That ban on riding in the back of pickups

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

The reason it is going unenforced is that it is idiotic as it effects Thai businesses down to the family home.  thee will be a Thai revolt and the Gov doesn't need this. It will cripple Thailand a bit as from red Trucks in Chiang Mai as example, to construction crews to and from sites going all the way to the country aspect in Issan as is a daily way of life whether the king cab or the back of the truck. Bangkok Barry, I suggest you stay in Bangkok with your Bangkokonian family and don't travel anywhere, then you are assured your safety. why do foreigners stick their 2 cents and nose in Thailand for where it doesn't belong! I could say that it is people like you that make Thailand more unattractive as people like you come here and you gain numbers here. don't like the water then take your family somewhere else.  

Thank you. Another <deleted> off home advocate. How original. How does my nose not belong when I've lived here for 25 years and seen people I know killed and injured in pickup accidents? You know, there are other countries in the world where people (with their latest smart phones) are 'poor', but they don't die on the road in their thousands because they have common sense. Would you want one of your kids to be riding like this, playing Russian roulette every day?

[thaiguzzi]

21 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You must be Thai, telling me to pack my back (sic) and selfishly leave and desert my family here.

Ignoring and not enforcing one law leads to people ignoring any and every law - including drunk driving as we saw during Songkran. It's like a cancer. My main point was that, despite the PM insisting that the law will be strictly enforced it is not happening. As everyone expects and why they ignore what he said.

Why do I care? Because ignoring the pickup law leads to ignoring them all, and the driver of a pickup who ignores the law on passengers in the back is just as likely to ignore the law on drunk driving. And then that driver might wipe out himself, his passengers and anyone else he might crash into or mow down. And that might be me or members of my family. That is why enforcing the law all the time is a good idea. Otherwise, what is the point of having a police force?

Got it now?

 

Er, no.

Yawn...

You're not an ex copper by any chance?

[connda]

The ban is only enforced within, say, 50 meters of a roadblock.  If you know where the road blocks are normally set up, pretty much 99.999999% of Thai roads are free and open for a pickup full of people in the back.  Also  99.999999% of Thai roads are free and open for virtually every other infraction.  Without cars on the road monitoring traffic violations, there ain't a whole lot of enforcement going on.  Fining schmucks that don't wear helmets or seatbelts.  That's where the real gravy-train is.

[Bangkok Barry]

5 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

 

Er, no.

Yawn...

You're not an ex copper by any chance?

Why would I need to be an ex-copper to want to see laws enforced? It's interesting to me that Thailand attracts so many people from overseas who don't like that. The lower standards of Thailand are a magnet for that type unlike, say, Singapore or Malaysia where the standards are much higher.

[elgordo38]

On 5/5/2017 at 7:03 PM, bapoboy said:

Why do you care what others are doing? If others do not use seat belts, helmets or sitting behind in a pick up it will have no impact on your life. Take care of yourself and shut up.

The truth yes but it could be put over in a softer manner. My teacher was the last person that told me to shut up. 

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

The truth yes but it could be put over in a softer manner. My teacher was the last person that told me to shut up. 

Just another internet keyboard coward. I doubt very much that he would tell me to my face to shut up.

[bandito]

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 5:07 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

 

We were told that the law against riding in the back of pickups would be strictly enforced after Songkran. I've been out and about and still plenty of it going on. Why do officials even bother opening their mouths to spout such nonsense. When has any law in Thailand ever been strictly enforced. Everyone knows they can ignore anything that is said with impunity, except when the tea fund is getting a bit low. Of course, that is one of the great attractions to many foreigners in Thailand, the fact that everyone is allowed to break the law even if it puts their own life and that of others in danger. Freedom from the nanny state and all that.

 

 

You're right about that.

Living in Thailand=freedom from the nanny state!

[thaiguzzi]

16 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Thank you. Another <deleted> off home advocate. How original. How does my nose not belong when I've lived here for 25 years and seen people I know killed and injured in pickup accidents? You know, there are other countries in the world where people (with their latest smart phones) are 'poor', but they don't die on the road in their thousands because they have common sense. Would you want one of your kids to be riding like this, playing Russian roulette every day?

