Haunted by negligence, Phuket parents of Molly continue fight for justice

[fritzzz25]

Does anyone know if the child was properly restrained in the vehicle?

. . . and that, it sounds like, is shifting the blame to the drivers? My experience of road hazards in Thailand is that they are usually indicated by a couple of branches of a brush or tree 25 meters or so from the hazard. You have to be kidding.

Not enough money to throw up a couple of yellow and black barricades? and a stream of witches hats? Ridiculous.

So, because of your experience of road hazards, do you throw common sense out the window and not wear your seatbelt?

[Maggusoil]

Does anyone know if the child was properly restrained in the vehicle?

. . . and that, it sounds like, is shifting the blame to the drivers? My experience of road hazards in Thailand is that they are usually indicated by a couple of branches of a brush or tree 25 meters or so from the hazard. You have to be kidding.

Not enough money to throw up a couple of yellow and black barricades? and a stream of witches hats? Ridiculous.

So, because of your experience of road hazards, do you throw common sense out the window and not wear your seatbelt?

No I don't in fact, but trying to shift blame away from the immensely lax standards of traffic management here is a seropis furfy.

[manarak]

Because this isn't USA or Europe. Your or mine safety culture doesn't exist here.

I don't defend this reckless culture, but I won't impose mine on them either, apart from when I'm the designated driver.

First time when me and my wife went back to her village, we drove all the way up in our car.

Naturally after a day or two after arriving, we had to drive the family around for them to meet long distant friends or go for some sightseeing.

I had one rule when driving them around and that was to use the seatbelts.

The youngest of the kids 1 1/2 years old didn't want to use her seatbelt and so she cringed out of it, noticing that, I stopped and told the others I won't drive one more meter if they didn't strap her in again. I did so with a very friendly tone of voice.

My wife's mother, her brother and his wife looked at me as I was a crazy person, but they understood my reasons although none of them have ever been in a car crash.

The brother later asked her why I was so strict with that, as he pointed out, they can use their hands to prevent their head or body being hit, if they crash, they are protected in the car, not like on a motorbike.

Too much ignorance, magic and superstition makes people believe too much, as in the chinese movies, people leap from tree to tree, floating in the air, spinning around, fighting.

Firstly, the makeshift barricade had only been removed that night - nobody knows who or why. Secondly, it's a small dark and unlit soi and the gaping wound was on the exit of a fairly tight bend so there was no warning time. Thirdly, there is no law in Thailand that says rear passengers have to wear seat-belts so I have no idea what you mean by 'safe seating' because as you can see, it's a four door truck with rear seats. Fourthly, Molly was 7 years old, not a baby or a tot needing a baby/child seat.

FYI, the wearing of seat belts for under 14 year olds only became compulsory in the UK in 1989. The driver was strapped in as per the law. The child was sitting on a back seat (safe back seat). She could not have been driving fast as the road doesn't permit that. A road that had been blocked off due the hole had the safety barricade removed opening the road for usual use, which it clearly was not ready for any use. There was an accidents shortly before with the ambulance leaving only 5 minutes or so before this accident (she landed ON the motorbike) yet nobody (including emergency services, police nor locals) bothered to re-erect any barriers. The council say they knew about the hole but did not rep because of financial restraints.

So here we have a legal car with people sat legally inside and a hazard without proper warning etc etc. Tell me again who is negligent?

I do agree with both of you !

The authorities have been negligent, yes, but that doesn't make them fully responsible.

I'm not blaming the driver either - every driver takes (un)calculated risks when driving - risks with speed, risks with unrestrained passengers or cargo, etc.

I too have been transporting passengers, not just in the back of the cabin, but also in the cargo area of a pickup under exceptional circumstances.

Did the driver commit faults - yes, have the authorities been negligent - yes.

I don't think the driver is to squarely blame, because driving too fast in relation to road visibility happens unconsciously and not restraining children is commonplace here YET I also don't think whoever was responsible for the barriers deserves full responsibility for the accident.

Edited December 12, 2015 by manarak

[KamalaRider]

Because this isn't USA or Europe. Your or mine safety culture doesn't exist here.

I don't defend this reckless culture, but I won't impose mine on them either, apart from when I'm the designated driver.

First time when me and my wife went back to her village, we drove all the way up in our car.

Naturally after a day or two after arriving, we had to drive the family around for them to meet long distant friends or go for some sightseeing.

I had one rule when driving them around and that was to use the seatbelts.

The youngest of the kids 1 1/2 years old didn't want to use her seatbelt and so she cringed out of it, noticing that, I stopped and told the others I won't drive one more meter if they didn't strap her in again. I did so with a very friendly tone of voice.

My wife's mother, her brother and his wife looked at me as I was a crazy person, but they understood my reasons although none of them have ever been in a car crash.

The brother later asked her why I was so strict with that, as he pointed out, they can use their hands to prevent their head or body being hit, if they crash, they are protected in the car, not like on a motorbike.

Too much ignorance, magic and superstition makes people believe too much, as in the chinese movies, people leap from tree to tree, floating in the air, spinning around, fighting.

Firstly, the makeshift barricade had only been removed that night - nobody knows who or why. Secondly, it's a small dark and unlit soi and the gaping wound was on the exit of a fairly tight bend so there was no warning time. Thirdly, there is no law in Thailand that says rear passengers have to wear seat-belts so I have no idea what you mean by 'safe seating' because as you can see, it's a four door truck with rear seats. Fourthly, Molly was 7 years old, not a baby or a tot needing a baby/child seat.

