Real footage of pedestrian accidents aims to change Thai driving behavior

[Redline]

That will have a huge effect. Get people to try to police themselves. lol LOSt

[DM07]

So?

You show them real accidents and then ...what?

In a country, where gore equals maximum entertainment, does anyone really think, this will change anything?

Edited November 6, 2015 by DM07

[roo860]

Thai drivers are the most discourteous in the world that I have found. Some are good but most have s*it for brains.

So what about the police ctually doing their job and getting to grips with this problem?

You haven't driven in Egypt.

Or flown!!!!!

[jaywalker]

Thai drivers are the most discourteous in the world that I have found. Some are good but most have s*it for brains.

So what about the police ctually doing their job and getting to grips with this problem?

You haven't driven in Egypt.

Good old Egypt.

My company refused to allow us to drive there, which was cool.

My driver Mohammed was always on call.

There was a hookah bar there, populated by rotund Sudanese women.

We called it "Gorillas In The Mist".

[Robbie Dye]

Lollipop ladies?? Oh no they would get annihilated!

[MaxYakov]

I watched the video and based on the actions of most of the pedestrians in the example it should be titled:

"How NOT to Use a Pedestrian Crosswalk"

Running in a crosswalk into the path of vehicles and failure to look in the direction of oncoming traffic comprised most of the examples.

The only exception was the final, out-of-control truck, another poor example where most of the pedestrians did the correct thing: Run Like Hell! Sadly, one or two of them didn't make it.

I see risky, death-wish behavior by pedestrians every day I'm out in Bangkok and it's not limited to crosswalks, of course. Walking in the road with their backs to high-speed traffic is what I see a lot of and it does no good to point out the error of their ways - most of them get very irate.

This is not to say that motorists aren't guilty as well. A couple of us were almost mowed down by a motorbiker who blew through at full full speed at a well-known, light-controlled crosswalk near Lumphini Park. We were alert enough to watch him on his approach and knew he wasn't going to stop and stopped walking for him to blow through. I was walking a bicycle and to this day wonder why I didn't push out into his path. Oh yeah, I remember - I liked that bike.

Edited November 7, 2015 by MaxYakov

[Snig27]

Zebra crossings should just be scrapped as they give pedestrians (particularly foreigners) a false sense of security.

The worst one is at the airport - tourists walk out smiling to be almost killed by buses and cabs roaring past with cops standing there on Facebook or Line.

[mark131v]

Will they be editing boings and whistles over the soundtrack??

I only ask as this appears to be a vital ingredient in getting the attention of the locals....

[tominbkk]

I applaud any effort to call attention to this atrocious problem.

Fully agree, but enforcement of this is less than nil (I say less than because I was almost run down by a police car on a Thong Lor crossing yesterday).

Funny I was going to note that I go to work via Thonglor and always stop at the crosswalk when people are trying to cross. Police just zip over and through people, as well as many others. Most citizens stop though when I do.

[tominbkk]

Crossing a road in Thailand is tricky at best, but I NEVER count on some driver in a car that weighs 30 times more than me to do the right thing, much like my 10 lb dog knows to stay out from under my feet.

Gotta look right, left, up, down, behind you & peek around corners ever half a second when anywhere near a Thai road.

best advice is right here. You gotta be super defensive and hyperviligant and it reduces your own danger dramatically.

[springheeled jack]

as I have mentioned in previous posts you have to teach young people the rules of the road it would be a complete waste of time trying to teach people who have been driving a long time they are fixed in their ways and have no regard for life they in my opinion require shock treatment.

[johng]

Zebra crossings should just be scrapped as they give pedestrians (particularly foreigners) a false sense of security.

Yes they are very dangerous for everyone.

in the last segment you can see why its even dangerous to stop at a Zebra crossing the truck can't stop in time and ploughs on !!!

Edited November 13, 2015 by johng

[jerojero]

How about real enforcement of traffic laws. That's a novel idea.

[connda]

Judaical responsibility are simply the 'punch-line' to the abysmal joke that is Thailand. With that said, it helps to carry significant accident insurance issued by a foreign company outside of Thailand whose policy pay in the hundred thousand dollar range instead of the hundred thousand baht.

[connda]

Well, I got hit from behind by a truck when walking on the sidewalk in my soi (condominium area) on Sept 22. Truck and / or driver didn't have any valid insurance. The insurance he had ended at the beginning of September. He got away with a 500 THB fine.

I broke my shoulder and right arm on 4 places. Needed surgery, a plate with 10 screws was inserted. Costs up to now over 400k and it isn't over yet... My insurance doesn't pay because a vehicle was involved. The truckdriver can't pay, it's just a poor man earning a few baht and was not working for a company but driving his own truck (wreck) from 1976. He didn't pay for new insurance because he didn't have the money for it. Next to this, he had only 1 leg (right), was shifting gears and clutching with a stick in his left arm and steering with his right arm. He lost control of the truck when shifting 2nd to 3rd gear while hitting the sidewalk edge. He shouldn't be allowed on the road steering any vehicle that wasn't an automatic. But this is Thailand...

rechts 4-10.jpg

The message to the population is that you don't need insurance because there are no consequences for not having any, well, unless you hit a Hi-So. A Hi-So elite would make the guy who hit them an indentured servant for life with the full weight of the legal system and mafia bearing down on him.

You as a farang - so sad, too bad. You're nobody, without recourse to legal compensation, and the status somewhere between ox dung and the ox itself.

If I wasn't married to a older Thai woman, I'd leave. I'm fed up with the abject corruption and lack of a functioning legal infrastructure, both criminal and civil.

