Now This Was A Shocker...

[NoshowJones]

That is bad WeeGee, but what about a mother riding a motor bike and feeding a baby on her lap with a bottle at the same time. I swear I saw it with my own eyes,

but hey, this is Thailand.

[thehelmsman]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

[kevc]

Not only Thais in Bangkok I seen a farang with a new born baby in one hand and steering his motorbike with the other......leaving a bar.

[Altalake]

Get used to it. The motorbikes and big trucks are the worst. Drive with eyes in the back and sides (and front) of your head. And be prepared for the worst type(s) of driving idiocy every time you are out on the road.

[HOOD Robin]

I think people who say this is Thailand, get used to it are wrong. People need to speak up about this kind of thing. To put yourself at risk is one matter to put children at risk is quite another. The authorities need to enact legislation about children traveling in motor vehicles if it is not already on the statute books and it needs to be enforced. I know that therein lies the problem but for people, both Thai and foreign, to say and do nothing is letting down the very people we should be protecting, the very young who cannot protect themelves.

Very good intentions mate, but unfortunately it is WISHFUL THINKING...

Those banana authoritiy lads are too busy with counting their dirty money, they dont give a s^^t if people die or get hurt in traffic accidents, life is too cheap in Land of Scams....

And the last thing they gonna do is listen to a "stupid falang"...

[rapom]

In Oz, a pickup is known as a ute. It is also slang for an "easy" tart, who sometimes is referred to as "the town bike" because everyone can ride her. So a "pickup" is a truck WITH a flat bed, a tart who WANTS a flat bed or a well-ridden bike that's DUMPED in a flat river bed when it's of no more use.

I hope this helps to clear the language difficulty between our Aussie, English and American brethren.

In America, we call a truck with a flat bed, a flat bed truck. A pick-up truck, has a box style bed with fold down tailgate. Hope that's not too confusing for you. Also a utility vehicle (ute), is neither of the previous vehicles. Americans know this, because Ford Motor Co. was the first company to produce the utility vehicle (ute) that was sold in Australia. Gooday mate

[weegee]

While we are on the subject....What is the worst you have seen here lately? No need to change the OP....just carry it through.

i didnt personally encounter anything today, as i didnt go outside the gate.....

[7by7]

Friday morning, on a dual carriageway, passed by a car driven by a woman with her mobile cradled between left shoulder and ear, left hand on the wheel and right hand putting her make up on using the rear view mirror.

That was on the eastbound A316 heading into SW London!

There are idiots everywhere; but there do seem to be more in Thailand.

I sometimes think it's a karma thing; "if it's going to happen, it will happen no matter what I do to try and prevent it."

Edited February 22, 2015 by 7by7

[benalibina]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

And your excuse to allow ....was ?

[neverdie]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

And your excuse to allow ....was ?

Buddha would take care as the pickup had been blessed and graffiti placed all over the roof lining. Why else?

[neverdie]

The main thing is, the child was wearing the strap harness inside the pram and it's wheel lock was on.

Failing all those precautionary measures, the child was wearing a 'backup' amulet and a 'lady that knows about the future' had informed the mother that the child was going to live a long time, hence no special care was needed.

Why farang worry too mutt.

[benalibina]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

And your excuse to allow ....was ?

Buddha would take care as the pickup had been blessed and graffiti placed all over the roof lining. Why else?

Graffiti.....not in rainy season...I guess...

[steven100]

In Australia this is illegal and you would be fined. However, remember that this is Thailand, how would everyone feel about the PM if they changed the rules as in other countries. Of course it wouldn't work as the government wouldn't last one month... people can't afford tomorrows meal let alone paying fines.

I realize this is not safe, but it is what it is.

[smotherb]

In Oz, a pickup is known as a ute. It is also slang for an "easy" tart, who sometimes is referred to as "the town bike" because everyone can ride her. So a "pickup" is a truck WITH a flat bed, a tart who WANTS a flat bed or a well-ridden bike that's DUMPED in a flat river bed when it's of no more use.

I hope this helps to clear the language difficulty between our Aussie, English and American brethren.

Or the local hammer, everyone uses it to pound.

[richard_smith237]

The sad thing is my wife has done the same for 8 years. I bought her a new car. Too much traffic! At first i used to hide the keys. Always found a way. Turned my back and she did the same. Brick wall situation, i did everything apart from get her by the throat. I ended up saying ''she gets hurt on that bike you better not survive the accident''. Here's the question, if i killed her in a fit of rage for killing my little girl where would i stand here!!