Yeah, i have no problem with my son along with other kids sitting in the back of a truck, and the inside of the truck is full of older women.

IF the driver is sensible and competent, ditto the kids in the back (and most kids at an early age realize that tarmac hurts), i see no problem in the above photo.

Lets take another look at that picture. How many parents riding a gaggle of scooters/mopeds would be needed to replace that one pick up taking those kids to their destination. How many 5 seater sedans, how many 7 seat mini vans?

Out in the sticks there are no skytrains. Few regular buses. Expensive tuk tuks. 15 kids - 15 scooters with mum/aunt/uncle running to and fro.

The above photo is just practical for this country at this moment in time.

 

 

[bandito]

3 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Yeah, i have no problem with my son along with other kids sitting in the back of a truck, and the inside of the truck is full of older women.

IF the driver is sensible and competent, ditto the kids in the back (and most kids at an early age realize that tarmac hurts), i see no problem in the above photo.

Lets take another look at that picture. How many parents riding a gaggle of scooters/mopeds would be needed to replace that one pick up taking those kids to their destination. How many 5 seater sedans, how many 7 seat mini vans?

Out in the sticks there are no skytrains. Few regular buses. Expensive tuk tuks. 15 kids - 15 scooters with mum/aunt/uncle running to and fro.

The above photo is just practical for this country at this moment in time.

 

 

 

Well said.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Yeah, i have no problem with my son along with other kids sitting in the back of a truck, and the inside of the truck is full of older women.

IF the driver is sensible and competent, ditto the kids in the back (and most kids at an early age realize that tarmac hurts), i see no problem in the above photo.

Lets take another look at that picture. How many parents riding a gaggle of scooters/mopeds would be needed to replace that one pick up taking those kids to their destination. How many 5 seater sedans, how many 7 seat mini vans?

Out in the sticks there are no skytrains. Few regular buses. Expensive tuk tuks. 15 kids - 15 scooters with mum/aunt/uncle running to and fro.

The above photo is just practical for this country at this moment in time.

 

 

Extraordinary comments. Any one, or more, of those kids could be killed or seriously injured at any moment if the driver has to stop suddenly or swerve to avoid another vehicle. So it doesn't matter whether the driver transporting your son is the best driver in the world - road safety depends on others acting responsibly too, and you and I know that is very far from the norm here.

I personally know of a lad who fell off the back of a pickup and hit his head and was killed. My wife as a child was in one, school transportation, that overturned because a bike pulled out in front and the pickup driver tried to avoid hitting him. One of her friends died, another lost his legs. But you appear happy to take a chance with your son. Good luck to you, and him. I assume you are okay with never knowing for sure if he'll make it home. Many do not.

[jerojero]

What does (sic) mean?

sic) (with square-brackets usually) is an abbreviation of 'sic erat scriptum' which is Latin for 'thus it had been written', meaning that the quote prior was transcribed as it was found in the original source, complete with errors, coloquialisms etc.

[Saan]

The problem comes down to an inadequate public transport system.

[thaiguzzi]

For the MAJORITY of the Thai population, the pick up truck is the only choice of mass private transportation.

My 11 y/o son fell out of a trailer being pulled by a tractor on our farm when he was 5 y/o. Broke his arm. Could it have been avoided? Yes. Has he learned his lesson? Yes. Does it stop him from doing similar stuff? Hell no!

Just finishing building him an off road 250cc motorcycle. Aged 11.

It appears you and me are polar opposites...

[bandito]

Just now, thaiguzzi said:

For the MAJORITY of the Thai population, the pick up truck is the only choice of mass private transportation.

My 11 y/o son fell out of a trailer being pulled by a tractor on our farm when he was 5 y/o. Broke his arm. Could it have been avoided? Yes. Has he learned his lesson? Yes. Does it stop him from doing similar stuff? Hell no!

Just finishing building him an off road 250cc motorcycle. Aged 11.

It appears you and me are polar opposites...

 

Again, well said.

[thaiguzzi]

11 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Extraordinary comments. Any one, or more, of those kids could be killed or seriously injured at any moment if the driver has to stop suddenly or swerve to avoid another vehicle. So it doesn't matter whether the driver transporting your son is the best driver in the world - road safety depends on others acting responsibly too, and you and I know that is very far from the norm here.

