News Forum - Another Bangkok pedestrian killed crossing the road

[Thaiger]

After last week’s tragic killing of a pedestrian by a motorbike at a Bangkok zebra crossing, a pickup truck killed a pedestrian crossing the road in Samut Prakan this morning. A pickup truck struck 33 year old Win Mar Soe, who is from Myanmar, and reportedly swung her 10 metres. First responders took her to Chularat 9 Airport Hospital in critical condition, and she later died. The pickup truck driver, 34 year old Montree Poolslip, reportedly admitted he was driving too fast and said he didn’t see Win in time as she crossed the street. He also told police the […]

The story Another Bangkok pedestrian killed crossing the road as seen on Thaiger News.

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[ThaiEyes]

“One government spokesperson Pongsakorn Kwanmueng revealed that over 25,000 drivers broke traffic laws in the past month.”

This is reported, not actual. The information comes from cameras mostly. After the fact and surely not because some cop caught them in the act. Cops are usually nowhere to be seen.  In Bangkok, most drivers probably break some law every day or two and I’m sure there’s over 25k drivers per day in Bangkok.

[KaptainRob]

24 minutes ago, Transam said:

Another thing folk here don't seem to do, read the road ahead.....

... nor behind or either side ...  last week I had a silver van up my gunga for 20+ kms thru national forest until he could pass.  Side mirrors were broken off and when I stopped behind him at a Rangers check point we couldn't see thru the rear window bubbled old tinting film.  

[Graham]

Unfortunately just another sad statistic for the state of the roads and policing of Thailand. 

[ThaiEyes]

3 hours ago, Transam said:

Another thing folk here don't seem to do, read the road ahead.....

Transam, though they read their text messages just fine while driving

[beaufoy]

concerning the road crossing deaths there is a problem, despite having a full english driving licence and an advanced driving licence and having trained to become an advanced driving test instructor I do find myself not stopping at thai crossings when people are obviously waiting to cross. The fact of the matter is driving standards are very poor in Thailand. Hence if i see a pedestrian waiting to cross I check my mirror and if there is a car behind then I suspect me braking could cause the driver behind to run into the back of my car. 

[Vince]

3 hours ago, ThaiEyes said:

“One government spokesperson Pongsakorn Kwanmueng revealed that over 25,000 drivers broke traffic laws in the past month.”

This is reported, not actual. The information comes from cameras mostly. After the fact and surely not because some cop caught them in the act. Cops are usually nowhere to be seen.  In Bangkok, most drivers probably break some law every day or two and I’m sure there’s over 25k drivers per day in Bangkok.

It's not as chronic, but in my city - far far away from Thailand - the police, if you see them at all, are a) drinking coffee b) guarding a private business, off duty for pay, but in uniform, or c) driving around, presumably to a) or b). 

And I have deep sympathy for the hard job the police do, but traffic enforcement is not one of them. 

Pedestrians have to rely on the fear of drivers not wanting to dent their cars or having to wash the blood off their grills to stop. 

 

 

[Vince]

2 hours ago, Graham said:

Unfortunately just another sad statistic for the state of the roads and policing of Thailand. 

Yes, in my country too - far away from Thailand - we have (world famous!) police problems and ... a crumbling infrastructure. 

I guess it's pretty easy to conclude this is merely a problem for a "corrupt developing nation" when even corrupt developed nations have the same issue. 

[ThaiEyes]

2 minutes ago, Vince said:

It's not as chronic, but in my city - far far away from Thailand - the police, if you see them at all, are a) drinking coffee b) guarding a private business, off duty for pay, but in uniform, or c) driving around, presumably to a) or b). 

And I have deep sympathy for the hard job the police do, but traffic enforcement is not one of them. 

Pedestrians have to rely on the fear of drivers not wanting to dent their cars or having to wash the blood off their grills to stop. 

It is the Thailand traffic police that should be enforcing those laws or they should just abolish that particular police division. I don’t know what numbers of these police are on hand, but not enough of them could be a contributing factor on top of any laziness, perceived or otherwise. 

[Vince]

8 minutes ago, ThaiEyes said:

It is the Thailand traffic police that should be enforcing those laws or they should just abolish that particular police division. I don’t know what numbers of these police are on hand, but not enough of them could be a contributing factor on top of any laziness, perceived or otherwise. 