FYI, the wearing of seat belts for under 14 year olds only became compulsory in the UK in 1989. The driver was strapped in as per the law. The child was sitting on a back seat (safe back seat). She could not have been driving fast as the road doesn't permit that. A road that had been blocked off due the hole had the safety barricade removed opening the road for usual use, which it clearly was not ready for any use. There was an accidents shortly before with the ambulance leaving only 5 minutes or so before this accident (she landed ON the motorbike) yet nobody (including emergency services, police nor locals) bothered to re-erect any barriers. The council say they knew about the hole but did not rep because of financial restraints.

So here we have a legal car with people sat legally inside and a hazard without proper warning etc etc. Tell me again who is negligent?

I do agree with both of you !

The authorities have been negligent, yes, but that doesn't make them fully responsible.

I'm not blaming the driver either - every driver takes (un)calculated risks when driving - risks with speed, risks with unrestrained passengers or cargo, etc.

I too have been transporting passengers, not just in the back of the cabin, but also in the cargo area of a pickup under exceptional circumstances.

Did the driver commit faults - yes, have the authorities been negligent - yes.

I don't think the driver is to squarely blame, because driving too fast in relation to road visibility happens unconsciously and not restraining children is commonplace here YET I also don't think whoever was responsible for the barriers deserves full responsibility for the accident.

There's one thing I require when driving anywhere in the world and that is a road. They build a road and I drive on it, if there's no road or warning of any sort, I would pursue the f***er who didn't warn me about missing part of the road or who failed to fix it before I came. I can promise one thing, if it happened to me and I survived I would nail that sob to a wall and use him for target practice when playing dart.

[Alwyn]

Because this isn't USA or Europe. Your or mine safety culture doesn't exist here.

I don't defend this reckless culture, but I won't impose mine on them either, apart from when I'm the designated driver.

First time when me and my wife went back to her village, we drove all the way up in our car.

Naturally after a day or two after arriving, we had to drive the family around for them to meet long distant friends or go for some sightseeing.

I had one rule when driving them around and that was to use the seatbelts.

The youngest of the kids 1 1/2 years old didn't want to use her seatbelt and so she cringed out of it, noticing that, I stopped and told the others I won't drive one more meter if they didn't strap her in again. I did so with a very friendly tone of voice.

My wife's mother, her brother and his wife looked at me as I was a crazy person, but they understood my reasons although none of them have ever been in a car crash.

The brother later asked her why I was so strict with that, as he pointed out, they can use their hands to prevent their head or body being hit, if they crash, they are protected in the car, not like on a motorbike.

Too much ignorance, magic and superstition makes people believe too much, as in the chinese movies, people leap from tree to tree, floating in the air, spinning around, fighting.

Firstly, the makeshift barricade had only been removed that night - nobody knows who or why. Secondly, it's a small dark and unlit soi and the gaping wound was on the exit of a fairly tight bend so there was no warning time. Thirdly, there is no law in Thailand that says rear passengers have to wear seat-belts so I have no idea what you mean by 'safe seating' because as you can see, it's a four door truck with rear seats. Fourthly, Molly was 7 years old, not a baby or a tot needing a baby/child seat.

FYI, the wearing of seat belts for under 14 year olds only became compulsory in the UK in 1989. The driver was strapped in as per the law. The child was sitting on a back seat (safe back seat). She could not have been driving fast as the road doesn't permit that. A road that had been blocked off due the hole had the safety barricade removed opening the road for usual use, which it clearly was not ready for any use. There was an accidents shortly before with the ambulance leaving only 5 minutes or so before this accident (she landed ON the motorbike) yet nobody (including emergency services, police nor locals) bothered to re-erect any barriers. The council say they knew about the hole but did not rep because of financial restraints.

So here we have a legal car with people sat legally inside and a hazard without proper warning etc etc. Tell me again who is negligent?

I do agree with both of you !

The authorities have been negligent, yes, but that doesn't make them fully responsible.

I'm not blaming the driver either - every driver takes (un)calculated risks when driving - risks with speed, risks with unrestrained passengers or cargo, etc.

I too have been transporting passengers, not just in the back of the cabin, but also in the cargo area of a pickup under exceptional circumstances.

Did the driver commit faults - yes, have the authorities been negligent - yes.

I don't think the driver is to squarely blame, because driving too fast in relation to road visibility happens unconsciously and not restraining children is commonplace here YET I also don't think whoever was responsible for the barriers deserves full responsibility for the accident.

There's one thing I require when driving anywhere in the world and that is a road. They build a road and I drive on it, if there's no road or warning of any sort, I would pursue the f***er who didn't warn me about missing part of the road or who failed to fix it before I came. I can promise one thing, if it happened to me and I survived I would nail that sob to a wall and use him for target practice when playing dart.

I'd like to do it to whoever took the barriers away, as a start.... Gordy is a good friend and every time I see people making derogatory comments about this tragedy, I get a bit more wound up..

[NCC1701A]

RIP young girl. Impossible to know how the parents must feel.

sorry to say Thailand is a very dangerous place for many reasons.

not going to change anytime soon.

Edited December 13, 2015 by NCC1701A

[KamalaRider]

RIP young girl. Impossible to know how the parents must feel.

sorry to say Thailand is a very dangerous place for many reasons.

not going to change anytime soon.

It's not impossible to know how they feel if you lost your kid in a avoidable accident as I too have.

[NCC1701A]

RIP young girl. Impossible to know how the parents must feel.

sorry to say Thailand is a very dangerous place for many reasons.

not going to change anytime soon.

It's not impossible to know how they feel if you lost your kid in a avoidable accident as I too have.

yes and that is what i meant... impossible to know unless it happens to you.

sorry for your loss.