Officials Combat Road Accidents By Monk Prayers

[MJP]

Oh dear . . . it's not working after all . . .

https://twitter.com/Huk_31_Korat/status/417141384248692736/photo/1

[Thaddeus]

Good grief.

We are guest in this country and resent that you making fun of the Thai Religion

Just make fun of your Religion or the Religion of the country you come from

I don't have a religion. If something good happens to me, I caused it, if something bad happens to me, I caused it.

When causality is defined as a religion, I may sign up to that one.

[Hawk]

Oh dear . . . it's not working after all . . .

https://twitter.com/Huk_31_Korat/status/417141384248692736/photo/1

Of course it will work, it just needs time, like in eternity!

[MJP]

Oh dear . . . it's not working after all . . .

https://twitter.com/Huk_31_Korat/status/417141384248692736/photo/1

Of course it will work, it just needs time, like in eternity!

That bus crash is in . . . Chumphon!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/692594-thailand-live-sunday-29-dec-2013/page-2

I cannot figure out that photo. It's like the thing has buried itself . . . backwards.

Edited December 29, 2013 by MJP

[Hawk]

Good grief.

We are guest in this country and resent that you making fun of the Thai Religion

What religion? Animism?

[DocN]

The road safety attitudes among Thais are pretty much what those were in the West in the late 60's and early 70's. No seatbelts, no de facto speed limits and parents smoking cigarettes like chimneys inside cars, with kids in the backseat.

It took almost two decades of road safety campaigns before any meaningful change happened. It will take about the same in Thailand. There is also a wealth factor in road safety. The wealthier the country is, the safer the roads usually are.

As much as I agree with most of what you say...there is a little problem: I grew up in the 70's and we could literally play on the street!

Not that many cars!

Now...take a look outside your window...

[MJP]

The road safety attitudes among Thais are pretty much what those were in the West in the late 60's and early 70's. No seatbelts, no de facto speed limits and parents smoking cigarettes like chimneys inside cars, with kids in the backseat.

It took almost two decades of road safety campaigns before any meaningful change happened. It will take about the same in Thailand. There is also a wealth factor in road safety. The wealthier the country is, the safer the roads usually are.

As much as I agree with most of what you say...there is a little problem: I grew up in the 70's and we could literally play on the street!

Not that many cars!

Now...take a look outside your window...

Yup. The externalised costs of the first car credit scheme will be much greater and extend much further than the bad debt it caused.

[Fiddlesticks]

Charnchai Suwisutthakul, inspector general of the Transport Ministry, told a press conference that 392 road accidents occurred on Friday, killing 39 and injuring 399 people.

The death toll was seven or 21.88 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Looks like the "Officials" were right on the money. No need for the police to enforce laws since this new proven method is already showing miraculous results. Drivers can now run red lights and drive drunk with impunity since their "Officials" are taking all the wise and prudent steps needed to protect their people.

I would not have believed how successful their plan would be but the statistics show them to be wiser than I have given them credit for.

[ginjag]

Naturally I am not into all this merit/blessings, Holy Water --the liquid they sprayed on the highway, what in fact is it and where do they get it from????

just interested that's all, not trying to be clever just interested.

[IAMSOBAD]

I pray they learn some simple laws of physics about how accidents happen.

Two objects cannot be in one place at one time.

Garbage in garbage out for the Thai mind.

They believe high tides are from rain and not the moon.

[spidermike007]

If one attributes the road conditions, lack of training, lack of safety standards, lack of safety enforcement on the part of the window dressing department (police), and general lack of improvement on the bad will of the Gods, one is freed of the responsibility of addressing the issues and at least making some sort of effort to improve them. These do nothing officials are a waste of salary.

Mike Macarelli

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

[Rimbuman]

I recently helped build a small road network in the UK. Only about 1.5km of single carriage highway and a roundabout along with widening an existing A-Road.

Now these roads were for a new commercial and retail development and were to be adopted by the local council. I dealt with the local authority highways inspector (who was an absolutely fantastic chap, very knowledgeable and helpful).

I'll cut to the chase here. The design and risk assessment for safety on British roads goes into some pretty extreme detail. Road layout, driver visibility, road camber, drainage and surface texture, signage and lighting, turning radius and kerbs, toucan crossings, verges . . . .I've written whole reports on it. They want it right before adoption and even before they'll grant a 'Part 1' which says the public can use the road even it's still privately owned.

Although the driving here is bad and there's still debate whether there is actually a test, I think a lot of the accidents here have to do with the design and construction of roads which, like the UK before, were not designed for such large and fast moving vehicles.

