Not quite sure what is going on, but lately the Maenam area has been seeing more than its usual share of mayhem and madness – accident-wise that is!
It started a few days ago, when – in one period covering only 2/3 hours – there were 4 accidents within a 6 kilometre stretch of road.
2 of the accidents were relatively minor – scrapes and cuts – but due to the fact that neither victims (both on motorbikes) were wearing helmets, their heads had received bumps and cuts, so – as anyone will tell you – head injuries need to be checked-out at hospital… just in case… so they were both taken to hospital.
I wasn’t able to get to the 3rd accident – on the road before BoPhut traffic lights – so I don’t know the details. However, what I do know is that the guy on the bike that caused the accident (with another bike) was well enough to pick up his bike and scarper! The other person was injured badly enough to need a collar and a board before being put in the ambulance (I was listening on the radio), and was rushed to hospital. I don’t know if the guy who ‘legged-it’ was traced – or ever will be!
The 4th accident in BangPo was horrific.
A Thai guy, approx 30yrs, was riding his bike – on the correct side of the road – and was apparently hit head-on by a toyota pick-up, coming in the opposite direction, on the wrong side of the road. The rider was killed instantly, and was left in a heap in the middle of the road – with horrific injuries – and his bike (carried a bit further down the road by the pick-up) was some 15 metres away from him, obviously smashed to bits.
The driver apparently stopped for a second or two, before deciding to leave the scene and make a run for it.
The police got a few basic details from a couple of witnesses, but (so far) the driver of the pick-up has not been traced.
There was little that Rescue staff could do except wait for the police to finish doing their job of recording the scene, and then wrap the remains of the poor guy up in the ubiquitous blue plastic sheet.
Until the police had finished their work, the poor guy had to remain where he was – in the middle of the left-hand side of the road, and the inevitable crowd of onlookers swelled during the 40 odd minutes it took before Rescue staff were allowed to take him to the hospital morgue.
I can’t help but get a bit angry sometimes when people riding past on their bikes (and often in cars too) see the accident, then pull up, or park their cars to come and gawp at the dead man. It is one of the big culture differences that I don’t think I will ever get used to. Thai treat death and accidents (among numerous other things) very differently than we ‘farang’… and are not shy at all in getting their phones or cameras out to photograph the mangled dead body of an accident victim.
We covered the body with a newspaper one of the rescue guys found in a nearby bin, a gesture of respect that moved me.
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