Frozen in time: British expats losing out on pensions in Thailand

[rooster59]

Thai man, 24, in ICU following Phuket motorbike crash 

Yutthawat Lekmak

 

 

PHUKET: A 24-year-old Thai man is in a serious condition in Vachira Phuket Hosptal’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) following a motorbike accident in Wichit yesterday afternoon.

 

Lt Patchree Wongbhut of the Wichit Police was informed of an accident at 12:30pm yesterday (Feb 10) where it was reported that a motorbike and car had been involved in an accident close to Makro on Wichit Songkram Rd.

 

Police arrived at the scene to find a large crowd of residents gathered on the road. Close by was a wrecked MC motorbike, badly damaged blue Honda Civic and a Thai man who had sustained serious injuries.

 

“The driver of the motorbike had serious injuries, we later learned that his name was Phuwanat Tonnon, 24, and that he had a broken left arm and leg,” Lt Patchree said. “Nobody in the car was injured,” he added.

 

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/thai-man-24-in-icu-following-phuket-motorbike-crash-60997.php#ccxJWS1CR2chOQQg.97

 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2017-02-11

 

[Chicog]

 

[Guest]

Video 

u-turn and speed.

 

 

[smedly]

I have seen some good Thai bikers riding large displacement motorbikes and I have also recently seen more and more Thais getting access to big bikes who have very obviously no experience at all and attempt to ride them like they do their scooters - the outcome is inevitable

 

May or may not be the case in this instance I am merely sharing and observation when you couple the scooter mentality to a big bike - it is not going to end well, they are a different beast entirely.

 

and before anyone says it - Farang tourists (with no experience) hiring big bikes is even worse.

[smedly]

16 hours ago, oilinki said:

Video 

u-turn and speed.

 

 

looks to me like he is going far too fast for that road and just speeding through what appears to be a popular U-turn junction - lunacy, looks to be doing at least 130kmph

 

hope he has a speedy recovery

Edited February 12, 2017 by smedly

[Enoon]

32 minutes ago, smedly said:

looks to me like he is going far too fast for that road and just speeding through what appears to be a popular U-turn junction - lunacy, looks to be doing at least 130kmph

 

hope he has a speedy recovery

 

"just speeding"  towards another "Portal of Death".

 

U-turns: 

Located on high or potentially high speed roads, in a land where drivers have such poor training, road discipline, judgement, and observational range is limited to the next 10 metres (to which they have absolute entitlement of ownership), possibly the worst road configuration imaginable and a proven formula for regular, predictable, catastrophe.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Enoon

[slapout]

When you have a high use u turn area on a highway, the u turn should be built so it is made into a lane for gaining speed and merging with the traffic flow, not a main traffic lane.  The design and layout of many of the roads of this country may have been made by someones who has never driven anything except a cycle or push bike.

 

The best one yet I have noticed, was a u turn added beneath a bridge, after the bridge was completed, problem was the height beneath the bridge was not high enough for anything higher than a car or cycle to use the u turn.

[Lokie]

Not even the plastic bollards in situ, I am always amazed at the U-Turn application and places here in LOS as said, accidents waiting to happen.

[Sphere]

Approaching u-turns in Thailand is playing a game of chicken. 

[Bangkok Barry]

Both were to blame - the car making the turn when the road wasn't clear, and the bike for speeding. And what is it with Thailand and U-turns. How do other countries manage without them but in Thailand they are everywhere and an accident waiting to happen. Lunacy.

[Psimbo]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

I have seen some good Thai bikers riding large displacement motorbikes and I have also recently seen more and more Thais getting access to big bikes who have very obviously no experience at all and attempt to ride them like they do their scooters - the outcome is inevitable

 

May or may not be the case in this instance I am merely sharing and observation when you couple the scooter mentality to a big bike - it is not going to end well, they are a different beast entirely.

 

and before anyone says it - Farang tourists (with no experience) hiring big bikes is even worse.

I concur- couldn't have put it better myself. Main road in Kamala is becoming a racetrack and it's going to end up with a world of hurt.

[DavisH]

That bike was flying. The car driver obviously didn't assess the speed of the bike correctly. If the bike had been going at normal speed the car would have been able to u-turn (with perhaps the bike having to brake). Both are to blame, but the car driver will have to pay for this.

[farcanell]

This spot is just south of the new tunnel works at chalong circle.... traffic is atrocious there, with bike riders impatiently behaving worse there, than is usual.

 

i am not surprised by this... not one little bit, and having witnessed the disregard for other motorists way too many times in the last couple of months, in this area, my sympathy level is very low

 

u turns on roads not wide enough for u turns (most island roads) should be banned... sorry.... that wouldn't make any difference, would it?

 

personally, I always turn across the traffic into a carpark, or similar, then re enter the traffic to reverse my course.

 

Also.... this is further coupled with the noticeable increase in young Thais riding these zippy rockets, instead of scooters.... so expect more of the same.

 

and.... another ambulance just went past as I was typing.... imho, the police should be held accountable for these issues for making no real attempt to enforce existing laws.... rather they allow these actions to become the "norm".... deplorable!

[smedly]

20 minutes ago, farcanell said:

This spot is just south of the new tunnel works at chalong circle.... traffic is atrocious there, with bike riders impatiently behaving worse there, than is usual.

 

i am not surprised by this... not one little bit, and having witnessed the disregard for other motorists way too many times in the last couple of months, in this area, my sympathy level is very low

 

u turns on roads not wide enough for u turns (most island roads) should be banned... sorry.... that wouldn't make any difference, would it?

 

personally, I always turn across the traffic into a carpark, or similar, then re enter the traffic to reverse my course.

 

Also.... this is further coupled with the noticeable increase in young Thais riding these zippy rockets, instead of scooters.... so expect more of the same.

