What is this temptation to ride motorcycles in Thailand? Inexperienced, young riders thinking they can navigate the insanity of Thai traffic. On two wheels! I rode a bike all the time in Thailand but that was in Rayong. And I'm experienced but I still dumped three or four times. Came this close to killing myself twice. Damn lucky I was. Riding bikes in large Thai cities is suicidal. Fucking nuts. What are they using for brains? My god almighty ...
Phuket Expat Teacher's Hit-Run Motorcycle Nightmare
By Phuketwan Reporter
Saturday, September 22, 2012
PHUKET: A speeding pickup that ran a red light on Phuket has dramatically altered the life of young American Liberty Jefferson.
She's the latest in a long line of mostly young victims of the motorcycle on Phuket, a place with no safe public transport alternatives for many.
Friends and family in the US are reported to be coming to the aid of Liberty, whose right leg is still shattered six months after the crash.
She told KVAL News in Oregon that she was teaching English to third graders on Phuket in March when her life was ''turned upside-down'' by a crash.
''I turned and just bash - that was it. I woke up in the ambulance.'' Jefferson said.
The news report adds that Jefferson says she sat in a hospital room 13 hours before she received any help. In all she spent nine days in the government hospital.
''It seems so surreal that it even happened, you know. It was so traumatic,'' Liberty said.
''My ankle was shattered so bad they had to put this external fixator in to keep the bones stable.''
Now KVAL News reports that the doctors in Thailand ''botched the two operations''.
She has been told she needs more surgery. Friends and family are trying to raise the money.
''It's tough but I do have support here. I'm surviving but the medical bills are just expensive - unbelievable, you know,'' said Jefferson.
Phuket's Public Health Department aims to cut the road death toll on Phuket from 116 last year to 50 before 2015.
Most of the deaths come on motorcycles, with two Frenchmen among the latest victims.
The toll has been cut considerably over the past few years, down from more than 200 a year, by obliterating blackspots and attempting to persuade riders to wear safety helmets.
However, the prevalence of motorcycles as the only convenient transport for many leaves thousands injured, maimed and mutilated each month.
Motorcycle crashes are the prime cause of Phuket's public hospitals being overstretched and unable to service all of Phuket's health needs.
Most people on Phuket are forced to use motorcycles because Phuket's administrators have never been able to implement a low cost, safe alternative.
Phuket's taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly fixes fares at too high a rate for locals and most tourists, yet objects to an alternative that would reduced the risk to everyone, including their own relatives and friends.
Phuketwan's regular monthly updates on the improving statistics for the road toll dead and injured on Phuket ended abruptly in April when Phuket Public Health stopped supplying the figures.
surprised it doesnt happen more. somebody like her has no business riding a bike here.
Well, I bet she won't do it again ...
---Update---
just another stat
*pic removed*
Last edited by Umbuku; 22nd September 2012 at 21:46. Reason: NSFW picture
Is this her name?Originally Posted by cluezo
fred
Yes. Maybe it served her right - having a Tea Party name like that.
^read my mind. She was probably trying to save 2 times her annual salary. Now she's back to square one
in a wheelchair
I have no idea what this means.
"While Jim is milking the Russian Boar, I'm in the shade of a Baobab tree being served a cool drink by a beautiful young indigenous girl. "
Marlin Perkins
Aloha - Aloha HARD
killing negroes
clu, i read this as if the truck was to blame and ms. jefferson was in the wrong place at the wrong time. what does that have to do with one's ability to drive a bike?
i had absolutely no experience on a bike before phuket. i rented a bike the very first day i was here. tooled around the island all weekend and explored areas i've not seen since. nearly ten years, four bikes, two provinces and one car later, i've yet to have a traffic accident. i'm lucky to be able to say that but i'm not the only one. driving a bike is dangerous. driving a bike in thailand is even more dangerous. driving a bike on phuket is even more so, but i don't think the driver's nationality has much to do with it.
i know where she taught and will chat with some of her co-workers at football today. if i get any info, i'll share it here.
Not sure I follow. Where did I mention anything about nationality?
sorry, got carried away. guess i was really asking this:
people gotta get around some how. public transport on phuket is shit and cars just aren't an option for many folks. if she were driving recklessly or to blame, okay but i don't see how her judgements should be called into question.
A bit of trimming with a good knife and there's a fine stew to be made out of that last pic.
Guy Manpoof sux nuts for $$.
Tomcat trained. Satisfaction guaranteed.
For those of us who are not cannibals, a warning about the nature of that last pic would have been appreciated.
Remind me not to fly over the Andes with yourself as a fellow passenger!
i had no experience when i first came over as well. just learned as i went along. but americans usually dont have any experience on bikes growing up. plus, shes female so probably not going to be as aware/coordinated as your normal male (sexist as shit, but hey, its true). if you know what youre doing, you simply dont get yourself in situations where u get hit by trucks running lights. just doesnt happen. for all we know, she could have had headphones on, been looking at her phone...
not saying shes to blame, but you gotta know the risks involved and have the skills to counter them. or else youre just gonna become a stat and ruin years of your life.
and the pic is so gruesome it makes me not want to ride/walk on any street in the world for fear of getting mangled.
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