I've got a 4 year old and a 3 month old and they are strapped in wherever we go and none of the kids have been on a bike yet but if they ever are, they will be wearing a good helmet first. My other half has been pretty good at keeping the kids safe, never questioned it and understands the risks, but then she's a uni grad, ex-K Bank worker so has education, brains AND common sense (a very rare thing amongst Thais). I sympathise with you, at the very least, your wife has no common sense but by the sound of things, not much of the others either!

Try showing her this story from TV a few months ago;

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/783602-child-7-badly-hurt-as-bike-and-pick-up-crash-into-huge-phuket-hole/

The little girl did not survive the head injuries she sustained and as it transpired from later reports, she was not wearing a seatbelt, something most people has guessed anyway.

Good luck, I hope she sees you point of view before you end up in jail.

Same here - My Wife is very accommodating and for the most part well aware of the safety risks.

She understands and agrees that our child will be in his car-seat for each, any and every single journey, no matter the distance - this is an absolute without flexibility.

However, where circumstances do not permit (i.e. in a tax in Singapore etc) we will take the best possible alternative.

We've had the maid in the back of our car suggesting we remove our crying child from the car seat because he's crying !!!

When having travelled somewhere on the sky-train with the push chair (car parked at Emporium) my Wife has had had friends offer her a ride back to her car , which she's refused due to them having no child seat - Their response, its fine, my kids never had a child seat and they're all OK... The lack of intelligence from supposedly well educated and intelligent people is dumfounding...

I have pointed out - If our son is ever in a car (i.e. with his grandparents or friends) without a child seat without good reason, its the time I / We move straight back to the UK where the law enforces this safety.

Everyone (Family) concerned accepts that I carry no flexibility on this point. They don't need to understand why, they simply accept there is no tolerance, no compromise, no flexibility...

I trust my Wife in that her opinions match mine on this matter.

I really feel for Equalizer - it must be a real battle... Perhaps some YouTube Video's of kids in accidents may help with a little adjustment and improve the extreme ignorance of his wife.

[benalibina]

The sad thing is my wife has done the same for 8 years. I bought her a new car. Too much traffic! At first i used to hide the keys. Always found a way. Turned my back and she did the same. Brick wall situation, i did everything apart from get her by the throat. I ended up saying ''she gets hurt on that bike you better not survive the accident''. Here's the question, if i killed her in a fit of rage for killing my little girl where would i stand here!!

I've got a 4 year old and a 3 month old and they are strapped in wherever we go and none of the kids have been on a bike yet but if they ever are, they will be wearing a good helmet first. My other half has been pretty good at keeping the kids safe, never questioned it and understands the risks, but then she's a uni grad, ex-K Bank worker so has education, brains AND common sense (a very rare thing amongst Thais). I sympathise with you, at the very least, your wife has no common sense but by the sound of things, not much of the others either!

Try showing her this story from TV a few months ago;

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/783602-child-7-badly-hurt-as-bike-and-pick-up-crash-into-huge-phuket-hole/

The little girl did not survive the head injuries she sustained and as it transpired from later reports, she was not wearing a seatbelt, something most people has guessed anyway.

Good luck, I hope she sees you point of view before you end up in jail.

Same here - My Wife is very accommodating and for the most part well aware of the safety risks.

She understands and agrees that our child will be in his car-seat for each, any and every single journey, no matter the distance - this is an absolute without flexibility.

However, where circumstances do not permit (i.e. in a tax in Singapore etc) we will take the best possible alternative.

We've had the maid in the back of our car suggesting we remove our crying child from the car seat because he's crying !!!

When having travelled somewhere on the sky-train with the push chair (car parked at Emporium) my Wife has had had friends offer her a ride back to her car , which she's refused due to them having no child seat - Their response, its fine, my kids never had a child seat and they're all OK... The lack of intelligence from supposedly well educated and intelligent people is dumfounding...

I have pointed out - If our son is ever in a car (i.e. with his grandparents or friends) without a child seat without good reason, its the time I / We move straight back to the UK where the law enforces this safety.

Everyone (Family) concerned accepts that I carry no flexibility on this point. They don't need to understand why, they simply accept there is no tolerance, no compromise, no flexibility...

I trust my Wife in that her opinions match mine on this matter.

I really feel for Equalizer - it must be a real battle... Perhaps some YouTube Video's of kids in accidents may help with a little adjustment and improve the extreme ignorance of his wife.

I wholeheartedly agree with your comment and stance on the matter.

Trust that your wife opinions match yours....without knowing her ofcourse.....tat naive....sorry to say....

[thehelmsman]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

And your excuse to allow ....was ?

Buddha would take care as the pickup had been blessed and graffiti placed all over the roof lining. Why else?

