A Death....a reminder

One of the farang that live on the same street across from my house died from a motorbike accident 2 days a go in front of Zxyte. He had lived in Pattaya and rode his motorbike everywhere. He was a nice giy and always seemed to be a carefull driver when I saw him on our street. Unfortunately he wore one of thos cheap plastic helments that only protects you from the police not an accident.

Had he had a good helment he might have easily survived. His death occured from head tramua. No other injuries.

As many of us ride motorbikes around Pattaya this is another reminder to buy a good well fitting helment. They are much more expensive to be sure but may well save your life. Like many of us I think I am a defensive driver and that by being carefull nothing will happen to me. But this was a terrible reminder that an accident can happen even to the good drivers...and I know I am not that good.

Just a friendly reminder to get a good helmet if you don't have one.

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That's very sad Male. They always seems to get you in the end, motorbikes. They are fun but lethal. I would add besides a proper helmet also always wear thick jeans and a leather jacket with extra padding if possible.

[Geezer]

If you have a 3,000 bt. head, buy a 3,000 bt. helmet.

[TrongpaiExpat]

There's no real way to tell if a good helmet would have saved his live unless you did an autopsy and discovered that brain stem is still attached to the spinal cord. Sometimes all a helmet does is protect you from less traumatic crashes. Not that I would recommend not wearing a good one, at all times.

I don't think that I ever paid a visit to Pattaya and not seen a motoercy accident, just after the fact or actually seen it happen. I saw one nasty fatality on Second road once where the guy, a big farang, looked like a rag doll as he flew into the back of a truck. The police arrived in a pick up truck and flung him in the back like a sack of rice: I hope he was really dead already.

[thaiworthy-old]

It might make an interesting poll to find out how many expats living in Pattaya ride motorcycles as opposed to public transportation, or just walking.

I have ridden motorcycles before, but would not want to again, and certainly not in Pattaya.

Among the first things I pack when heading for my home in Pattaya is my American DOT SNELL approved motorcycle helmet and my FOX riding jacket. I love and fear riding my motorbike in Thailand, so I use the best equipment money will buy. I love the wind in my face and weaving through traffic, but at the same time it scares the hell out of me. I have taken all of the riding classes and ride a motorcycle in America, but I fully understand that everytime I start a bike I am taking my life in my hands. I decided a long time ago that I was going to live life fully and in the fast lane until the wheels fall off of the wheel chair. My choice, but I hope that I will never have to pay the ultimate price.

Thaiworthy,

you have a good point. Riding a motorbike in Pattaya is very different to "normal" conditions. I have ridden big motorbikes for about 25 years, and I still have a motorbike here, although I only ride it outside Pattaya and really keep it more for sentimental reasons.

My partner, who is a better driver than me (though a lot less experienced on a motorbike), drove it for the first time several months ago. I was driving a car about two minutes behind him and turned a corner to see the bike lying in the middle of the road, him just getting to his feet, and a smaller motorbike and its driver also lying in the road. Fortunately it is a large, solid bike and he was going slowly, so although the smaller bike had driven straight out of a side road without stopping, and hit the handlebars, the bike had absorbed most of the shock and it and my partner were largely undamaged (scratches to his hands and to the bike's headlight and speedo). The other bike had been spun completely around and the driver had a broken wrist. Fortunately, too, there were a number of witnesses who all said the other driver was at fault (as he himself admitted).

Inevitably the other driver was only 17, with no licence, no insurance, no tax and no money. When his parents arrived at the local police station they said, smiling, they only had 20 baht to pay for any damage - the smile soon went when the police impounded the bike, told them to sell their fridge and TV to make a downpayment, and laid down a series of monthly payments. As I pushed their bike into the police "lock-up" I noticed that there were also no brakes! I asked the mother if she knew, as it was her bike, and she replied that it had been like that for years as brakes were expensive, and that she had told her son to use the gears to brake instead (as if that made it his fault). I could see nothing to be gained by pointing out that she now had a son with a broken wrist, who would be unable to work and earn any money for 3 to 4 months and would have a weak wrist all his life, his medical bills, payments to my partner, and no bike until those payments were made - probably some 30,000 baht out of pocket in all, just to save a couple of hundred baht.

Although I know it is stupid, I do occasionally go out without a helmet on very local trips (and I live in a quiet country area), and I personally hate wearing a helmet on a bike, I would strongly re-inforce the recommendation about wearing a decent helmet. Thick jeans and a leather jacket are not really comfortable here, on or off a bike, but I would recommend a strong /re-inforced pair of bike gloves - fingerless exercise / workout gloves are a good alternative and could save you a lot of pain from "gravel rash" on your hands.

Pattaya Male has got it right. Being a good and a defensive driver helps, but on a bike your safety is basically in the hands of those you are sharing the road with- and most of them seem to switch to a different mode when they enter Pattaya's City Limits!!

What a sad end. It boggles my mind the number of people who still ride around with no helmet at all and kids perched on front.

[francois]

At a minimum, a good helmet and riding gloves and shoes, not scandals. Of course, you can't beat leather!