7 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

Giving way to emergency vehicles should be compulsory, but not to tin pot motorcades for minor officals.

I know very well sirens are abused. End of the shift put the siren on and clock off.

Social media cost this lad his job, well well done twitface users, I hope you are proud you deprived his family of their next meal...

Maybe you should reverse and campaign for his reinstatement or donate lots of money to his family?

 

 

It is compulsory.

And WHY?  If he didn't break the law his family wouldn't have a problem.  Let him explain to his family why he was fined and lost his job.  No sympathy.

The real problem is twofold:

 

1. Thai ambulance drivers tend to always have their emergency lights on day and/or night whenever in motion.  Of course no driver, Thai or farang, can know if this is an actual emergency or if the driver is simply going to grab some som-tam or cruising to meet his mia noi for a little fun and games.

 

2.  Astonishingly, all Thai ambulances have the English word AMBULANCE plastered on all sides of the vehicle, instead of in Thai language, so most Thais can't read English so don't give a damn. 

It would appear to be common sense, to yield to an ambulance. We are talking about the sacrifice of anywhere between 5 to 15 seconds of your life, to help an injured or very sickly person to safety. Is that not just a decent thing to do? Wouldn't your instincts tell you so? 

 

The concept of fining people for not pulling over is kind of silly. First of all, they do not hand out tickets here, for traffic violations, and public safety risks, nor for reckless driving. It rarely happens. So, how does anyone except the man in the ivory tower expect this to happen? 

1 hour ago, Jimbo in Thailand said:

The real problem is twofold:

 

1. Thai ambulance drivers tend to always have their emergency lights on day and/or night whenever in motion.  Of course no driver, Thai or farang, can know if this is an actual emergency or if the driver is simply going to grab some som-tam or cruising to meet his mia noi for a little fun and games.

 

2.  Astonishingly, all Thai ambulances have the English word AMBULANCE plastered on all sides of the vehicle, instead of in Thai language, so most Thais can't read English so don't give a damn. 

What a feeble excuse.  The flashing blue lights and the cross is a bit of a give away.  It is often in Thai also.  Regardless, blue flashing lights indicate police, fire brigade or ambulance.  All are emergency vehicles and must allowed through.

9 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

Giving way to emergency vehicles should be compulsory, but not to tin pot motorcades for minor officals.

I know very well sirens are abused. End of the shift put the siren on and clock off.

Social media cost this lad his job, well well done twitface users, I hope you are proud you deprived his family of their next meal...

Maybe you should reverse and campaign for his reinstatement or donate lots of money to his family?

 

 

Not quite sure how to respond to your post but here goes,

 

Tinpot motorcades do not get my attention, I can tell the difference between a double decker coach and an ambulance, we see these tinpot motorcades all too frequently on the Sukhamvit Rd through Pattaya.

 

I used to drive a very high spec vehicle on Blues & Twos back in the UK, you would not believe the amount of morons who would try to tailgate you to get through traffic, a swift wrong way around a roundabout normally puts them off.

 

Have you seen the video ? If you had you would realise that the moron in front had absolutely NO idea that the ambulance was behind him for some considerable way, which in my book constitutes driving without due care and attention (for other road users) So, he got a 500 Baht fine and lost his job, GOOD, maybe next time he will pay more attention to what is happening around him, it is called situational awareness.

 

Feel free to donate however much you deem appropriate to this moron in his hour of need because I won't be, so wind your chuffin neck in  

2 hours ago, HHTel said:

What a feeble excuse.  The flashing blue lights and the cross is a bit of a give away.  It is often in Thai also.  Regardless, blue flashing lights indicate police, fire brigade or ambulance.  All are emergency vehicles and must allowed through.

Absolutely not a feeble excuse HHTel.  You're obviously not grasping my point.  Let me say that I personally always give right of way to all ambulances with their lights flashing, like we farangs were taught to do in our home countries, but I completely understand why the Thais typically don't.  Certainly can't blame the Thai public 100% when the always-on emergency flashing lights have completely lost their significance so are typically ignored in traffic.  And absolutely can't imagine why on Earth that Thai ambulance drivers are instructed to leave their emergency lights flashing when there is no emergency.  Of course, lack of proper driver training for the Thai public is also a factor, but the major blame goes to the Thai ambulance companies/hospitals/operators (or maybe the Thai police) that created/continue to enforce this idiotic lights-always-on rule.

14 hours ago, HHTel said:

It is compulsory.

And WHY?  If he didn't break the law his family wouldn't have a problem.  Let him explain to his family why he was fined and lost his job.  No sympathy.

Yes, should be and now is.

I don't for one minute the guy would have lost is job for a 500 baht fine had it not been for the ridiculous social media numbskulls calling for his head. There are constantly far worse infringements of the road laws here that are ignored every minute of the day that don't cost the driver his job...

Get a sense of proportion.

 

 

 

 

He broke the law and was fined. Great!

Employer fires him. This seems excessive, and in a normal country they wouldn't get away with it.