Graffiti.....not in rainy season...I guess...

He's referring to the markings next to visors on the inside, If you guys want to enforce your country's laws in Thailand, good for you I guess.

Just don't blast others for not following suit.

[Dumbastheycome]

Similar or worse are an every day scenario. And every day the result is injury and death. Spend a few hours at the emergency admittance area of any hospital to see! But rarely mentioned as "news". Unsafe use of vehicles of all types is common place and goes hand in hand with Thai drivers being second only to India as the worlds worst. Laws do exist already. It is yet another failing of the selective administration of law. I continue to be at a loss to understand why the police ignore blatant dangerous aspects when the opportunity to legitimatley ping stupid habits and actions could justifiably make them or their department wealthy. Not only such as the op detailed but the overtaking of multiple vehicles on a blind left hand corner, ridiculously overloaded vehicles with the front wheels barely making contact with road so that the brakes have to be applied to actually turn a corner, no working lights, passing in the face of oncoming vehicles and demanding the right by flashing headlights, parking ON the road (usually on a corner) to go and visit someone or to take a pee, and, and and. Driving in Thailand is a bit like submitting yourself to being the target in Russian Roulette!

[Johpa]

In Oz, a pickup is known as a ute. It is also slang for an "easy" tart, who sometimes is referred to as "the town bike" because everyone can ride her. So a "pickup" is a truck WITH a flat bed, a tart who WANTS a flat bed or a well-ridden bike that's DUMPED in a flat river bed when it's of no more use.

I hope this helps to clear the language difficulty between our Aussie, English and American brethren.

Former US President Bill Clinton explained how you bring it all together by lining the bed of your "ute", in his case an El Camino, with astroturf which you then use to bed down your tart on some remote road. The man always had style with women even if the women left something to be desired.

[benalibina]

Our baby survived all the craziness on the motorbike as described above. Our baby has been riding the front of motorbike standing up and holding on since she could walk almost. We went on holiday to a touristy place, rented a Click with all 4 of us on it, me at the helm.

No baby seat in truck (ute) bed filled with the 1/2 the soi. on and on and on

And your excuse to allow ....was ?

Buddha would take care as the pickup had been blessed and graffiti placed all over the roof lining. Why else?

Graffiti.....not in rainy season...I guess...

He's referring to the markings next to visors on the inside, If you guys want to enforce your country's laws in Thailand, good for you I guess.

Just don't blast others for not following suit.

Hmmm....actually....some laws in our countries...but not many/all......make sense.....especially in relation to the safety of children....

[Guitar God]

I still can't get over all the scooters on the roads at night without working tai lights, headlights or both. See lots of cars and trucks with no tailights too.

I wondered what a "ute" was too. I knew a married guy with three daughters and he used to say how he liked getting out of the house full of utes (uterus owners) and having guys to talk to for a change.

[poweratradio]

Your are in thailand so put up with it I just shake my head when I am in thailand drive around it is a shit place to drive and the poor kids in the cars I can't stand it but not much I can do .

I recall PRE seat belt days people standing up in the back of trucks without fear. Pre helmets for everything. No a days parents coddle kids to much and then complain that their kids are obese. Nothing wrong with a few scrapes bruises and scars to herald your growing years upon entering adulthood.

[bbbbooboo]

Stupid IS what stupid DOES ?

[richard_smith237]

Your are in thailand so put up with it I just shake my head when I am in thailand drive around it is a shit place to drive and the poor kids in the cars I can't stand it but not much I can do .

I recall PRE seat belt days people standing up in the back of trucks without fear. Pre helmets for everything. No a days parents coddle kids to much and then complain that their kids are obese. Nothing wrong with a few scrapes bruises and scars to herald your growing years upon entering adulthood.

Unfortunately some won't recall the pre-seatbelt or pre-helmet days - they can't because the accident they were involved in prevented them from ever recalling anything...

I could write how when I was a kid we didn't have seat belts etc.. but we were fortunate never to have had a serious accident - others aren't so lucky.

Relying on common sense doesn't involve coddling your kids / loved ones, it means intelligently protecting them from their own innocence while permitting them the freedom to take healthy risks - we use the information available to us, the lessons of the past and technological developments (seat belts, helmets, airbags, child seats etc)...

There is nothing wrong with getting rough in the woods, building campfires etc... accepting that a few scrapes, bruises and scars is all part of our child's growing years is normal and healthy, however, as a parent, with the information and education we now have to hand an intelligent and informed balance can be applied without 'coddling' them.

For most of us 'innocent ignorance' is no longer an excuse and suggesting that 'it was ok when I was a lad' is a fundamentally flawed argument if the suggestion is to accept those high dangers we can readily protect against without taking precaution (such as seat belts, helmets etc)...