Edited November 13, 2015 by connda

[connda]

Crossing a road in Thailand is tricky at best, but I NEVER count on some driver in a car that weighs 30 times more than me to do the right thing, much like my 10 lb dog knows to stay out from under my feet.

Gotta look right, left, up, down, behind you & peek around corners ever half a second when anywhere near a Thai road.

When you look left, the danger comes from the right; look right and the danger comes from the left; look in you mirrors, and the danger pops up in front of you; look in front of you, and the car behind you grazes you on the way by. Look down, whatever is face high hits you; look up, the pothole you didn't see drops you off your bike or busts your suspension. There is no winning, no relaxing, no enjoying your ride. Defensive driving doesn't even work. You can't anticipate abject stupidity coming at you from all directions.

Celebrate Thailand! The Second Most Dangerous Roads in The World.

Prayut should be given a plaque and honorifics, perhaps a honorary doctorate in Traffic Safety Science. His country is Number Two!!!!!

Edited November 13, 2015 by connda

[jing jing]

Crossing a road in Thailand is tricky at best, but I NEVER count on some driver in a car that weighs 30 times more than me to do the right thing, much like my 10 lb dog knows to stay out from under my feet.

Gotta look right, left, up, down, behind you & peek around corners ever half a second when anywhere near a Thai road.

Exactly right. Assuming that any pedestrian can step onto a busy roadway into the path of oncoming vehicles, and expect traffic to come to a screeching halt so that they can stroll leisurely across, chatting on the iphone and sipping a latte, makes as much sense as trying to repeal the law of gravity or reverse Darwin's Principles.

The results of this misguided philosophy can be seen in my hometown, where an octogenarian may cross town in less time on foot than Lewis Hamilton could do in an SLR.

I prefer the concept of pedestrians crossing quickly when the coast is clear, allowing traffic to flow as it should. Forcing 4 lanes of heavy vehicular traffic to stop at the whim of every oblivious tourist, shuffling retiree, and Starbucks sipping tree-hugger is ridiculous, and effectively puts the convenience of a single arrogant, supremely entitled and pampered individual above the rights of everyone else.

[DrTuner]

The guys drinking laokhau and chewing cow skin now have free entertainment as well.

"Hey Somchai, saw that?"

"I bet you 10 baht next one flies 2m"

[hobz]

On 11/5/2015 at 6:21 PM, connda said:

I was walking home from exercising this afternoon. We live on a narrow strip of road about 200 meters long with blind corners at the east and west. People haul ass around these corners in excess of 70 to 80 k/h. Safe speed is 40 or under.

Walking home I had just rounded the corner. On the straight-away was a motorcycle that forced me off the road, a car passing the motorcycle, and faster car passing them both fully in the right lane as they all entered the blind corner. When I had started my walk, a car had come around that same corner so fast that it had fishtailed. That would have been the perfect storm had that happened right then. These people are completely insane, and it's culturally ingrained.

Since I've lived here we have had 6 animals killed within 50 meter from the house. They scream around these corners and if anything is in the road it dies. Thank god we haven't had any children or other villagers killed in front of our house. I'm thinking 'just a matter of time, and hopefully it's not me or my wife'. We had one car loose control in the west corner and spin out hitting our retaining wall. Simply insane and no remorse unless caught. Then they bow and snivel trying to get out of a cash 'death payment' or 'property damage' payment. It's obscene.

I just talked to my wife about it. It scares her to walk to the market or to her mother's house on this road for exactly those reasons. She just said, "Someone die on road someday in front of house." I'm not the only one thinking that.

Yeah, people are driving at inappropriate speeds everywhere in thailand. Most farangs too tbh. You rarely see it discussed here on thaivisa neither. I think people driving inappropriately fast (reckless driving, not necessarily speeding) is the single most damaging factor in the death toll. And it's due to a lack of brains and a lack of fear for consequences (due to lack of law enforcement).

 

[hobz]

On 11/13/2015 at 1:26 PM, jing jing said:

Exactly right. Assuming that any pedestrian can step onto a busy roadway into the path of oncoming vehicles, and expect traffic to come to a screeching halt so that they can stroll leisurely across, chatting on the iphone and sipping a latte, makes as much sense as trying to repeal the law of gravity or reverse Darwin's Principles.

The results of this misguided philosophy can be seen in my hometown, where an octogenarian may cross town in less time on foot than Lewis Hamilton could do in an SLR.

I prefer the concept of pedestrians crossing quickly when the coast is clear, allowing traffic to flow as it should. Forcing 4 lanes of heavy vehicular traffic to stop at the whim of every oblivious tourist, shuffling retiree, and Starbucks sipping tree-hugger is ridiculous, and effectively puts the convenience of a single arrogant, supremely entitled and pampered individual above the rights of everyone else.

Yeah, the pedestrians should be forced to wait for hours in the burning sun, that ought to teach them

[Reigntax]

On Thursday, November 05, 2015 at 8:59 PM, trainman said:

Zebra crossings should just be scrapped as they give pedestrians (particularly foreigners) a false sense of security.

 

They should be on multi lane roads as a driver is often unsure whether its a traffic jam or a pedestrian. However in Thailand even a single lane road is turned into 3 by bikes using the inner and outer extra road space for overtaking.

[gk10002000]

Granted the Thai drivers seemed to mostly ignore the pedestrian crossings, but I bet, as stupid as it sounds that they were never told or schooled on what the law is.  Is there a law on the books that actually says stop if people are in or at the cross walk?  And even if there is a law, is there a specified penalty or any consequences enforced if they driver breaks the law? Also it looks like many of the cross walks were in busy parts of roads with no traffic signals to stop cars.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Install some proper crosswalks.  Lastly, many of the people crossing obviously didn't look both ways very well before crossing.  Bad confluence of circumstances