 

and.... another ambulance just went past as I was typing.... imho, the police should be held accountable for these issues for making no real attempt to enforce existing laws.... rather they allow these actions to become the "norm".... deplorable!

the answer is in fact to have roundabouts on these roads an not these very obviously dangerous u-turns, they would not only introduce traffic calming but also provide a safe means for vehicles to switch direction, it is how it is done in the UK,  and of course along with that should come a training program on how to properly use them

[stevenl]

44 minutes ago, farcanell said:

This spot is just south of the new tunnel works at chalong circle.... traffic is atrocious there, with bike riders impatiently behaving worse there, than is usual.

 

i am not surprised by this... not one little bit, and having witnessed the disregard for other motorists way too many times in the last couple of months, in this area, my sympathy level is very low

 

u turns on roads not wide enough for u turns (most island roads) should be banned... sorry.... that wouldn't make any difference, would it?

 

personally, I always turn across the traffic into a carpark, or similar, then re enter the traffic to reverse my course.

 

Also.... this is further coupled with the noticeable increase in young Thais riding these zippy rockets, instead of scooters.... so expect more of the same.

 

and.... another ambulance just went past as I was typing.... imho, the police should be held accountable for these issues for making no real attempt to enforce existing laws.... rather they allow these actions to become the "norm".... deplorable!

No, the location is near the main Makro, close to main Big C.

[farcanell]

52 minutes ago, stevenl said:

No, the location is near the main Makro, close to main Big C.

Yep.... My mistake on location.... I was having trouble identifying the spot, so rode north a bit for a look....

 

 

[farcanell]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

the answer is in fact to have roundabouts on these roads an not these very obviously dangerous u-turns, they would not only introduce traffic calming but also provide a safe means for vehicles to switch direction, it is how it is done in the UK,  and of course along with that should come a training program on how to properly use them

"Training" is the key word. I've seen several scooters wedged under cars in roundabouts.

 

the problem therein seems to be an unwillingness to "reclaim" ground to make roundabouts.... some of which is illegally encroached upon.

 

just the other day I noticed a power post inside a building extension!

[maxcorrigan]

6 hours ago, smedly said:

the answer is in fact to have roundabouts on these roads an not these very obviously dangerous u-turns, they would not only introduce traffic calming but also provide a safe means for vehicles to switch direction, it is how it is done in the UK,  and of course along with that should come a training program on how to properly use them

You mean like give way to the right etc.can you honestly see that happening here? the roundabouts would be gridlocked for most of the day, nice idea but, until drivers learn and made to obey the same set of rules as per highway code it's not gonner happen!

Edited February 12, 2017 by maxcorrigan

[jerojero]

Poor chap, but thousands of similar accidents across the country daily. Why is this one necessarily newsworthy?

[Psimbo]

9 hours ago, smedly said:

the answer is in fact to have roundabouts on these roads an not these very obviously dangerous u-turns, they would not only introduce traffic calming but also provide a safe means for vehicles to switch direction, it is how it is done in the UK,  and of course along with that should come a training program on how to properly use them

Doesn't work- which is why Heroines is closed off most of the time and you have to do u-turns.

 

Roundabouts are fine with disciplined drivers who understand how they work -never going to happen here. No discipline, no giving way to others  (its a sign of weakness not to be first!) and putting motorbikes heading the wrong way into the mix makes for quite an adventure. 

 

The two smaller roundabouts in Patong and Chalong Circle are also cases in point- total chaos. I was at the roundabout at the north end of Patong last Thu and a guy went round the wrong side of it.

[smedly]

6 hours ago, jerojero said:

Poor chap, but thousands of similar accidents across the country daily. Why is this one necessarily newsworthy?

the great thing about a news report is that you can generally get an idea about its contents by reading the header - then you can either continue to read or boil a kettle- what ever rocks

 

 ........................ it is news for the right reasons and what you should be saying is - why are they all not being reported, this was cctv and they captured it and published it........probably for al the wrong reasons but it is out there or maybe for the right reasons who knows

 

I am 100% behind reporting news like this - put it on national tv and replay it over  and over and then 10 times that again, the best platform to reach Thai people is on national TV and follow that with a televised road safety campaign  

 

and start replacing every U-turn junction in Thailand with a ...............roundabout  - yes it might cost a little more but the lives it will save is massive

[smedly]

3 hours ago, Psimbo said:

Doesn't work- which is why Heroines is closed off most of the time and you have to do u-turns.

 

Roundabouts are fine with disciplined drivers who understand how they work -never going to happen here. No discipline, no giving way to others  (its a sign of weakness not to be first!) and putting motorbikes heading the wrong way into the mix makes for quite an adventure. 

 

The two smaller roundabouts in Patong and Chalong Circle are also cases in point- total chaos. I was at the roundabout at the north end of Patong last Thu and a guy went round the wrong side of it.

sorry but roundabouts do work......................................the challenge is getting Thais to use them properly.....and yes that is a challenge, but the solution is correct ................unless you have a better one

[smedly]

7 hours ago, maxcorrigan said:

You mean like give way to the right etc.can you honestly see that happening here? the roundabouts would be gridlocked for most of the day, nice idea but, until drivers learn and made to obey the same set of rules as per highway code it's not gonner happen!

and your solution is what exactly

 

The solution is correct - what you are questioning is the ability to implement it here in Thailand which I agree is a challenge but that does not mean that it is wrong, what comes after is effective education and an intense effort by those enforcing traffic laws to actually do what they are supposed to be doing

 

you gotta start somewhere and if it is right then build on it 

[stevenl]

sorry but roundabouts do work......................................the challenge is getting Thais to use them properly.....and yes that is a challenge, but the solution is correct ................unless you have a better one

Underpasses.

sent using Tapatalk