which are believed to have caused frequent deaths and accidents on the road

Do I believe this ....?

It is crucial not to drink and drive, not to drive too fast, and not to drive while you are too tired,

Or do I bring logic into the equation?

No, you don't understand yet, TIT.

[Bpuumike]

It's true that evil spirits are to blame for most road accidents, mostly whiskey.

You especially have to watch out for drivers under the influence of Black Cock. Thats a big one you might want to avoid.

How do I know if they had some black cock?

They usually have trouble walking afterwards

So much so that they have to drive instead.

[Andre0720]

Finally, the Thai officials and myself share the same opinion...

There are some evil spirits everywhere here....

[marko kok prong]

Mr Wachira failed to note some salient points;

wear a crash helmet

look before you pull out from a side road to a main road

don't drive at night with no lights

don't drive the wrong way down a road

,

don't overtake a turning vehicle

look ahead instead of the 1 meter in front of you

don't cover your face with a jacket because it's cold or smokey

oh and don't fall asleep,just in case

[crispy53]

If they think all the bad spirits have been chased away it will give them a false sence of security and then there will be more accidents .

[metisdead]

Posts in all caps have been removed. Turn off your Caps Lock button when posting. Some other derogatory and profane posts have been removed.

[Sam Gold]

And I thought I'd heard it all...

Middle Ages mentality with 21st century technology - devastating combination.

[laobali]

Stories like this are great fodder for TV Thai bashers. Any guesses how many pages this will run to? Mine is 6 at least.

[Sam Gold]

"Volunteers from ′Stop Drink Network′ and a group of student reinforced the message by joining the ceremony to promote a campaign against drunk-driving habit during the festive season."

But nobody cares... The only thing that works in Western countries is repression, no reason why it should be different here. Whether you have a licence or not is irrelevant in Thailand, so I guess targeting vehicles would be an option: a law by which your car is confiscated when you get caught driving under the influence... That would work.

[laobali]

Mr Wachira failed to note some salient points;

wear a crash helmet

look before you pull out from a side road to a main road

don't drive at night with no lights

don't drive the wrong way down a road

,

don't overtake a turning vehicle

look ahead instead of the 1 meter in front of you

don't cover your face with a jacket because it's cold or smokey

oh and don't fall asleep,just in case

How can you expect already drunk drivers to remember all that?

[ginjag]

Stories like this are great fodder for TV Thai bashers. Any guesses how many pages this will run to? Mine is 6 at least.

So not to be a Thai basher, posters must think that the fodder thrown at us if it is Thai related should be NORMAL, ACCEPTED, TOLERATED, TOOK SERIOUSLY.

In future if some topics are ridiculous, say NO WAY we go along with that..........

[Thailand]

A very good friend of ours in Cyprus gets in her car with her young daughter standing in between the two front seats, no seat belts for either.

She then crosses herself in the Greek Orthodox fashion and carries on her merry way, works for her but not something I would recommend for everyone!

[oldsailor35]

"Bad spirits" yep .............home brewed Sang som

[XpatMike]

Is this serious? I do not mean to belittle the good Bhuddist beliefs - (not faith) but as I have said before - am I missing something, here?

[Guest]

A very good friend of ours in Cyprus gets in her car with her young daughter standing in between the two front seats, no seat belts for either.

She then crosses herself in the Greek Orthodox fashion and carries on her merry way, works for her but not something I would recommend for everyone!

While working in Kuwait I saw lots of kids sitting on the laps of their driving fathers. We used to call them as interactive airbags.

There was plenty of accidents as well..

[Guitar God]

How about awarding drivers licenses based on the ability to drive instead of ability to pay bribes?

I asked how much it would cost me to get a Thai drivers license, the answer was "1050฿, unless you don't pass the test, then maybe 4000฿.

Mandatory seat belt use would keep drivers in place behind the wheel so they could avoid accidents, rather than sliding across the car to the passenger's side after they try some evasive maneuver they once saw in a cartoon, but were pretty sure they could do.

If you're half asleep , quit f*ing driving!

An (thankfully incorrect) answer on a Thai practice written driving test about what to do when you're too tired to drive was

"B: Take some ya ba".

A few street lights on the roads where the most accidents occur would be nice too.

I'm sure the prayers will help too though..