Yes, in my country and city traffic enforcement seems invisible (unless it's a speed trap in small town targeting tourists!)

Strangely, the revenue generating parking enforcement runs like a Tokyo HST with flawless execution. Must be corruption! 

Greedy, mercenary, and always on the take describes my cities public officials - they must have learned it all in Thailand. 

 

[Pietro]

I'm really glad this problem is getting more and more attention, although I'm really sorry people need to get killed for the authoiries to react. I can't tell you how many times I had to run for life while trying to cross the street on the green for pedestrians when I lived in Bangkok. This was very common especially when the drivers entered the crossing from a side road turning left. They didn't have the red and that's all that mattered. The green for pedestrians? Who cares! They should be lucky I slow down for them once in a while. And I agree with some of you, the Police are part of that problem.

[Vince]

18 minutes ago, Pietro said:

I'm really glad this problem is getting more and more attention, although I'm really sorry people need to get killed for the authoiries to react. I can't tell you how many

 

 

Absolutely avoidable deaths anywhere in the world. 

Year after year in my city thousands of km away from Thailand I read about  tragic pedestrian or bicycle deaths.

And those merely injured aren't even mentioned. 

Literally, years of deaths and public outcry did nothing. Powerful city officials who didn't even live in my city blocked reforms because they drove in from out of town in large trucks and SUVs and didn't want to lose parking spaces. 

Small businesses frightened of any business loss also opposed measures to improve bicycle and/or pedestrian safety. 

 

18 minutes ago, Pietro said:

 ...And I agree with some of you, the Police are part of that problem.

Absolutely, and in my city the police are not told to enforce traffic laws. 

Parking laws are enforced with amazing consistency. Must be corruption.

[Marc26]

1 minute ago, Vince said:

Absolutely avoidable deaths anywhere in the world. 

Year after year in my city thousands of km away from Thailand I read about  tragic pedestrian or bicycle deaths.

And those merely injured aren't even mentioned. 

Literally, years of deaths and public outcry did nothing. Powerful city officials who didn't even live in my city blocked reforms because they drove in from out of town in large trucks and SUVs and didn't want to lose parking spaces. 

Small businesses frightened of any business loss also opposed measures to improve bicycle and/or pedestrian safety. 

Absolutely, and in my city the police are not told to enforce traffic laws. 

Parking laws are enforced with amazing consistency. Must be corruption.

I'm thinking you should move.....

[Skip]

It is really a two pronged tragedy... drivers all over the world can be rude, distracted, or just plain lousy at it.  Pedestrians (the other half of the equation) can just be distracted, just plain stupid, or lousy at it.

[RampantRabbit]

14 hours ago, Thaiger said:

who is from Myanmar

end of  story  say  no  more, dont bother waiting for the "netizens outrage" there  wont be  any

[RampantRabbit]

 On e or  two  sleeping  policemen and I dont mean the  hump  in the road I mean the ones hiding at every junction feet  up  in a  box,  standing there  daily  instead of standing uselesslly at  u  turns  arms  flailing looking like they are (when in fact  not)  helping the traffic with a  book to fine and collect with immediate removal of vehicle would  sort this in days

Bangkok officials painted signs telling drivers to slow down at crosswalks, and also 50 metres before crosswalks, to warn drivers in advance they will have to slow down before reaching the crosswalks.

[HiuMak]

you need 8 eyes 4 legs to cross Thai roads.

[RampantRabbit]

10 hours ago, beaufoy said:

concerning the road crossing deaths there is a problem, despite having a full english driving licence and an advanced driving licence and having trained to become an advanced driving test instructor I do find myself not stopping at thai crossings when people are obviously waiting to cross. The fact of the matter is driving standards are very poor in Thailand. Hence if i see a pedestrian waiting to cross I check my mirror and if there is a car behind then I suspect me braking could cause the driver behind to run into the back of my car. 

dont worry they can do that  just fine without any panic  braking whilst dawdling along in a traffic  queue to get to the  toll  booth like this winker ..oh yeah.of  course,  he  had  no  insurance, 20k to fix the bumper, rural  halfwit,  note  the retarded  grin

[RampantRabbit]

8 minutes ago, HiuMak said:

you need 8 eyes 4 legs to cross Thai roads.

by the time (if)  you get to ther other  side  you  will  have lost two of  those  legs

[gion]

 

the majority of thai car and motorcyclists have never attended a driving school. If you want to change something, you have to force people to take driving lessons and you only get a permit after a practical and theoretical test. As long as this is not standard in Thailand, nothing will change, because there is only one rule in road traffic: there are no rules and everyone does what they want.

