Re: Good grace of car drivers

Editor:

In regards to the response last week from your reader “Good grace of car drivers”, I believe his assessment is somewhat incorrect. I have been driving for nearly 45 years in the U.S. have certification and endorsements in commercial driving and teaching, a certification from the California Highway patrol for motorcycle and a teaching certification for towing commercial aircraft.

When it comes to driving in Thailand, whether it is a car or a motorbike, the major problem with their driving is that they have been “conditioned” due to lack of education and enforcement through decades to drive in a dangerous manner and not even know it. I have been in situations in the past with Thai drivers and have come away with a conclusion that they don’t even know that they are doing something wrong, so confronting them about their reckless behavior is useless in my book.

What is wrong on their part is the unconscious behavior of cutting off cars by motorbikes, cars tailgating motorbikes even when they are traveling within the proper speed, etc... Both parties are wrong. What both parties don’t get is that a motorbike stands no chance against a car. The truth is you can’t win against a ton of steel. A vehicle is a legal weapon and there is no excuse for a driver in a car to tailgate a motorbike within inches of their fender whether the motorbike is wrong or not!

If you ever get a chance to have a conversation or point out as to why they did a particular maneuver, they would have no idea what you are talking about and many would think you are looking for a fight by criticizing them. In my opinion living here for over ten years for a society that believes/talk so much about “mai pen rai” it seems that once they get behind the wheel they forget all sense of patience.

Jeff Chumuchi

Out of town students trashing our beaches

Editor;

Saturday February 11th, the Pollution Solution Group was watering and feeding the stray dogs, replacing the older posters and removing staples. We saw several buses full of older school children, from out of town, at Jomtien Beach. We noticed that many were eating, throwing their garbage on the ground and over the fence next to the buses, so we gave several of them our two main pieces of literature, in Thai and English about keeping it clean for the King and asked them to “please” put the garbage into the dumpsters, 20 meters away, also speaking in Thai.

What appeared to be the bus drivers or Ajarns (teachers) they just laughed, gave us a dirty look, told the students to get on the bus and drove away.

We think it is a shame to allow people to come to our beaches, play in the ocean, have a fun filled day and leave a mess behind.

We also explained to them that when Farangs see this, they might do the same, we should all take care of Thailand and respect the King’s wishes by doing Tam Boon.

Please keep in mind the Pollution Solution Group would love to take down all of our posters and have Pattaya City Hall install some nice large wooden signs in Thai, English and Russian with an understandable to all picture and trash cans near by. Welcoming all to the beach, asking them to please pack out what they pack in from toxic cigarette butts to anything they brought with them, or they will be fined. Also stenciling storm drains saying that they go to the ocean. Many think it is a sewer or don’t think at all.

We hope from the name on the buses or license numbers someone can tell where they came from and educate them on how respect other places or send this to their local papers.

Thank you

Gerry Rasmus, aka KOTO

Pattaya beaches

Dear Editor,

Regarding Trev Witts’ letter: Your observations are not surprising anyone, of the ever increasing amount of rubbish on what is left of the beaches in Pattaya and Jomtien. First, a suggestion on the cleaning. Go to <www.cleanbeach.com> - machines like this would of course be thousands of times more efficient and quicker than hand picking - in fact in over 40 countries have been proved already.

2nd, the problem of no sand on the beach has already been fixed by Ban Amphoe, 15 minutes from Pattaya on the road to Sattahip. At the large beach beside the famous Preecha seafood restaurant the sand is retained buy a sea wall off shore and a long jetty.

Regards,

B. Rought

Tourist violence

Dear Editor,

I am dismayed to read of yet another case of extreme violence perpetrated against tourist and local people by mindless drunken thugs, in this case involving two knife wielding Irishmen. This sickness of getting drunk and then spoiling for a fight is spreading everywhere in Europe and particularly I am ashamed to say in my previous home country England. It is now considered unwise to be out on a Friday night in any provincial town in the UK as drunkenness takes over after 11 o’clock with the possibility of violence ever prevalent. Most worrying is that the violence is no longer of the fisticuff, but of knives.

These two guys, in a typically cowardly fashion, try to excuse themselves by putting the blame on nearby taxi drivers attacking them and that they were simply only exercising self defence. Anyone who knows Pattaya and drinks in local bars knows that taxi boys only come into the equation when all avenues of settlement with a drunken situation have been explored.

They had scared two bar girls half to death before coming back to the bar to demand their money back, which they got.

It appears they then left only to return to the bar to create mayhem leaving four people stabbed. This is inexcusable whatever way it is viewed. I hope they are unable to buy their way out, are charged with attempted murder and are subjected to the full penalty that such an offence demands.

When I first came to Pattaya in 78 and onwards till about 2000 everyone had a healthy respect for the police and an almost mythical fear of ever being locked up. Somewhere along the way someone convinced the embryonic tourist police to “go easy” on tourists. Yes, it is not healthy that tourists should be scared of the police and they should feel that the police are simply there to help them. However, it now appears that this line has led to a position where there is little respect for the tourist police and that any fear of them no longer exists. In my opinion this position has not been helped much by the recruitment of foreign police volunteers who seem to offer nothing more than an image of “poseur” with dubious motives.

I implore the local police to come down hard on drunkenness that is coupled with violent or unsocial behaviour particularly when it involves small gangs. A night in a Thai gaol usually does the trick and if pounced on quickly saves people from being injured or killed.

Sincerely,

Richy

Boycotting Nestle’

Dear Editor;

Last year I had a letter in this newspaper about a boycott of Lipton tea because they were engaged in cruel experiments on animals. Because of the publicity we were able to generate Lipton agreed (as I noted in a follow-up letter) to end their experiments.

Now it’s Nestea who is torturing animals. (Nestea is owned by Nestle’ which also owns Milo and Nescafe and I’m boycotting all of them).

Quoting from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): “Here are just two examples (there are many more) of the horrors endured by the animals used in Nestea’s tea experiments. Mice bred to suffer from brain dysfunction and rapid aging were fed green tea extracts and then locked in a dark chamber and given painful electric shocks to their feet. The mice were then killed. Rats bred to develop high fat and cholesterol levels were forced to consume tea extracts through a tube that was shoved down their throats. The rats were then killed and dissected.”

Now I know mice and rats don’t have many friends among humans. But those animals being tortured can suffer just as much as a dog or a cat and are just as worthy of our sympathy. Therefore we should boycott Nestle’ products until they end the torture.

Eric Bahrt

Re: Good grace of car drivers

Out of town students trashing our beaches

Pattaya beaches

Tourist violence

Boycotting Nestle’