Absolutely true, 4example the more south you go in Europe the less these design and risk assessments are applied and because of this the more south you go in Europe the worse the road conditions get (averagely) but this stuff is way beyond the Thai mind.

[MJP]

I recently helped build a small road network in the UK. Only about 1.5km of single carriage highway and a roundabout along with widening an existing A-Road.

Now these roads were for a new commercial and retail development and were to be adopted by the local council. I dealt with the local authority highways inspector (who was an absolutely fantastic chap, very knowledgeable and helpful).

I'll cut to the chase here. The design and risk assessment for safety on British roads goes into some pretty extreme detail. Road layout, driver visibility, road camber, drainage and surface texture, signage and lighting, turning radius and kerbs, toucan crossings, verges . . . .I've written whole reports on it. They want it right before adoption and even before they'll grant a 'Part 1' which says the public can use the road even it's still privately owned.

Although the driving here is bad and there's still debate whether there is actually a test, I think a lot of the accidents here have to do with the design and construction of roads which, like the UK before, were not designed for such large and fast moving vehicles.

Absolutely true, 4example the more south you go in Europe the less these design and risk assessments are applied and because of this the more south you go in Europe the worse the road conditions get (averagely) but this stuff is way beyond the Thai mind.

This depends on the government authority charged with the design and construction. Many of the main roads here are actually pretty well built and these are built by the national governments highways agency. Yet take it to a local governmental level for locals roads and this is where the problems start.

[ttl]

_Everyone

_{knows that water makes roads slippery so watch out for an increase in accidents,}

_{unless Holy Water has "stickability" to hold vehicles on the road.}

[jaideeguy]

Yeah, Thai drivers are always full of bad spirits [lao keaw, whiskey and beer] when they drive. Maybe the easiest way to slow down the accident rate is for the Monks to bless the spirits of the spirits when they come out of the factory, before the Idiots ingest them.

Happy [?] New years when hundreds get slaughtered on the 'high'ways!!!

[Hawk]

7 days? I consider every day of the year to be dangerous on the roads in Thailand, some are just more crazy than others.

And yes "holy water" will do the trick just like it does in the christian religion, baptizing babies to turn them into good people.

Life in Thailand is about luck, if you are unlucky you die, but if are lucky you survive another day of the road madness, so far my sixth sense has kept me alive and my continued survival has nothing to do with my good driving abilities, one simply needs to be psychic when driving.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Hawk

[FangFerang]

300 monks went to Washington DC and prayed for crime to be reduced. The crime rate went down 20%. Do not be so quick to judge...consciousness shapes reality in many ways, and it has nothing to do with religion. This universe we enjoy is stranger than it seems, and prayer is no solution for stupidity, but prayer has a real aspect and has shown empirical results. A group of heart patients were prayed for, double blind study style. The group that was prayed for showed real, significant improvement beyond the control group--and the prayers came from Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. Thought and intention can change reality, and do every day. It seems the universe does not care about sects, but cares about compassion and responds to it, or reponds to our desire to be compassionate. We are only beginning to understand how thought influences our environment, just look up how a photon can be treated mathematically as a particle or wave, but not both simultaneously, and when the observer decides how to view the photon it acquires characteristics. It's not magic, it is perfectly natural.

It is is not mystical at all. It is our participation in this place we call our universe.

Happy New Year! Peace, and good things for all of you!

[Hawk]

300 monks went to Washington DC and prayed for crime to be reduced. The crime rate went down 20%. Do not be so quick to judge...consciousness shapes reality in many ways, and it has nothing to do with religion. This universe we enjoy is stranger than it seems, and prayer is no solution for stupidity, but prayer has a real aspect and has shown empirical results. A group of heart patients were prayed for, double blind study style. The group that was prayed for showed real, significant improvement beyond the control group--and the prayers came from Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. Thought and intention can change reality, and do every day. It seems the universe does not care about sects, but cares about compassion and responds to it, or reponds to our desire to be compassionate. We are only beginning to understand how thought influences our environment, just look up how a photon can be treated mathematically as a particle or wave, but not both simultaneously, and when the observer decides how to view the photon it acquires characteristics. It's not magic, it is perfectly natural.

It is is not mystical at all. It is our participation in this place we call our universe.

Happy New Year! Peace, and good things for all of you!

Unfortunately the universe is a deadly, emotionless, remorseless place and all the "holy water", prayers, and chants in this world will have absolutely no effect on drunken drivers whether they be Thai, British, Russian or whatever.

