Jim's quiet musings . . .

 

Got up early this morning in order to avoid the traffic. I had to go into town to purchase some kibbles and wet food for my "horde."  

I threw on some shorts and a polo shirt and donned my motorcycle helmet, zipping out onto our tiny little secondary road, heading for the main route leading into Thung Lung...

I wasn't halfway up the road when I saw a young Thai boy walk out of the rubber tree plantation to my right, waving his arms and trying to flag me down.  I was in a hurry and this was frustrating for me, but I stopped anyway.  

As the kid approached me, I noted he appeared confused and panicky.  Then I saw his torn pants and several areas of road burn on his arms and hands.  A motorcycle accident, no doubt.  Once he reached me, he began letting loose with a slurry of Thai, mostly in Southern dialect, which I cannot understand.  He kept pointing up the road, so finally I just motioned for him to hop onto my motorcycle, which he promptly did, uttering some statement akin to, "Yes, this is what I want."

As we approached the main road, he said something while nudging me and pointing off to the right. "Quah?" I asked, speaking in proper Thai, and he nodded, saying "Yes!"  

I turned right and hadn't gone more than four meters when the kid grabbed me from behind and said, "Yut!" which means stop.  So, I pulled over to the side, expecting him to hop off and say thank you, going on his way...but instead, he hopped off, ran around the motorcycle and began motioning for me to go into the pucker-brush with him.  

Heavy sigh!  I really didn't feel like doing this and wished I'd never picked the kid up in the first place, but there was something about his urgency and his demeanor that kept me interested.  

I got off the bike, setting my caution blinkers on, and followed him into the thick jungle.  

Not ten feet into the brush, I began to notice signs of breakage....small trees wiped out, bushes crushed and messed up, and finally the ground gouged out and the beginnings of plastic and metal motorcycle parts.  I knew what was coming, so I whipped out my mobile phone and pressed on my Thai friend's number.  This was an accident scene, and nobody knew about it yet, since it was so well hidden from the road.  

Then suddenly I walked into a scene that was totally unexpected...the motorcycle, or what remained of it and evidently, the driver...wearing a motorcycle helmet, for what good it was, which was no good for this kid.  The smell in the air was of raw blood.  No other way to describe it.  Blood was everywhere and this kid was twisted in all impossible ways.  He was obviously dead.  

Finally the boy at my side cracked....he just sit right down and began silently sobbing.  I felt that was good, since his actions of before coincided with what I would have described as shock.  So, I just knelt down with him and hugged him close, allowing him to cry, while I spoke to my friend and asked him to please call the ambulance or paramedic crews, giving him the location.  

Sitting there looking at the mangled motorcycle, I figured this was not a singular accident....while speed may very well have been a factor, it surely wasn't the only factor, since the front wheel of the motorcycle indicated contact with a solid structure, as well as streaks of red paint on the front of the bike, which was primarily a white color. 

The accident occurred on the one curve located on the very straight road leading from Ban Thung Lung and on to Ban Klong Tong Nûea, the curve occurring just before the Ban Klong Tong Nûea turn-off, to the left.  

I don't know how long we were waiting there, but I suddenly heard the ambulances wail, as well as the different sound of the police alarm.  So, I walked out of the jungle to my motorcycle, to flag the vehicles down.  

The rest is as you would figure..., except for the part when I found that one of the ambulance personnel spoke good English, so was used to get my story of the event.  I saw this as an opportunity to speak my mind, so I mentioned to the translator, to pass on to the lazy Thai cops, that I had spoken out previously about this dangerous curve, which is obviously painted with a solid yellow line, meaning "NO PASSING," and explaining that most Thai drivers passed vehicles on the curve anyway, and adding the fact that not only had I noticed that the area was a potential danger area, I had seen more than fifteen accidents on that corner caused by vehicles not abiding by the rules of the road {Which almost NO Thai driver recognizes}.

I also reminded the police that I had submitted two complaints to their department, both translated into Thai, of the dangers of the traffic light intersection on Route 4, heading towards Ban Klong Tong Nûea, as well as the curve illustrated today, just before the turn-off to Ban Klong Tong Nûea.  Both complaints which were ignored, just as I suspected they would be.  

The intersection on Route 4, heading North / South to Hat Yai and South to Dannock and Malaysia....as well as East to Ban Klong Tong Nûea and West to Ban Thung Lung and beyond...is a dangerous one, since the traffic heading South, does not stop, even when the traffic light indicates for them to stop so traffic on Route 4, in the Northern lane has the traffic light to turn right.  

I've spoken out many times about this....but no other Thai's would ever speak out because they don't want to get involved or they don't care.  This country is so corrupt, that it is pathetic. So many people die needlessly here, that it is not even funny.  

An ambulance comes screaming down the road, sirens blaring, and some accident victim in the back dying...precious minutes ticking by...before he or she can reach the hospital and medical personnel attend to him or her...but, does traffic move and let them by?  

Hell no.  In traffic, most Thai's don't care about that dying Thai in the back of the ambulance.  They care more about trying to get ahead of the person in front of them...

What a pathetic, non-caring, selfish race of people!

Jeeem