Farang killed in pickup crash in Udon Thani

[Shiver]

I would go by the time in seconds rather than a speed/distance guess (when I was a kid the stopping distance for 70mph was said to be 315 feet, but a lot of cars were on drum brakes and average tyres). The reason I say that is that in UK I had a small performance hatchback, whose main claim to fame was that it could do 60mph to zero much better than a 911 (meaning you don't need to look where you're going once you brake so much as keep at least one eye on the rear view mirror watching who is going to hit you first, and modulate braking to average out the distances fore and aft the best you can). Over here I got a Fortuner, which has the braking ability of hockey puck (but a bit more survivability than a small hatch).

Does anyone know Edward? I've lived in Udon for quite a few years but it's not a name that I know. Thoughts to any family he may have had. A loss to one is a loss for all.

[gandalf12]

How did Somjit know the pick up crashed into him at full speed,

when he was most likely fast asleep,parked on the road,I see

no mention of having his lights on either.another life wasted on

Thai roads,

RIP Edward

regards Worgeordie

?? you must drive at a speed that you can stop within the area that is visible. A bit too fast would mean you knock a bit into it (if you can't steer away) but not in a total and fatal crash.

Very high probability the Edward Farang is to blame.

What a load of twaddle If the truck was parked without lights,how can you tell the distance? Same as driving at a brick wall !!

I take it you do not have a driving permit ?

You are supposed to drive within your safe stopping distance. What was said is correct. Sorry to disagree with you but you are wrong

[lostinisaan]

Another proof of the limited value of Google translate

Can't give you a complete translation, but its indeed about a "farang" hitting a tow truck and being killed.

21.3% click on "fun" .No brainers.

21.3 % fun part and 1.3 percent even liked that a foreigner got killed in a terrible accident. That's very sick and sad at the same time.

[alanrchase]

Another proof of the limited value of Google translate

Can't give you a complete translation, but its indeed about a "farang" hitting a tow truck and being killed.

21.3% click on "fun" .No brainers.

21.3 % fun part and 1.3 percent even liked that a foreigner got killed in a terrible accident. That's very sick and sad at the same time.

Reviewed results for an unfortunate Thai death?

[lostinisaan]

How did Somjit know the pick up crashed into him at full speed,

when he was most likely fast asleep,parked on the road,I see

no mention of having his lights on either.another life wasted on

Thai roads,

RIP Edward

regards Worgeordie

?? you must drive at a speed that you can stop within the area that is visible. A bit too fast would mean you knock a bit into it (if you can't steer away) but not in a total and fatal crash.

Very high probability the Edward Farang is to blame.

What a load of twaddle If the truck was parked without lights,how can you tell the distance? Same as driving at a brick wall !!

I take it you do not have a driving permit ?

You are supposed to drive within your safe stopping distance. What was said is correct. Sorry to disagree with you but you are wrong

Let's take another example that the guy gets it. A little kid all in a sudden runs across the road. I take it as he's got no driver's license, always failed the test questions, the "what should you do when/if part"....

[alanrchase]

How did Somjit know the pick up crashed into him at full speed,

when he was most likely fast asleep,parked on the road,I see

no mention of having his lights on either.another life wasted on

Thai roads,

RIP Edward

regards Worgeordie

?? you must drive at a speed that you can stop within the area that is visible. A bit too fast would mean you knock a bit into it (if you can't steer away) but not in a total and fatal crash.

Very high probability the Edward Farang is to blame.

What a load of twaddle If the truck was parked without lights,how can you tell the distance? Same as driving at a brick wall !!

I take it you do not have a driving permit ?

You are supposed to drive within your safe stopping distance. What was said is correct. Sorry to disagree with you but you are wrong

Let's take another example that the guy gets it. A little kid all in a sudden runs across the road. I take it as he's got no driver's license, always failed the test questions, the "what should you do when/if part"....

Why stay here? Obviously think locals are dip*hits. Agree education is required. Give me how you would go about it. Serious solution, balls to in the West it is done like this.

[kovaltech]

OK how at what distance should you be from the car in front,at say 60kmpH? Tell me

@ greenjob,

check this: http://www.csgnetwork.com/stopdistinfo.html

@ all, reduce your speed as far as you can see... also, reaction time is a killer...

if anything on your road is at standstill, you might be surprised how many will actually hit the object.

our brains are to slow to detect the objects speed or movement (or standstill) if it comes towards us in a straight line

a good driver "scans" with his eye movement the road ahead to detect anomality's

[tom21]

looking at the thread ,all I can say is I am not interested in the road rules, skills and requirements of other countries', this accident occurred in Thailand and the cause was negligence of the pickup driver just thankful that no one else was injured

[impulse]

Not true,infact a thick answer. Just sit down and think about it Its night time OK If in Europe a truck ,car parkes without lights at night without lights on a main road he is a danger and breaking the Law Period

And if you have a breakdown.. your alternator goes and no battery and cant drive ??

