Railroad Crossings

The following is taken from todays issued of The Bangkok Post.

Music can kill. But by the time Narongrit Nuring learned his lesson it was to late.

Seems as if Mr. Norongrit was driving his pick-up truck with the stereo turned up full volume, didn’t hear a train coming and was killed on the spot. A construction worker who witnessed the accident determined this fact. He said he saw the car and heard very loud music playing before it tried to cross the railroad tracks and was hit by the oncoming train. I am sure he is an expert witness on such events.

Well, I’m not buying it. In a country with possibly the worse drivers in the world I believe simply that lack of concentration and awareness to what is going on around him was the major cause of his demise. The loud music may have been a distraction but I contended a minor one. Odds are he would have still crossed the tracks without looking and been killed regardless of how loud his music was playing because he simply was not paying attention or aware of his surroundings. It’s just not in his normal thought pattern to do so. It’s a cultural thing.

I further bolster my claim by comments made later in the article and I quote “It was the fourth accident this year at the same crossing with Narongrit becoming the fifth victim so far”. Were they all listening to loud music?

Hell, it’s only July. We can possibly get this up to 10 by year’s end, just turn up the stereo boys.

The article also gave other relative statistics. Accidents at railway crossings have increased over the past two years from 185 in 206 to 327 last year. This sure seems a lot to me in a country with less that 65 million souls.

At then the article concludes with sage advice from State Railroad of Thailand governor Chitsanti Dhanasobhon who offered this most valuable tip to motorists: “Don’t underestimate the speed of our trains”.

How about the advice of slow down, watch where you are going, stay in your lane and in general get your head out of your ass.

By that’s just my opinion.

My sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Norongrit.