 

[RampantRabbit]

7 hours ago, Vince said:

Absolutely avoidable deaths anywhere in the world. 

Year after year in my city thousands of km away from Thailand I read about  tragic pedestrian or bicycle deaths.

And those merely injured aren't even mentioned. 

Literally, years of deaths and public outcry did nothing. Powerful city officials who didn't even live in my city blocked reforms because they drove in from out of town in large trucks and SUVs and didn't want to lose parking spaces. 

Small businesses frightened of any business loss also opposed measures to improve bicycle and/or pedestrian safety. 

Absolutely, and in my city the police are not told to enforce traffic laws. 

Parking laws are enforced with amazing consistency. Must be corruption.

Meanwhile in my ex  city the morons  have reduced  many main roads  to a  top speed of 20mph, put  more  white  paint  on the road than there is  tarmac more  signs than a  man with 10 eyes  could  read and demonized  drivers who do 23 mph all this  in a country who has virtually the lowest death roadkill rate  in the world (UK) how about  pedestrians get fined for not  looking when they step  into a road  like many UK Chavs  seem to do these  days. They  also seem to be oblvious to their runtlings who wander  behond them on pavements  ready to wander into the roads to be mown down by these  eveil motorists..when I was a  kid you HAD  to  hold  Dads  hand, the first thing on exiting the car  spoken was  "hand"

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by RampantRabbit

[Fanta]

Drop the speed limit in built up city areas to 40km/h and plant a forest of speed & red light cameras. The cameras will pay for themselves soon enough and lives will be saved. We may not like the “Big Brother” approach but it works. 

[RampantRabbit]

9 minutes ago, gion said:

the majority of thai car and motorcyclists have never attended a driving school. If you want to change something, you have to force people to take driving lessons and you only get a permit after a practical and theoretical test. As long as this is not standard in Thailand, nothing will change, because there is only one rule in road traffic: there are no rules and everyone does what they want.

The  driving test  video I was  "forced" to watch was  the  biggest  load of crap ever, designed for the mentality of a  child, concentrating on  being "nice"  more than anything else. Half the participants were either  asleep/dead (  hard to  tell) or watching their  phone.............but at the end  we  all  had to walk  up  like  naughty school children to sign a worthless  bit of  paper to say we'd  watched the moronic useless  crap.

[Vince]

10 minutes ago, RampantRabbit said:

Meanwhile in my ex  city the morons  have reduced  many main roads  to a  top speed of 20mph, put  more  white  paint  on the road than there is  tarmac more  signs than a  man with 10 eyes  could  read and demonized  drivers who do 23 mph all this  in a country who has virtually the lowest death roadkill rate  in the world (UK) how about  pedestrians get fined for not  looking when they step  into a road  like many UK Chavs  seem to do these  days. They  also seem to be oblvious to their runtlings who wander  behond them on pavements  ready to wander into the roads to be mown down by these  eveil motorists..when I was a  kid you HAD  to  hold  Dads  hand, the first thing on exiting the car  spoken was  "hand"

Yes, sounds like British corruption to me. No doubt they take your £ and are looking to give themselves a pay increase or cover "overtime" while they drink tea and watch football. 

The overtime racket has been mentioned many times in my local press with civil servants, fire fighters, even cleaners at govt sites - with massive overtime bonuses - making as much as a college professor or early career doctor. 

And nowhere near Thailand, so I'm not sure how they figured it out. 

[DiJoDavO]

While the driver is clearly wrong because he didn't slow down near a zebra crossing, we also have to see it from the other side. 

As someone who drives in Thailand, I can say, the zebra crossings are not always easy to spot. They are sometimes suddenly there without being notified. 

Also, whenever I cross one, I'd still look whether I can or not. Whenever I see a car coming closer with a fast speed, I won't cross. Only when there are no cars, or they literally stop for me, I will cross. 

Not paying attention only has to happen once, and bye bye.