I personally know of a lad who fell off the back of a pickup and hit his head and was killed. My wife as a child was in one, school transportation, that overturned because a bike pulled out in front and the pickup driver tried to avoid hitting him. One of her friends died, another lost his legs. But you appear happy to take a chance with your son. Good luck to you, and him. I assume you are okay with never knowing for sure if he'll make it home. Many do not.

 

[bandito]

13 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Extraordinary comments. Any one, or more, of those kids could be killed or seriously injured at any moment if the driver has to stop suddenly or swerve to avoid another vehicle. So it doesn't matter whether the driver transporting your son is the best driver in the world - road safety depends on others acting responsibly too, and you and I know that is very far from the norm here.

I personally know of a lad who fell off the back of a pickup and hit his head and was killed. My wife as a child was in one, school transportation, that overturned because a bike pulled out in front and the pickup driver tried to avoid hitting him. One of her friends died, another lost his legs. But you appear happy to take a chance with your son. Good luck to you, and him. I assume you are okay with never knowing for sure if he'll make it home. Many do not.

 

And many do make it home, daily.

 

 

[geriatrickid]

On 5/5/2017 at 8:03 AM, bapoboy said:

 

Why do you care what others are doing? If others do not use seat belts, helmets or sitting behind in a pick up it will have no impact on your life. Take care of yourself and shut up.

 

*drunk driving, reckless driving and highspeed driving is the problem 

Because it harms others around them...

And if you can't accept how things works in Thailand, pack your back and get hell out of here, or if you are a toruist stop coming here, go somewhere else, the only on that can do something abut what you don't like it's yourself.. the choice is your's.

 

 

He cares because he is at personal risk. Do you know what happens when  one of those loaded vehicles stops suddenly?  Usually,  Somchai is flung from the vehicle. Sometimes he lands on to the pavement leaving a bloody splatter. Vehicles braking suddenly tend to cause other collisions. They can hit other vehicles or jump a sidewalk trying to avoid the tossed human cargo.  Other times Somchai can be thrown onto or into another vehicle causing significant damage. I don't know if you have ever  been obliged to clean body splatter off of a vehicle, but it isn't easy. Blood is quite sticky, like a sugar spray.  Body fluids can soak the upholstery if a head flies through the  windshield and lands inside. Also,  when you drive over a body, it can cause damage to the vehicle suspension as well as collateral juice spray. It is hard to wash off and  the  insects that are attracted to the sticky debris stuck to the undercarriage are significant. The car can literally be infested with maggots and pupae in a matter of days as hundreds of flies lay their eggs.  That's not to mention the likelihood of the ghosts that may have possessed the vehicle. In Thailand, vehicle crash victims spirits can possess nearby vehicles and haunt them.

 

Your condescending retort that this person should pack his bags and leave if he doesn't like the way things are is contrary to public policy. The gentleman has merely inquired as to an enforcement of the law.   You on the other hand are  advocating disobedience of the law. Thailand doesn't need a foreign lawbreaker. As such, it is you who should leave as you state that the laws are not for you.

 

 

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just another internet keyboard coward. I doubt very much that he would tell me to my face to shut up.

Pot shots from the cheap seats. 

[impulse]

21 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

was revoked already.....though a good idea it was just badly carried out. It would have given a push to buy vans instead of pick-ups.

In total again funny actions of incompetent soldiers

 

Have you priced out vans as opposed to pickups?  

 

Somewhere, there are billionaires thinking we'd all be safer if we bought armored limo's and hired security service trained drivers.

 

And they're right.  But how many of us could afford it?

Edited May 7, 2017 by impulse

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, jerojero said:

sic) (with square-brackets usually) is an abbreviation of 'sic erat scriptum' which is Latin for 'thus it had been written', meaning that the quote prior was transcribed as it was found in the original source, complete with errors, coloquialisms etc.

Seems a bit complicated.

[Dumbastheycome]

Have I  just  witnessed  a  combined  elephant/ buffalo  rampage ? 

