Thai truck driver who knocked down and killed British couple fined just £18

[Mosha]

To put this into some perspective. Recently my wife's brother in law was mowed down by someone from the land office in Ranong. He was on government business trying to catch someone encroaching/clearing government land. He was speeding and so far on the wrong side of the road, he could have shook hand with any pedestrians. Her BIL suffered a broken back and fractured skull. My sister in law has been offered 500K Baht.

[Sandman77]

On the day off accident I was in the local bus, half hour later I arrived at the scene..

[Tomtomtom69]

The high rate of road accidents in Thailand (amongst the highest in the world) is not just bad-drivers, corrupt issue of licences but also bad courts & a brain-dead justice system. No wonder my country is sometimes mocked as the basket case of Asia. Sacking the govt. is not an answer to our problems. Cleaning up a 1930s stone-age mindset of the military & courts is the challenge we young Thais face.

Dear "young Thai". You are welcome to this Forum.

I have confidence in your passionate National pride, your well of knowledge of local problems and enthusiasm to meet challenges ahead.

Just try not to upset unnecessarily those 'old farangs' in your motto. Most of them mean well and have something you don't - experience.

Oh, and disrespect for the aged is very un-Thai.

Not really, age discrimination is rife in the Thai workplace. Ever seen a job advert for a Thai company? Age is usually mentioned as the first "qualification" and very few job ads want anyone older than about 40 or 45. A disgusting practice that needs to be weeded out, but I suspect it will take more time.

Also, unlike in Singapore, China and of course our home countries, senior's discounts are almost unknown in Thailand, with very few exceptions (like the BTS, THAI Airways domestic flight ticket promotions etc.)

[iReason]

For those defending the driver here is a section of the original report "Investigating police think the accident was caused by a combination of the Thai driver speeding and his falling asleep at the wheel. The 25 year old driver from Udon Thai province claimed the accident occurred when he dropped his hat and bent down to pick it up. Police have charged him with careless driving and he's out on 300k Baht bail." So please stop with the "I defend the Thais at all costs - without even knowing the circumstance" crap

Source: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/620209-driver-in-british-cyclists-fatal-road-accident-released-on-bail/?p=6128033#entry6128033

Thank you for this update, I was not aware of that. I have another update, I found this link on BBC where it mentions, that the fine was 10'000 Baht. This would then be a 1-month-salary fine together with the 2-year-suspended-jail.

Just few comments, also for many others who critiziced my posts:

• I am not a Thai appologist. There are a lot of things in Thai justice that are handled very different in Europe, but I am a foreigner to this land and have to accept the Thai way of doing things. I did mention in my post that such a sentence (2 years and 1 month of salary fine) is equal to verdicts in lot of European countries, IF the judge is convinced that it was a tragic accident and nothing else.
• For those who mention "if it would have been your relatives..." - yes, i would be devastated and would want the driver to be hang by his balls... but I would also have to accept that if the police can not give clear evidence to the judge about either recklessness driving, alcohol, speed or previous convictions, then the judge CAN hand down low and suspended sentences, IF he is convinced that the driver shows real remorse and IF he (the judge) is convinced that it "only" was a tragic accident. That is the same in Europe as it is here in Thailand.
• For those who mentioned 100K compensation for the victims family - as you are (maybe) aware, the victims family has to claim for such compensation and then - and only then - the judge could have handed over such compensation. It looks like the victims family was not there to claim such compensation, thus there is nothing in the ruling. Please bear in mind that in Europe, the victims families would have had to start another claim in court for such a compensation, because the accident is a matter of criminal law while compensation is a matter of civil law. In Thailand, both issues are dealt with in the same ruling, if their is a claim for compensation. Getting compensation in Europe is much more difficult than in Thailand.

I once had an accident where I crushed my car into a bus stop and only because all my guardian angels worked overtime, nobody was sitting there at the time of accident, otherwise I could have killed people. And it happened, because I was distracted by my mobile phone (previous to it been banned to use while driving). This Thai driver obviously - thanks again crobe for the update - was distracted by something, caused the tragic accident with two dead people (British, otherwise it would not make any news here), accepted his guilt, there was no proof of speed or alcohol or drugs, the driver did not have previous convictions - and thus, the sentence given to him is not that different from a sentence he would have received in a European court of law under the same evidence and circumstances.