Its still your responsibility ?? the moving vehicle must take care to be able to stop and only drive to their line of sight.

Yes it is your responsibiliy YES In Germany and most other EU countrys you must carry a hazard warning ( trucks flashing lights) also

it is law to now carry fluorescent jackets

I am sure it will be of great comfort to the deceased and his family that, had this happened in the EU, the driver of the stationary truck would have gotten a fine for not putting out his flashing lights. They may even be able to claim for compensation by the Thai driver's insurance company. They may even get 1000 Euros or so. But I'm sure they'd rather have their loved one back.

There is blame to go around. One cause of the accident may be the disabled truck parked in the highway. But the last clear chance to avoid the accident lay with the driver of the vehicle that was moving.

I take this as a cautionary tale the remind me that driving in Thailand at night is dangerous, that there may be unexpected hazards in the road around the next bend, and (my personal safety mantra) that the wee hours are for sleeping here in Thailand...

Edited May 25, 2015 by impulse

[cgphuket]

Udon Thani:- A farang driver was killed Saturday evening when his pickup truck crashed into the rear of a trailer truck in Udon Thani’s Nong Harn district.

How can they write "A farang driver?" Do they not know that we're foreigners? Please stop blaming anybody, until you know more. It's very sad that he died in a car crash and those who've been here longer than two weeks know exactly how dangerous it is to drive at night.

A truck in the middle of the road without lights on and cars/ trucks coming for the other lane with high beam on?

My deepest condolences to his family and friends. A very sad way to go. RIP.

"A truck in the middle of the road without lights on and cars/ trucks coming for the other lane with high beam on?" Do you just make this stuff up, or are you psychic?

[Nick167]

Its seesm that in the thai media, the thai political scene and also in the official business scenes in thailand, it is now acceptable to call white caucasians as farangs! Wow! What a country! And yet these farngs love coming to thailand and defending even being called farangs! I give up......not on the thais (as they are beyond salvation) but at the farangs who still come here and support the thais.

[Lee4Life]

The lighting is so bad on most of these trailer trucks up here---especially if they are overloaded, as most are, what little lighting they have is then obliterated by their cargo. Sometimes they hang a small pushbike light onto the cargo----but (if they are actually moving) you really are on top of them before you know it, & of course the roads in most areas here have no lighting.

I don't know if any of these factors were to blame for this fatality, but they certainly are to blame for some....................

While I agree with others that we don't know the facts, I do also agree that some of the trucks here have very dim rear lighting that is nearly impossible to see.

[luckyman]

in order to drive a Toyota vigo into the rear of a trailer and not being able to survive that crash, he must have been driving really fast

[captainhornblower]

Request to the editorial team to name foreigners what they are = foreigners, or give their nationality and stop calling non-Thais "farang" in your articles like they were pieces of garbage. Thank you!

The alternative they use is Alien - I would rather be referred to as Farang.

[captainhornblower]

Sunlight/dusk or dark, Pick up was going too fast for the conditions. The stationary vehicle could of broken down in the middle of the road , that is no reason to drive in to it so fast that the front of your car becomes soluble ( disolved ) Always on Thai roads expect the unexpected. Nuff said.

Not just Thai roads - on any road anywhere in the world...

[Banzai99]

Another proof of the limited value of Google translate

Can't give you a complete translation, but its indeed about a "farang" hitting a tow truck and being killed.

21.3% click on "fun" .No brainers.

21.3 % fun part and 1.3 percent even liked that a foreigner got killed in a terrible accident. That's very sick and sad at the same time.

They probably read this Forum and the constant Thai bashing and think all Farangs are the same.

[impulse]

Just for an experiment, I wish the mods would post a fake story where a Thai mini van driver hit a foreigner's disabled truck and some foreigners (or even some Thais) in the mini van were killed.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast the reactions from the posters here if the shoe were on a different foot.

[balo]

According to other websites he had a medical condition. This could just be an unlucky accident, nothing more than that.

[cookee68]

Unfortunately we will only have one side of the story, not that it would make any difference,

[Assurancetourix]

I am weekly on the road between Udon and Phang Khon and at night Hway 22 is very dangerous.

My guess is that the location might be between Nong Han and Sawang because the road between Udon and Nong Han has lights and have 2 lanes on each side.

Between Nong Han and Sawang a lot of construction is going on and trucks specially that carry Sugar cane and rice to the mills in Nong Han. They often park on the road but the road is very narrow. What I think that might have happened was that the truck didn't used the light when he parked and we too often had problems with trucks being parked on the road. They normally park at the Motorbike lane which is about 1 meter wide but a truck is normally two meters. They should not park at all at night on the main road.