[Benmart]

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.

I believe in a higher power, yet don't ridicule Thais, Indians, Russians, etc. for their beliefs or non-beliefs. I subscribe to the practice of Live and Let Live.

Pax Nobiscum to All.

[menorah]

If Thai central government has any professionalism at all, it will sack the district director of transport for Chumpon, Mr Wachira Pandusa , and clear any monks from the highway to prevent further distraction.

When the times eventually comes, when Thais actually take responsibility for their poor driving, own up to being dangerous and inept and in dire need of qualified driving instruction, only then will we see a reduction in road traffic accidents and fatalities.

All this and they still harbour misguided belief that Thailand will be central to ASEAN. If it wasn't so pitiful it would be laughable !

...Oh, and can anyone tell me how a monk can bless 'holy water'...surely it already has everything it needs! And how is it 'holy water' since Buddhism follows the teachings and ideology of Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, a once mortal human, born in The Himalayan foothills.

Edited December 29, 2013 by menorah

[ginjag]

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.

I believe in a higher power, yet don't ridicule Thais, Indians, Russians, etc. for their beliefs or non-beliefs. I subscribe to the practice of Live and Let Live.

Pax Nobiscum to All.

Die and let die---you mean ???

[zakk9]

While I find prayers by monks useless to reduce traffic accidents, it's fair to mention that there are millions of people in the western world who believe in some magic guy in heaven and who flock to churches every now and then to show him respect. Same same, but different.

[pitrevie]

300 monks went to Washington DC and prayed for crime to be reduced. The crime rate went down 20%. Do not be so quick to judge...consciousness shapes reality in many ways, and it has nothing to do with religion. This universe we enjoy is stranger than it seems, and prayer is no solution for stupidity, but prayer has a real aspect and has shown empirical results. A group of heart patients were prayed for, double blind study style. The group that was prayed for showed real, significant improvement beyond the control group--and the prayers came from Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. Thought and intention can change reality, and do every day. It seems the universe does not care about sects, but cares about compassion and responds to it, or reponds to our desire to be compassionate. We are only beginning to understand how thought influences our environment, just look up how a photon can be treated mathematically as a particle or wave, but not both simultaneously, and when the observer decides how to view the photon it acquires characteristics. It's not magic, it is perfectly natural.

It is is not mystical at all. It is our participation in this place we call our universe.

Happy New Year! Peace, and good things for all of you!

I would like to see your evidence for the above statement, my understanding of such studies is the exact opposite.

From Wikipedia.

" For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is "no discernable effect" while a 2007 systemic review of intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had "small, but significant, effect sizes" but the review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings"

[sjjmmi]

Well its not working So what should we try next

[soomak]

Praying to a higher power, deity, god, supreme being or what/whomever is a personal choice. Not doing the same is also up to the individual. This unfortunately does little to address what appears to be a systemic, pervasive and destructive ignorance of safe driving by the general public.

It also paints the government as ineffective, disillusioned and equality ignorant of the benefits of safe roadways and a professional police force.

The world may well see Thailand as a sun drenched country, but they may also see it as an unsafe, uncaring and undesirable place to spend a holiday. There may well come a day when the pool of tourist money will dry up to a mere trickle as vacationers opt for a safer country.

Just by 2-Satangs worth

Lucky for them, tourists don't check road safety statistics before they choose where to go. The only things that can deter tourists from coming are civil war, terrorism and price hikes.

As long as Thailand can avoid those - tourists will keep coming...

[soomak]

While I find prayers by monks useless to reduce traffic accidents, it's fair to mention that there are millions of people in the western world who believe in some magic guy in heaven and who flock to churches every now and then to show him respect. Same same, but different.

True, but at least in the western world the state is separated from the religion, and the percentage of religious people is dropping continuously.

[ginjag]

Well its not working So what should we try next

Compulsory brain scans.

[zakk9]

While I find prayers by monks useless to reduce traffic accidents, it's fair to mention that there are millions of people in the western world who believe in some magic guy in heaven and who flock to churches every now and then to show him respect. Same same, but different.

True, but at least in the western world the state is separated from the religion, and the percentage of religious people is dropping continuously.

In "Gods own Country", religion seems to be a rather important part of politics.

[tomyummer]

Instead of fake policemen at certain intersections, they should put figures of monks either praying or looking as if they are about to cross the road. Maybe then vehicles would slow down.

Although that could be a bad idea as the majority of Thais would take their hands off the wheel to 'wai'.

[yooyoo]

This is so typical Thai....