 

12 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Not quite sure how to respond to your post but here goes,

 

Tinpot motorcades do not get my attention, I can tell the difference between a double decker coach and an ambulance, we see these tinpot motorcades all too frequently on the Sukhamvit Rd through Pattaya.

 

I used to drive a very high spec vehicle on Blues & Twos back in the UK, you would not believe the amount of morons who would try to tailgate you to get through traffic, a swift wrong way around a roundabout normally puts them off.

 

Have you seen the video ? If you had you would realise that the moron in front had absolutely NO idea that the ambulance was behind him for some considerable way, which in my book constitutes driving without due care and attention (for other road users) So, he got a 500 Baht fine and lost his job, GOOD, maybe next time he will pay more attention to what is happening around him, it is called situational awareness.

 

Feel free to donate however much you deem appropriate to this moron in his hour of need because I won't be, so wind your chuffin neck in  

My chuffin neck will stick out as long as I want mate.

I've been in emergency response vehicles when there was no emergency,  it was used simply to bully traffic out of the way by "empowered" idiots showing off, like going round roundabouts the wrong way, which is illegal in the UK for them unless a real emergency is in progress.

I have also seen marked police cars exceed the speed limit without lights flashing.

Your arrogance exceeds itself on here as it no doubt does on the road.

Drive carefully

 

 

That's a joke.  1 driver fined, 20 million Thai drivers to go.  

I personally pull over for emergency vehicles.  But it is a rare day on the road in Thailand when I see other Thai drivers do the same.  
However, on the other hand, at least a few times a year I watch as trucks or vans mounted with flashing emergency lights drive down highway 11 at excessive speed, but they are not 'emergency vehicles' but simply jokers who are attempting to get traffic out of his way - and different from the cops who escort VIPs in similar fashion.  The last time I saw this was during a holiday when a couple of morons in trucks with Bangkok plates were weaving in and out of traffic between Lamphun and Chiang Mai, and finally stopped at a traffic light in the left hand lane blocking all traffic that wanted to turn left.  Last I saw of them, they were burning rubber and dodging motorcycles to get ahead of traffic once the light had turned green. Totally out of control driving.  Wife said those flashing lights are illegal, but.....who enforces anything here.  Really?  Just that one jerk who must have gotten filmed by the emergency vehicle's dash cam.  "More tickets to come!!!"  Yeah, can't wait.

On 9/2/2017 at 1:35 PM, Jimbo in Thailand said:

The real problem is twofold:

 

1. Thai ambulance drivers tend to always have their emergency lights on day and/or night whenever in motion.  Of course no driver, Thai or farang, can know if this is an actual emergency or if the driver is simply going to grab some som-tam or cruising to meet his mia noi for a little fun and games.

 

2.  Astonishingly, all Thai ambulances have the English word AMBULANCE plastered on all sides of the vehicle, instead of in Thai language, so most Thais can't read English so don't give a damn. 

theres probably no exact word for ambulance in thai, (IDK),  they seem to call them "rescue" (FWIK)

and as they arent really ambulances,

just private business trying to get victims to a hospital that will pay them.

 

they could have "idiot mobile" on the side for all thais care.

 

 

On 9/2/2017 at 5:24 PM, Jimbo in Thailand said:

Absolutely not a feeble excuse HHTel.  You're obviously not grasping my point.  Let me say that I personally always give right of way to all ambulances with their lights flashing, like we farangs were taught to do in our home countries, but I completely understand why the Thais typically don't.  Certainly can't blame the Thai public 100% when the always-on emergency flashing lights have completely lost their significance so are typically ignored in traffic.  And absolutely can't imagine why on Earth that Thai ambulance drivers are instructed to leave their emergency lights flashing when there is no emergency.  Of course, lack of proper driver training for the Thai public is also a factor, but the major blame goes to the Thai ambulance companies/hospitals/operators (or maybe the Thai police) that created/continue to enforce this idiotic lights-always-on rule.

I see ambulances driving in the traffic on Petchkasem Road as part of the traffic many times without flashing lights so I can't accept that what you say is the norm.

4 hours ago, HHTel said:

I see ambulances driving in the traffic on Petchkasem Road as part of the traffic many times without flashing lights so I can't accept that what you say is the norm.

Yes and the ones actually attending emergencies are traveling at very high and quite dangerous speeds, so its quite easy to work out whats what.

 

I do wonder what the accident rate of rescue vehicles traveling to accidents is..,?

 

Off topic posts and replies have been removed, as this topic is not about ambulances in the UK.

5 hours ago, metisdead said:

Off topic posts and replies have been removed, as this topic is not about ambulances in the UK.

Agreed, but such a subject deserves comparisons as without them it's pointless to debate.  The actions of one country has to be measured by the actions of other countries.

27 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Agreed, but such a subject deserves comparisons as without them it's pointless to debate.  The actions of one country has to be measured by the actions of other countries.

You cannot compare Thailand with other countries.

Sorry, I forgot.  Thailand is unique in the world.

16 hours ago, Wim1954 said:

You cannot compare Thailand with other countries.

Yes, we live on "Planet Thailand" I forgot.