That is the conclusion I have about this case, that is all I ever said in my posts - and that is also my final comment for this thread.

“I once had an accident where I crushed my car into a bus stop… nobody was sitting there at the time of accident, otherwise I could have killed people.”

“And it happened, because I was distracted by my mobile phone (previous to it been banned to use while driving).”

As you illustrated so clearly, laws need to be written because of fools such as yourself, with no common sense.

Unbelievable...

[sangfroid]

9 pounds for each victim,another slap on the wrist,makes you think the

driver had connections of some kind,this does not seem like justice to

me.

regards worgeordie

They were "only Farangs"

[kimmack]

Matter of shame

[givenall]

A banner year for tourists in Thailand especially for British tourists

[GertrudeL]

Absolute madness!! Where on earth do these crazy laws and decisions come from! £18 pounds??? Disgraceful! Freed to murder without a worry about the poor people and their families he destroyed ....

Have you been there? Have you seen it happen? How do you come to the "murder" conclusion when the judge comes to the accident conclusion? How comes you only mention the 18 pounds but not the 2-year suspended jail sentence attached? Did you ever bother to look at your own countries laws (as I did above) and compared what you would get for an accicent with manslaughter (assuming not being drunk or driving to fast) back in your home country?

But of course... easier to bash than think before...

I wish the same happen with your family, then I will see how happy you will be with outcome! They passed 24 countries, it means they had GREAT experience in cycling... Knowing the way thai drives, I am sure it was cyclists fault! (in whole world if you run over pedestrian, you are wrong no matter what happened)

[GertrudeL]

You get off that plane you are in another country the laws are different.Of course I feel sorry for the couple who got killed and their family,but there is only one question.When the guy got behind the wheel of the car that day was his intention to kill

That's why we have increase in tourism... No need to search complicated solutions, tourists start understanding on their own practice the perfection of visiting the country... even people who have thai wife are leaving the country

[Swiss1960]

Absolute madness!! Where on earth do these crazy laws and decisions come from! £18 pounds??? Disgraceful! Freed to murder without a worry about the poor people and their families he destroyed ....

Have you been there? Have you seen it happen? How do you come to the "murder" conclusion when the judge comes to the accident conclusion? How comes you only mention the 18 pounds but not the 2-year suspended jail sentence attached? Did you ever bother to look at your own countries laws (as I did above) and compared what you would get for an accicent with manslaughter (assuming not being drunk or driving to fast) back in your home country?

But of course... easier to bash than think before...

I wish the same happen with your family, then I will see how happy you will be with outcome! They passed 24 countries, it means they had GREAT experience in cycling... Knowing the way thai drives, I am sure it was cyclists fault! (in whole world if you run over pedestrian, you are wrong no matter what happened)

pretty pathetic what you write, but it matches many of your other posts I did see...

1. I was opposing the word "murder", as from all I have read, this was an accident caused by a careless driver, not every accident is treated as murder, not even in the "whole world". He had to be (and was) punished by the court, and yes, there IS a difference between punishments in the west and in the east.
2. I did not defend the guy nor did I say he is innocent, but since neither you nor me watched the accident, we don't know what really happened. Therefore all we can assume is that it was a tragic accident.
3. It just is NOT true that in the "whole world" you are guilty when killing pedestrians or cyclists. When they run onto the street, run over red lights, when they disregard the right of way of the other vehicle, then the driver of the vehicle can and will be seen free of guilt by the courts, if no other evidence (speed, alcohol, drugs etc.) is available.

[Dogmatix]

500 baht is the value of the life of a British tourist in a Thai court. Be warned!

[Dogmatix]

9 pounds for each victim,another slap on the wrist,makes you think the

driver had connections of some kind,this does not seem like justice to

me.

regards worgeordie

They were "only Farangs"

There would have been a much higher price to pay if these were the kids of some big some politician or army general. The truck driver might be dead.