RIP Edward

And me, I'm nearly daily on this road ;

on my MTB and maybe you saw me often..

The motorbike lane is more than 2 m large,nearly 3 m ; not one meter !!

A car or a pickup can be entirely inside it ;

The drivers of the trucks dont park everywhere as you supposely write but are in the benzine stations or in the parking lots, such the one is beside the PTT station a few kilometers before the Sawang Daen Din prison...

Is this truck parking on the road ? ( in front of the PTT station after the Sawang prison )

or inside the motorbike lane where is the little four lanes ( 1 km long ) at Ban_Kut_Chik, where is the finishing of the new four lanes in construction.; or inside the bike lane at the four/six lanes in Ban_Tay , 10 km before arriving in Sawang ...and always have their lights on .

Have a look at the wide of the bike lane at Ban_Kuchik ( more than 3 m wide; a truck is 2,55 m wide )

On the road ?

About the sugar cane factory which is in Ban_Han_Noi , thai people have made a few years ago two huge parking lot;

it's now a long time we don't have to overpass a long, long file of trucks which are park inside the motorbike lane .

And there is a traffic light which works nearly all the time, even yesterday ...

From Sawang to Phangkhon; there are many larges places for the trucks; they are never parked on the road.; example at Wang Police station where there is a 3 km four lanes ...

Don't write false things on the forum, please...

[Norvabc]

I know this road very well and it is very dangerous.

It is not possible to see some of these trucks parked up No Lights and No reflectors, they melt into the background and you cannot see them.

Traveling the rout one night i just happened to change to the inside lane traveling at 60 kph allowing a faster car to pass only to find 2 K down the road the cad had crashed into the back of a overloaded sugar can truck stopped in the outside lane.

That could have been me even at 60 you cannot see these parked vehicles so no matter what speed you are doing they are naturaly camouflage against the background at night.

Dont travel at night if you have to, see every thing as a treat.

Oh and my solution as i ride bike 4 Head lamps

[silent]

How did Somjit know the pick up crashed into him at full speed,

when he was most likely fast asleep,parked on the road,I see

no mention of having his lights on either.another life wasted on

Thai roads,

RIP Edward

regards Worgeordie

?? you must drive at a speed that you can stop within the area that is visible. A bit too fast would mean you knock a bit into it (if you can't steer away) but not in a total and fatal crash.

Very high probability the Edward Farang is to blame.

What a load of twaddle If the truck was parked without lights,how can you tell the distance? Same as driving at a brick wall !!

I take it you do not have a driving permit ?

Indeed twaddle. Certainly somebody needs to revisit rules of the road.....outside of Thailand that is, or potentially have the same fate as this poor guy did slamming into a brick wall that unexpectedly jumps out in front. Never heard of a truck stopping on dime and we just don't know enough of the circumstance, except that he must have been travelling at a fair speed.

Or is it common to drive fast when can't see beyond one's nose and risk one too many deadly mistakes.

[Bibvon]

How did Somjit know the pick up crashed into him at full speed,

when he was most likely fast asleep,parked on the road,I see

no mention of having his lights on either.another life wasted on

Thai roads,

RIP Edward

regards Worgeordie

?? you must drive at a speed that you can stop within the area that is visible. A bit too fast would mean you knock a bit into it (if you can't steer away) but not in a total and fatal crash.

Very high probability the Edward Farang is to blame.

What a load of twaddle If the truck was parked without lights,how can you tell the distance? Same as driving at a brick wall !!

I take it you do not have a driving permit ?

I wonder if you have one.. he is absolutely right you should be able to stop for anything that is in your visibility range. So yes even when the road ends all of a sudden you should not goo too fast.

Good example is when going over a minor hill, you can't see the other side so you slow down. I once had it when i went over a flyover on my bike that once i passed the crest there was a traffic jam. Had I not slowed down before because parts of the road were not visible i would have had an accident.

So if you can see 100 meters make sure you can stop in 100 meters. If you can only see 40 meters.. go a lot slower.

Yup - sightlines are key which makes me wonder if pehaps this truck was parked on the blind side of a bend in the road. That happens all the time. Not trying to lay any blame but to hit something full speed something wasn't right. Or maybe alcohol. Dangerous place to drive Thailand, but otherwise pretty lovely.

[elliss]

According to other websites he had a medical condition. This could just be an unlucky accident, nothing more than that.

i think you are on the right track , i passed the scence of the accident a few days , after the sad event .

There were very deep metalic marks into the tarmac,, indicating a shunt , and rubber burns on all four wheels..

possibly ,like the driver passed out , due to medication ,,,,,,,,,,,,or Alcho, ???

Nothing new , under the sun .. RIP.

Edited June 5, 2015 by elliss