Where the rubber meets the road

[reader]

Make no mistake: Thai authorities are laser-focused on reducing deaths from Covid. Although we may differ on their priorities and methods, we have to give hem their due for efforts like expanding vaccination availability. Now if they only had put the same resolve into road safety, maybe they would have seen the same kind of success.

But it's never too late. A tragic road accident last week that saw an off-duty cop mow down and kill a well-known eye doctor in a pedestrian crossing zone with his motorbike has garnered the type of social media saturation that always draws a response from Thai officialdom. Cross walks across the country are being repainted and expanded. Not bad for a start but today it was announced that the Royal Thai Police plan to increase the penalty for not stopping at a crosswalk from a maximum fine of 1,000 baht to 4,000 baht.

The doctor's death (captured on video) led to seven charges against the cop who soon after attempted to escape into the monkhood but  later rejected. Activists have been demonstrating for safer road crossings like this group of former accident victims.

It was about three years ago that I posted a photo of a newly designed zebra crossing on Silom rd. near Patpong. I remarked at the time that it was so vividly painted and extended that it actually seemed to be getting some motorists to slow down. That, and hitting offenders where it huts--in the pocketbook, hopefully may make a dent in deaths like this.

 

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, reader said:

Make no mistake: Thai authorities are laser-focused on reducing deaths from Covid. Although we may differ on their priorities and methods, we have to give hem their due for efforts like expanding vaccination availability. Now if they only had put the same resolve into road safety, maybe they would have seen the same kind of success.

If tomorrow, they abolished all COVID restrictions and instead had zero tolerance policing for people not wearing helmets, not wearing seat belts and driving recklessly, I'm pretty sure they would have fewer deaths before the end of the year.

With less impact on the economy. 

 

[PeterRS]

Thai pedestrian crossings can be doubled in size and still will not stop accidents like this. The idiocy has always been that there is no sign or flashing light at the roadside. A driver going at even a reasonable speed will virtually be on one before he realises it. In the UK there is at least a flashing beacon at each side of the road. I believe there are called Belisha beacons after the Minister of Transport who introduced them.

[reader]

From Coconuts Bangkok

Another woman killed crossing a metro Bangkok road

A woman struck so hard by a pickup truck that she was sent flying 10 meters as she traversed a marked pedestrian crossing died of her injuries early this morning.

Five days after a woman’s death under similar circumstances ignited fury over road safety, Win Mar Soe, 33, was hit by a truck just before 11:30pm in the southeast metro province of Samut Prakan province. 

First responders found her lying in the road with severe injuries, about 10 meters from where she was struck. She was taken to Chularat 9 Airport Hospital in critical condition and later died.

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/another-woman-killed-crossing-a-metro-bangkok-road/

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From Thai PBS World

Tens of thousand drivers in Bangkok face fines for encroaching onto zebra crossing

Bangkok’s Thonglor traffic police plan to notify over 25,000 motorists and motorcyclists, who were caught by surveillance cameras encroaching on zebra crossings at the Asoke-Sukhumvit intersection, to pay their fines.

Spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said today (Wednesday) that the city and Thonglor police have introduced AI technology to collect information about traffic violators at the intersection.

Within one month of the AI technology entering use, he said 25,094 drivers were detected encroaching onto on zebra crossings, even though the crossing has been expanded and painted in red and white, with an off-limit zone warning sign, notification of penalties and a speed bump to slow down vehicles turning left into Sukhumvit Road.

He also said that the deployment of AI technology is intended to ease burden on traffic police, so they don’t have to be stationed at the intersection to remind motorists and motorcyclists of the need for road discipline.

If the Asoke model is successful, it will be used at other road intersections in Bangkok, added Pongsakorn.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/tens-of-thousand-drivers-in-bangkok-face-fines-for-encroaching-onto-zebra-crossing/

[reader]

From The Thaiger

Big bike was travelling over 100 kph when it struck Dr. Waraluck last week

After a reflective week of Thai social media mulling over the death of the ophthalmologist Dr. Waraluck Supwatjariyakul last Friday, police have today revealed new circumstances surrounding the incident.

It’s been revealed that 21 year old Pol Lance Corporal Narawit Buadok was traveling at a speed between 108 to 128 kilometers per hour when he struck the victim, instantly killing her at the zebra crossing in Phaya Thai, Bangkok

Apart from being charged seven other charges, he’s now going to be charged with “speeding over the 80 kilometre per hour speed limit”. The earlier charges include failing to stop at a crosswalk, reckless driving causing death, driving with no rear mirror, driving with no licence plate, driving a vehicle without current vehicle tax.

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/transport/big-bike-was-travelling-over-100-kph-when-it-struck-dr-waraluck-last-week

 

 

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Police motorcyclist gets 1 year, 15 days jail for killing 'Mor Kratai'

The Criminal Court on Monday sentenced motorcyclist Pol L/Cpl Norawich Buadok, 21, to one year and 15 days in jail without suspension for running over and killing ophthalmologist Waraluck Supawatjariyakul on a zebra crossing in Bangkok three months ago.

He was later released on 200,000 baht bail pending an appeal. His father, a police sub-lieutenant and his immediate commander, used his position as guarantor to secure his release.

The court was told that Pol L/Cpl Norawich, of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Protection and Crowd Control Division, was driving the Ducati Monster big bike that hit Dr Waraluck, of the faculty of medicine at Chulalongkorn University, on a pedestrian crossing on Phaya Thai Road in Ratchathewi district, on Jan 21. She died of her injuries.

Pol L/Cpl Norawich was found to be driving at 108-128 kilometres per hour, well above the 80kph speed limit.

He was charged with nine counts: driving a vehicle with no licence plate, using a vehicle without paying the registration fee, having no third-party insurance, driving a vehicle with no side mirrors, failing to keep to the left lane, speeding, driving without due regard for safety, failure to comply with traffic signs, and reckless driving causing death.

The court found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to a total of one year and 15 days imprisonment without suspension.

The court initially sentenced him to two years and 30 days in prison and fines of 8,000 baht.

He was fined 2,000 baht on each of four minor charges - driving a vehicle with no licence plate, using a vehicle without paying the registration fee, having no third-party insurance, and driving a vehicle with no side mirrors.

Waraluck's family, prominent opththalmologists, have filed a 72 million baht civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police Office, as the first defendant, and against Pol L/Cpl Norawich  over their daughter's death. They charge that Pol L/Cpl Norawich was on duty at the time and the Royal Thai Police Office is therefore responsible.

Thailand has the second-highest traffic fatality rate in the world, according to a 2018 World Health Organisation report.

[PeterRS]

Yet again we see how the wheels of justice in Thailand can move quickly when it is in the interests of the government to ensure this. Conversely it once again shows how the elite will slow the justice process to dead-slow-stop when it is in the interests of one of the elite. The murdering Red Bull heir is still free almost 10 years after murdering a traffic cop doing his duty. This low life was found to have drugs and alcohol in his system and to have been driving his Ferrari at around 200 kph at 5:00 pm along Sukhumvit. The lies that have been consistently told by the government and the police to explain why this murderer cannot be located even with the (alleged) assistance of Interpol (highly doubtful) surely indicates the large dollops of cash his family is regularly passing over until the statute of limitations is reached.