On December 8 the government set a new target for road accident figures over the New Year period, while conceding that economic expansion and population growth meant that a drop from last year’s figures was unlikely.

Speaking to provincial governors, senior police officers, provincial doctors and transport officials at a Bangkok conference, Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengpratoom said that the government hoped to keep road fatalities over the New Year period close to last year’s levels, when there were 628 fatalities and 26,100 injuries.

While in previous years the government has set ambitious targets to slash road fatalities over the festive season, Sutham said that economic expansion and population growth this year had combined to increase the number of road users, and that a substantial reduction in the accident rate was, thus, unlikely.

“This year, we will regard it as satisfactory if the number of accidents remains stable. However, we must minimize both the number of accidents and the number of fatalities, as these have a bearing on our future competitiveness,” he said.

This year will see the introduction for the first time of information technology in assessing accident rates. The technology will help accident prevention officials to determine traffic black spots. (TNA)

Boonlua Chatree

Five primary school children were taken to Banglamung Hospital after the baht bus they were riding in overturned during a collision. Three passengers in the vehicle that rammed into the baht bus received minor injuries as well.

Police and rescue teams were called to the entrance of Pattaya Second Road Soi 1 after a Honda City car rammed into the back of baht bus number 308. The force of the collision overturned the bus, sending its passengers flying. The students were on their way to the Phothisamphan School.

Witnesses and passengers told police that the baht bus had just pulled up at the entrance to Soi 1 when the Honda rammed into it. It was obvious the driver failed to see the other vehicle stop along the roadside, and hit it at high speed.

The driver of the Honda City, identified as 23-year-old Den Suebthai, a DJ at a local disco, was uninjured in the accident and police detained him for questioning, later charging him with reckless driving causing injuries.

The five school children were treated for cuts, bruises and broken bones.

Boonlua Chatree

Shortly after midnight on December 10, Pattaya tourist police received a statement from a 14-year-old girl, identified as ‘Pen’ (not her real name) that she had been raped by a man in South Pattaya’s Rungland Village. Another girl, ‘Tam’ (also not her real name), 15, also reported that she had been raped at gunpoint in Jomtien by two men and that the perpetrators were to be found at South Pattaya’s Bali Hai pier.

Thanachart Payomhom, and Hassan Wangsaed, both 19, were arrested for raping two teenage girls.

Tourist police officers sprang into action and found the two men sitting on a Honda motorcycle in the area the girls had described. The two men, identified as Thanachart Payomhom, and Hassan Wangsaed, both 19, were searched by police. Thanachart was found to be in possession of a home made gun and was promptly arrested. Both men were taken to Soi 9 where their victims positively identified them.

Thanachart was immediately charged with illegal possession of an unlicensed firearm, and Hassan was detained for questioning on the rape cases while police called for a court order to detain them.

The young ‘Tam’ pointed out they were the two men who had raped her in Jomtien. Hassan denied the accusation.

Police informed the two men of their rights and charged them with raping a minor.

Elfi Seitz

German national Herbert Gietl, who for many years has divided his time between Pattaya and his hometown Munich where he cares for his aging mother, fell victim to two brutes on Friday, December 1.

Herbert Gietl is still in hospital with injuries to his eye and suffering a concussion.

Herbert, who lies in Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital said, “I was driving alone in my car in the direction of Jomtien Beach. When I reached the corner at the Jomtien Condotel where the police box is, I saw two foreigners approximately 10 meters from the street. They were trying to cross, but I couldn’t stop for them since they were still too far away ... and actually nobody will ever stop in a curve like that, since it would be too dangerous for the following traffic.

“I drove into the next parking space and there I realized that the two men were following me. They seemed calm and as soon as they approached my car, they knocked on my window. I believed they needed information and (I) opened the window. At that moment, one of the men screamed dirty words at me and hit me with full force on my left eye.

“Semi-conscious, blood trickling down my face and not being able to move, I finally managed to grab my mobile phone and press the redial button, reaching a friend I had spoken with shortly before. He came to my rescue and brought me to the hospital.

“During the examination the doctor found out that I will be mostly blind in my left eye. I can see some light but that’s about it. The tragedy is that I can see only 30 percent with my right eye,” Herbert concluded.

Police were informed, but since foreigners, especially tourists, are not likely to be in their “mug shot album”, the possibility of finding the two thugs is almost zero.

Witnesses who might have seen this confrontation are asked to contact the Austrian embassy and ask to speak with Rudi Hofer, tel. 01-9837417.

Boonlua Chatree

Pattaya police officers prevented a drug induced suicide attempt by a 21 year old Thai in the early hours on December 8. Officers were called to the Love Club in South Pattaya’s Day Night area following the report of a man threatening to commit suicide by jumping from a power pole. Upon arrival they found Weerapong Buasri in a distraught state, claiming that his sister did not forgive him for running away to work in Pattaya and that his co-workers disliked him because of his ill health.

After an intense standoff, police eventually managed to talk Weerapong into not throwing away his life.

Police negotiated with the young man for 30 minutes after promising to call the man’s sister to talk to him and reason with Weerapong, saying that he was too young to die. The man eventually climbed down the power pole and back onto the balcony where police quickly grabbed him, taking him to Banglamung Hospital for psychological observation.

The man’s employer told police that he employed Weerapong two months ago to work as a waiter at the Love Club and that he did not know Weerapong was addicted to amphetamines, where he bought the drugs or why he wanted to commit suicide.

Boonlua Chatree

Teen gang tries to set bar ablaze - fast acting neighbors douse flames

Fourteen young hoodlums on motorcycles vandalized a bar and tried to burn it down, causing several thousand baht worth of damage.

Police received the report at 5:30 a.m. December 4 and a team of officers was dispatched to the St George and Dragon Bar on Pattaya Third Road to find neighbors had already put out the fire.

Winai Rodmanee, a 35-year-old security guard working at a nearby building told officers that 14 teenagers on 7 motorcycles had roared up to the bar and proceeded to break the sliding glass door with bats and rocks. When they gained entry they began pouring gasoline into the building and set it ablaze, then sped off before the cops arrived. Fast thinking neighbors rushed to douse the flames and thankfully minimized the destruction.