[jtrump]

On 5/7/2017 at 9:29 AM, thaiguzzi said:

Yeah, i have no problem with my son along with other kids sitting in the back of a truck, and the inside of the truck is full of older women.

IF the driver is sensible and competent, ditto the kids in the back (and most kids at an early age realize that tarmac hurts), i see no problem in the above photo.

Lets take another look at that picture. How many parents riding a gaggle of scooters/mopeds would be needed to replace that one pick up taking those kids to their destination. How many 5 seater sedans, how many 7 seat mini vans?

Out in the sticks there are no skytrains. Few regular buses. Expensive tuk tuks. 15 kids - 15 scooters with mum/aunt/uncle running to and fro.

The above photo is just practical for this country at this moment in time.

 

 

Wow, you don't care much about your children do you.  It is not the driver of the truck in question.  So, this truck with your children are crossing a intersection nice and safely then another driver rams them from the side because he was in a hurry and didn't care about the light.  Your children get flung out into the highway and get run over by another car.  This would not happen if they were in the vehicle and strapped in by safety belts.

 

And because Thailand has been doing this for ages makes it alright.  Amazing stupidity in Amazing Thailand.

Edited May 8, 2017 by jtrump

[thaiguzzi]

2 hours ago, jtrump said:

Wow, you don't care much about your children do you.  It is not the driver of the truck in question.  So, this truck with your children are crossing a intersection nice and safely then another driver rams them from the side because he was in a hurry and didn't care about the light.  Your children get flung out into the highway and get run over by another car.  This would not happen if they were in the vehicle and strapped in by safety belts.

 

And because Thailand has been doing this for ages makes it alright.  Amazing stupidity in Amazing Thailand.

Er, so what's gonna happen with the other 15 million kids in this country. Strap 'em all in Fortuners? 6 + driver per vehicle. You gonna pay for the "upgrades?

And by the way, i love my son more than anything on this planet. Aint gonna make me stop him doing normal stuff, like riding in the back of a pick up truck.

 Best not get out of bed today, might be dangerous....

[holy cow cm]

On 5/6/2017 at 4:28 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

Thank you. Another <deleted> off home advocate. How original. How does my nose not belong when I've lived here for 25 years and seen people I know killed and injured in pickup accidents? You know, there are other countries in the world where people (with their latest smart phones) are 'poor', but they don't die on the road in their thousands because they have common sense. Would you want one of your kids to be riding like this, playing Russian roulette every day?

If that long  here then we both know people who have been killed. Last year 3 of my daughter's Uni friends, and then a couple or one every year for the last 6 yrs. The picture is offensive for any parent and is out of line beyond common sense (they should be sitting down), but in California when I was young we rode around like this in the country. Fewer people, but the same. A complete ban is ludicrous, but there should be guidelines thus allowing it. So your nose does not belong in it as has nothing to do with you. BTW. do you have children here? so at 25 you have 1/2 a year  more year longer than me here. 

[ben2talk]

On 5/5/2017 at 7:29 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

You must be Thai, telling me to pack my back (sic) and selfishly leave and desert my family here.
Ignoring and not enforcing one law leads to people ignoring any and every law - including drunk driving as we saw during Songkran.

It's like a cancer.

 

My main point was that, despite the PM insisting that the law will be strictly enforced it is not happening. As everyone expects and why they ignore what he said.

Why do I care? Because ignoring the pickup law leads to ignoring them all, and the driver of a pickup who ignores the law on passengers in the back is just as likely to ignore the law on drunk driving. And then that driver might wipe out himself, his passengers and anyone else he might crash into or mow down. And that might be me or members of my family. That is why enforcing the law all the time is a good idea. Otherwise, what is the point of having a police force?

Got it now?

Hmmm so you recognise the facts - they talk, they make law. They don't enforce, people ignore it (not as if the Traffic Police will stop you doing crazy stuff on the expressway - that's not a public road anyway is it?)

 

So now you're going to enforce the law all the time in a country that only enforces it when they see an opportunity to 1. take some pocket money or 2. protect their own interests...

 

Do you really believe Thailand has a 'police force' and an 'army' or simply 'state forces'.

 

Throw away your stupid 'English' dictionary and buy a Thai one - maybe you don't understand anything.

 

They don't care what you think anyway.