An infant can't make their own choices, a responsible parent will.

Perhaps there is a cultural aspect to all of this, much of it is financial. A family on a bike may have no other option, perhaps they're doing the best they can. However, if a family can afford a car, they can afford a car seat.

The reality in all of this is that for many in Thailand the education regarding safety on the roads is sorely lacking, the information is not getting out there... As a Westerner, when looking in from the outside I see it as such a shame that the thought and consideration for the population at large is fundamentally lacking. Those in a position where they 'could' provide information and education to the many care little and make the choice not to.... A simple example, place a couple of safety campaigns on prime-time TV....

I'm sure not everyone will agree, after all, part of living in Thailand is enjoying certain freedoms - but give everyone the education to make their own informed decisions, not everyone would adapt, but those with a little sense and intelligence would....

[thehelmsman]

Your are in thailand so put up with it I just shake my head when I am in thailand drive around it is a shit place to drive and the poor kids in the cars I can't stand it but not much I can do .

I recall PRE seat belt days people standing up in the back of trucks without fear. Pre helmets for everything. No a days parents coddle kids to much and then complain that their kids are obese. Nothing wrong with a few scrapes bruises and scars to herald your growing years upon entering adulthood.

Unfortunately some won't recall the pre-seatbelt or pre-helmet days - they can't because the accident they were involved in prevented them from ever recalling anything...

I could write how when I was a kid we didn't have seat belts etc.. but we were fortunate never to have had a serious accident - others aren't so lucky.

Relying on common sense doesn't involve coddling your kids / loved ones, it means intelligently protecting them from their own innocence while permitting them the freedom to take healthy risks - we use the information available to us, the lessons of the past and technological developments (seat belts, helmets, airbags, child seats etc)...

There is nothing wrong with getting rough in the woods, building campfires etc... accepting that a few scrapes, bruises and scars is all part of our child's growing years is normal and healthy, however, as a parent, with the information and education we now have to hand an intelligent and informed balance can be applied without 'coddling' them.

For most of us 'innocent ignorance' is no longer an excuse and suggesting that 'it was ok when I was a lad' is a fundamentally flawed argument if the suggestion is to accept those high dangers we can readily protect against without taking precaution (such as seat belts, helmets etc)...

An infant can't make their own choices, a responsible parent will.

Perhaps there is a cultural aspect to all of this, much of it is financial. A family on a bike may have no other option, perhaps they're doing the best they can. However, if a family can afford a car, they can afford a car seat.

The reality in all of this is that for many in Thailand the education regarding safety on the roads is sorely lacking, the information is not getting out there... As a Westerner, when looking in from the outside I see it as such a shame that the thought and consideration for the population at large is fundamentally lacking. Those in a position where they 'could' provide information and education to the many care little and make the choice not to.... A simple example, place a couple of safety campaigns on prime-time TV....

I'm sure not everyone will agree, after all, part of living in Thailand is enjoying certain freedoms - but give everyone the education to make their own informed decisions, not everyone would adapt, but those with a little sense and intelligence would....

This is one of those subjects where there is no middle ground. Part of what makes Thailand a neat place to call home is the lack of western style hand holding laws. Of course not all will agree................

[jacko45k]

Yesterday I saw a guy actually carrying a toddler in his arm driving a motorcycle.

Normally the kids are sat in front (or stood), and babies the only ones getting carried often by a pillion, side-saddle mother.

No real control over the bike, one brake cannot be reached...... you have to get used to this but it just makes me think locals are lacking in the head.

[nycjoe]

Sadly there have been many people wailing in the emergency rooms when their children are seriously injured but it is not easy to buy a car when raising a family on 300 baht a day. This is life as it is.

[dotpoom]

I'm driving to Chiang Mai, halfway there now and staying overnight in Nakon Sewan (what a most beautiful public park). My first few years driving in Thailand consisted of one long continuous moan about the driving standards ( still do but not half as much). I began to realize that some of the things I was saying were very hurtful to "she who must be obeyed". Things like..."Did you see that, he cut right out in front of us. Thai drivers (which she took to mean Thai people) must be the most self centered, uncaring, people in the world. Since I stopped most of my complaining it is she who has now taken up the baton.

Actually, in a sick sort of way, I now get enjoyment watching the "weaver bird" drivers antics when they get to a stretch where they are completely blocked on all sides from bull dozing their way forward.

[hugh2121]

Hey, that's nothing. A few months ago I saw a Thai man riding a motor bike one handed because he had a small baby in the other hand.

[csabo]

I thought we could only post in English??