Chinese Tourist Dies After Being Hit by Songtaew in Chiang Mai

[luke000]

Do pedestrians still not have "right of way" over vehicles, as in most countries?

Nope.

The rules of the road are : The biggest vehicle gets right of way .

Which ever party will come off worse, doesnt get right of way.

Pedestrians are bottom of the list

[krey]

I have yet to come across a single pedestrian crossing in CM that has automated lights that permit a pedestrian to safely cross the road.

I have seen some that put up the red lights but unlike my country where you have to wait for the red light to turn green even if no one is on the cross walk, once the pedestrian is one step away from the car it just walked past that car tears off like a bat out of hell

as for the story, too bad RIP, the story did say she was the last out of a group of 6 girls to cross, the last in line so you would think whoever was driving would see this huge amount of people crossing.... but let;s face it when it comes to rules of the road there really is none in Thailand for both drivers and pedestrians, got to be extra careful behind the wheel and walking anywhere and its not just the Thai drivers many foreign drivers that have lived here for years have adopted the insane driving techniques.. I was totally cut off by a guy in a honda prx the other day, he cut right in front of me screamed sorry (but it wasnt I made a mistake sorry, it was a I am a damn hurry get out of my freaking way sorry), drove up onto the curve, just missed another driver who also was driving on the sidewalk, jumped off the curve and then drove straight across two lanes of traffic just narrowly missing several cars and bikes so he could illegal cross to make a uturn on another street...

I am no saint myself as you have to drive a bit aggressive just to survive but try to avoid taking insane risks to save 2 minutes off my journey

Edited December 8, 2015 by krey

[Chicog]

Another problem is that on the rare occasion when all the traffic is stopped at a crossing, you can be almost across and some prize plonker on a motorbike nearly takes your face off whizzing down the inside.

People like that need a smack in the mouth.

[true blue]

stopped at the lights by spicy to let people cross,and a motor bike come screaming past on my right,nearly took them all out.and a lot of thai drivers don't like stopping any were. as there afraid of being tail ended,

[mankondang]

RIP. Condolences to family and friends

[Nowisee]

A bunch of us crossed Canal Road today when there was a break in traffic... only to have a male thai driving hauling ass in his pickup and then he beeps at us and flashes his lights as he's accelerating... the funny thing was he ended up having to bring his truck to a screeching halt about 30 meters past where we were crossing. I looked at the thai's and they were shaking their heads.

Yes, the tourists from china can really be clueless, but drivers here are the dangerous ones and drive much too fast for conditions most of the time. I have no sympathy when I see one of those pickups in a rollover and white sheets covering them up... stupid idiots.

[KKr]

Interesting that it took about 30 minutes to retrieve the victim from under the car with so many people standing around.
The car could have been lifted on one side by a bunch of people, and the victim retrieved.

Might this have saved her life ?

When I got stuck to the bottomplate in a soft patch near the lake, my Landcruiser was lifted out of the mud by a bunch of local farm hands.

[sunnitimes]

Apologies for being imprecise in the description of the location of Nong Ho intersection.

As MESmith correctly pointed out there are street names here in Chiang Mai. But in giving directions landmarks sometimes resonate better with people. That said, Nong Ho interesection is at Canal Road (Hwy 121 to be exact) and Rural Rd 4307 (sometimes referred to as Convention Center Road as it runs pass the Convention Center).

Will try to be more precise in the future with my comments.

[krey]

A bunch of us crossed Canal Road today when there was a break in traffic... only to have a male thai driving hauling ass in his pickup and then he beeps at us and flashes his lights as he's accelerating... the funny thing was he ended up having to bring his truck to a screeching halt about 30 meters past where we were crossing. I looked at the thai's and they were shaking their heads.

Yes, the tourists from china can really be clueless, but drivers here are the dangerous ones and drive much too fast for conditions most of the time. I have no sympathy when I see one of those pickups in a rollover and white sheets covering them up... stupid idiots.

yeah that always happens, people in trucks and cars speeding as fast as possible and honking at your bike just to hit a red light 20 meters in front of them.. not sure if they just are not looking farther ahead or just hope that the light will turn green exactly as they are speeding through.

[jobin]

That location is far from town, esp if on foot. And where is the hotel at that intersection area? If she was hit by the songtaew, and she was walking on the green, WALK, light then surely the songtaew was at fault.

Take care when near/on the roads in T'land.

[LarryBird]

Interesting that I made a post a while back that received a lot of derision for my observations regarding the Chinese lack of caution while out and about, but many of the posts here now are acknowledging that they are observant of the same behavior.

[FolkGuitar]

Do pedestrians still not have "right of way" over vehicles, as in most countries?

Nope.

The rules of the road are : The biggest vehicle gets right of way .

Which ever party will come off worse, doesnt get right of way.

Pedestrians are bottom of the list

These aren't the "Rules" of the Road. They are the "Realities" of the Road... unfortunately.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a system in place to actually enforce the Rules of the Road...