[Richiekorn]

As of my experience, they do enforce it. I was fined a week and a half ago at a roadblock. 

 

I had thought that they allowed 6 people max. in the back, so I had 3 of my workers who were helping me with bags of cement. When they pulled me over, they told me it is OK to ride in the back, as long as they are sitting with their bottoms on the tray. My workers were sitting on some bags of cement. So license taken etc etc. 400B fine  (was initially 500B) down at the station after a chat.

 

IMO they do what they can to enforce the law with the roadblocks, but at this current time in Thailand, it is not feasible to have police monitor and pull people over randomly on the already-congested roads. I drive everyday and even if there was just one lane blocked from an accident / broken down bus or whatever, it causes a traffic jam all the way down the road. Imagine what it would be like if everyone kept getting pulled over!

 

Anyway, I'm not here to start an argument on whats right and wrong, just stating that from my knowledge, 6 people max. but have to be completely sitting down in the tray, and your A-OK (in private registered cars).   

Edited May 9, 2017 by Richiekorn

[ben2talk]

32 minutes ago, Richiekorn said:

As of my experience, they do enforce it. I was fined a week and a half ago at a roadblock. 

 

I had thought that they allowed 6 people max. in the back, so I had 3 of my workers who were helping me with bags of cement. When they pulled me over, they told me it is OK to ride in the back, as long as they are sitting with their bottoms on the tray. My workers were sitting on some bags of cement. So license taken etc etc. 400B fine  (was initially 500B) down at the station after a chat.

 

IMO they do what they can to enforce the law with the roadblocks, but at this current time in Thailand, it is not feasible to have police monitor and pull people over randomly on the already-congested roads. I drive everyday and even if there was just one lane blocked from an accident / broken down bus or whatever, it causes a traffic jam all the way down the road. Imagine what it would be like if everyone kept getting pulled over!

 

Anyway, I'm not here to start an argument on whats right and wrong, just stating that from my knowledge, 6 people max. but have to be completely sitting down in the tray, and your A-OK (in private registered cars).   

You do realise that it's not due to a lack of money. They simply don't have any interest to put traffic cars out there... so if people are sitting on cement bags, they can always shuffle down a bit when they go past the road blocks.

 

The road blocks catch mostly innocents who don't realise... they aren't so much an attempt to enforce, they're more an attempt to catch 400B here and there.

 

Wouldn't it be better for them to have 2 cops in a car catching the idiots overtaking you on the inside when you're in a queue doing 120 already? Tonight my wife was delayed for 1.5 hours by an accident caused by some idiot not willing to slow down 5km/h and be safe.

 

You also need to look at the fast roads where bad accidents occur, and pretty safe roads (like Sukumvit in the daytime - not much chance of causing an accident by riding a bike on the right or in the middle at 80km/h). You'll find the police operating money traps, not 'law enforcement for the improvement of road safety and awareness'.

[holy cow cm]

On 5/7/2017 at 9:49 AM, thaiguzzi said:

For the MAJORITY of the Thai population, the pick up truck is the only choice of mass private transportation.

My 11 y/o son fell out of a trailer being pulled by a tractor on our farm when he was 5 y/o. Broke his arm. Could it have been avoided? Yes. Has he learned his lesson? Yes. Does it stop him from doing similar stuff? Hell no!

Just finishing building him an off road 250cc motorcycle. Aged 11.

It appears you and me are polar opposites...

Who are you referring to? Same person I was at? Bangkok Barry?  If Thailand loses its wild east, it will be dull to a point. We don't need this to be a sterile SingaBORE.

[Bangkok Barry]

41 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Who are you referring to? Same person I was at? Bangkok Barry?  If Thailand loses its wild east, it will be dull to a point. We don't need this to be a sterile SingaBORE.

Yep. Much more exciting to have the daily road deaths from people thrown out of the back of pickups.

[holy cow cm]

Just put everyone is a ball, chip them and have them say baaaaa Bangkok Barry. The sky is not falling so no need for a band wagon.  I have seen plenty of road side deaths over the years. Only one haunts me. If someone is hurt then I will stop and help, and it is my belief if your time is up then it is up. do you really get out much? or just cry over the news?