[DocN]

This'll work.....just need to start roadside stalls selling amulets.....buy one get one free....way to go..

They believe this stuff!!

It's almost as ridiculous as a Christian believing that a man named Jesus was the son of God isn't it? Or praying to that god, asking for it to perform miracles.

The difference is, that most of the ones you mentioned ...or at least a big part...tries prayer AND road safety rules, law inforcement, driving tests...

Read post number 23 on page 1.

Yeah...ahm...thanks for the hint, but...are you new to Thailand?

They SAY there will be other measures...and that means exactly what, in this country?

[MJP]

How about awarding drivers licenses based on the ability to drive instead of ability to pay bribes?

I asked how much it would cost me to get a Thai drivers license, the answer was "1050฿, unless you don't pass the test, then maybe 4000฿.

Mandatory seat belt use would keep drivers in place behind the wheel so they could avoid accidents, rather than sliding across the car to the passenger's side after they try some evasive maneuver they once saw in a cartoon, but were pretty sure they could do.

If you're half asleep , quit f*ing driving!

An (thankfully incorrect) answer on a Thai practice written driving test about what to do when you're too tired to drive was

"B: Take some ya ba".

A few street lights on the roads where the most accidents occur would be nice too.

I'm sure the prayers will help too though..

I kid you not. I was out with the local police one night here years ago. On the way back the off-duty policeman driving the police car (!) was so drunk he fell out of the thing.

[Angeledge777]

Natural selection

[MJP]

DocN,

I have suffered many years of this place, sadly.

[skorchio]

Nice to see a hands-on solution for once.

[Guitar God]

A few years back at the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis an off-duty police officer providing security got into a van left the door open but half his ass on the seat put the car in gear and drove into the crowd and killed three people.

He was on (prescribed) narcotic painkillers, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and no charges were filed.

Double standards abound.

I kid you not. I was out with the local police one night here years ago. On the way back the off-duty policeman driving the police car (!) was so drunk he fell out of the thing.

[MJP]

A few years back at the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis an off-duty police officer providing security got into a van left the door open but half his ass on the seat put the car in gear and drove into the crowd and killed three people.

He was on (prescribed) narcotic painkillers, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and no charges were filed.

Double standards abound.

I kid you not. I was out with the local police one night here years ago. On the way back the off-duty policeman driving the police car (!) was so drunk he fell out of the thing.

It would have been funny if it hadn't summed up most of the problems in this country in that one act of a copper opening the car door to throw up a load of Lao Khao and then following the projected Lao Khao unto the floor whilst the car rolled away into a verge.

[klauskunkel]

Yo, Officials, hey over here, I'll help you out:

Just design a new road sign: no spirits allowed

there you go, all sorted, no charge (this time)

[DrTuner]

Just hang ten dozen garlands from the rear view mirror. That'll do it. Oh and a dozen blessed amulets for good measure. Don't forget to let the monks paint up you upholstery. either.

[connda]

Again a topic that attack the Thai religion. Pure hypocrisy if you ask me how is this any more dumb then believing that a guy that was nailed to a cross was the son of god and died for our sins and then came back to life. Sounds just as crazy as this. It always amazes me how religious people can attack an other religion for being crazy as they are all as crazy and there is no proof for any of them.

Saying that this is any more stupid as going to church and praying for world peace or that winning lottery ticket is just crazy.

There is no doubt in my mind this won't work as none of the religions have proven to work (except for keeping the poor and uneducated down)

So please let people believe what they want and if you believe something else your the last to pass judgement as your religion is just as unproven.

Buddhism doesn't have anything to do with animism, although the Thai version is conjoined at the hip. However the minority of monks that actually practice Buddhism (forest tradition) will be the first ones to tell you that the rituals and spirit worship has nothing to do with teaching of Buddha, which is essentially a process for ending suffering. Think meditation - not Red Fanta, incense, and candles.

[belg]

so rounds up the educational level

in this country

lets blame the evil spirits

[jackr]

monks blessed holy water and sprayed the said substance on the road to chase away evil spirits

Could they spare some for the protesters and 'suits' in parliament?

[gp2002]

They should have called GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

"I ain't 'fraid of no ghost"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe93CLbHjxQ

[BM7591]

This must be embarrassing to intelligent Thai people.