News Forum - British man faces disability after motorcycle accident in Thailand

[Thaiger]

The tranquillity of a family vacation was shattered for Lee Francis, a 54 year old occupational therapist from Church Village, Rhondda Cynon Taf when a motorcycle accident in Thailand left him with paralysis from the waist down. The irony is not lost on Lee, who spent his career aiding disabled individuals to live independently, and … …

The story British man faces disability after motorcycle accident in Thailand as seen on Thaiger News.

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[BJoe]

Foreigners in Thailand continue to over estimate their ability to ride motorbikes, and grossly underestimate how very bad driving in Thailand really is.  Rules of the road normally followed in western countries often don’t apply here. In Thailand, the rule for foreigners is always drive defensively and always expect the unexpected.  And be prepared for shoddy police investigations, and worse if the other driver has “connections”.  This is particularly true of younger tourists whose youthful exuberance and  lack of experience with a foreign lifestyle are catalyst for misadventures.  Couple this with the extraordinary cost of hospital care , which is disproportionate to that of Thai nationals, we have the makings  for the perfect storm. 

[PhuketBloke]

55 minutes ago, BJoe said:

Foreigners in Thailand continue to over estimate their ability to ride motorbikes, and grossly underestimate how very bad driving in Thailand really is.  Rules of the road normally followed in western countries often don’t apply here. In Thailand, the rule for foreigners is always drive defensively and always expect the unexpected.  And be prepared for shoddy police investigations, and worse if the other driver has “connections”.  This is particularly true of younger tourists whose youthful exuberance and  lack of experience with a foreign lifestyle are catalyst for misadventures.  Couple this with the extraordinary cost of hospital care , which is disproportionate to that of Thai nationals, we have the makings  for the perfect storm. 

I drive a car here and always drive defensively eg when coming to a bend Thais seem to think their cars will topple over so they slow down even when they do not need to and many of them use up part of the other side of the road to reduce the effect of the ben bend.

I do not drive that much but I see at least one accident a week or one which has just happened, in Phuket. 

When I can see the traffic lights are red 200 yards away I take my foot off the accelerator as traffic lights can be red for three or four minutes here,  Thai cars wizz past on the inside and so sit at the red lights, when the lights turn green they move off very slowly especially when turning right at crossroads and I can never understand why.

It then means not many cars get through the red light thus slowing down the traffic. 

On the Southern highway (44)  between Krabi and Surat Thani, many cars drive down the highway for miles and miles the wrong way as they live on that side of the road and can not be bothered to do a U-turn further down, they do drive in the cycle land the wrong way so us other car drivers are safe, but not the bike riders. 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, PhuketBloke said:

I drive a car here and always drive defensively eg when coming to a bend Thais seem to think their cars will topple over so they slow down even when they do not need to and many of them use up part of the other side of the road to reduce the effect of the ben bend.

I do not drive that much but I see at least one accident a week or one which has just happened, in Phuket. 

When I can see the traffic lights are red 200 yards away I take my foot off the accelerator as traffic lights can be red for three or four minutes here,  Thai cars wizz past on the inside and so sit at the red lights, when the lights turn green they move off very slowly especially when turning right at crossroads and I can never understand why.

It then means not many cars get through the red light thus slowing down the traffic. 

On the Southern highway (44)  between Krabi and Surat Thani, many cars drive down the highway for miles and miles the wrong way as they live on that side of the road and can not be bothered to do a U-turn further down, they do drive in the cycle land the wrong way so us other car drivers are safe, but not the bike riders. 

I've just always driven defensively anywhere I have driven

 

 

I've driven in about 15 countries or more 

 

And you read on forums you shouldn't drive as a tourist 

 

I've just always driven carefully and been fine 

[Vigo]

Good to see he had a helmet that helped and that his travel insurance paid without problem.

Sometimes the motorbike wipeouts are not the driver's fault. The roads have years of tire and oil rubber build up, there is often light sand/dirt runoff, potholes and sewer grates that are deadly, and of course irresponsible vehicle drivers.

[PhuketBloke]

18 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I've just always driven defensively anywhere I have driven

I've driven in about 15 countries or more 

And you read on forums you shouldn't drive as a tourist 

I've just always driven carefully and been fine 

When driving in places like Germany you do not need to concentrate that much as they follow rules like robots.

But in Berlin for example, if you do not move 10 milliseconds after the traffic light has turned green at a junction the car behind you will beep you. 

It is good fun driving down a Geerman motorway at 160 MPH.

But when you drive Monday to Friday afternoon in Germany and Friday evening to Monday morning in England you have to try to remember which side of the road to drive on as was the case for me, I got it wrong a couple of times.

Also when driving on a highway in America you can overtake cars in any lane, but not in the UK for example. 

In Thailand, you can more or less do as you please, it is good fun most of the time.

I have driven in Thailand, India, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Chechia, England, and Scotland, by far the most dangerous place to drive is Indian.

[PhuketBloke]

13 hours ago, Vigo said:

Good to see he had a helmet that helped and that his travel insurance paid without problem.

Sometimes the motorbike wipeouts are not the driver's fault. The roads have years of tire and oil rubber build up, there is often light sand/dirt runoff, potholes and sewer grates that are deadly, and of course irresponsible vehicle drivers.

There is a steep mountain here in Phuket between Kathu and Patong, there are steep parts of the road with almost 90-degree turns.

When it has not rained for weeks and there is just a short shower the road becomes dangerous with cars sliding across the bends or cars and vans spinning their wheels but not moving anywhere, the way to get up is to keep moving and therefore keep your momentum.

An added problem is many Thai vehicles have old worn-out tires, which makes things worse. 

I have never had a problem but I have seen other cars skid sideways across the road, Thais don't seem to know how to use their gears, on the way down I put my car into second gear so I hardly have to use my brakes, I see all of the other cars in front of me every time with their brake lights on. 

There have been many deaths on the mountain due to brakes failing where cars can not make the turns and end up going across a bend into an oncoming car. 

I also saw several people take their driving tests on the test track in Phuket, a ten-year-old kid could pass the very easy test. 

[Marc26]

53 minutes ago, PhuketBloke said:

When driving in places like Germany you do not need to concentrate that much as they follow rules like robots.

But in Berlin for example, if you do not move 10 milliseconds after the traffic light has turned green at a junction the car behind you will beep you. 

It is good fun driving down a Geerman motorway at 160 MPH.

But when you drive Monday to Friday afternoon in Germany and Friday evening to Monday morning in England you have to try to remember which side of the road to drive on as was the case for me, I got it wrong a couple of times.

Also when driving on a highway in America you can overtake cars in any lane, but not in the UK for example. 

In Thailand, you can more or less do as you please, it is good fun most of the time.

I have driven in Thailand, India, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Chechia, England, and Scotland, by far the most dangerous place to drive is Indian.

I have driven in

US

Canada

Mexico 

Costa Rica

Dominant Republic 

Vietnam 

Indonesia 

Japan

Laos

Colombia

Italy

Netherlands 

Panama

 

And a few others I can't remember 

 

My home, Boston, is one of the worst of all of them.