Falang killed at Hua Hin railway crossing

[hulltoon]

Just witnessed.falang being cut out car after being hit by train at the Hua hin railway crossing, on his way to golf.Lady passenger taken to hospital. Sad

[pharvey]

Certainly horrible news.

Unfortunately accidents at Hua Hin rail crossings are certainly not a too uncommon problem it seems. Will the authorities ever think of installing more safety barriers/warning lights I wonder??

[Homer]

Sad news indeed. Which railroad crossing?

[hulltoon]

The crossing between Chomsin and the station.

[ste860]

that crossing near the station has very loud sirens ,which you can hear from far away,or were they not working

[Spitfire]

That place still claiming lives then. If it wasn't such a serious subject then it would just be farce but it really does need to be made idiot proof as asking people to be responsible for their own safety and be aware of situational dangers appears to be asking too much, Thais too.

Sad news, which appears to be synonymous with that crossing.

[Takiap]

Yes, very sad news indeed, but as others have said, how on earth do you not see a train coming? The ironic thing is, I've just mentioned this to some Thais, and they say the chaps family will have to pay for any damage caused to the train, it there is any. One would think it's the railways that would have to pay out for not having barriers in place, but oh well, still sorry to hear another person lost their life needlessly.

[Big Boy]

On my last night in Hua Hin we ate at the ChanSaWang Restaurant, which has a grandstand view of the antics that go on at the Soi 88 railway crossing. That crossing has barriers that drop, and a very loud audible warning. I was amazed at antics (especially the regular frequency) that go on at that junction. I would actually rate the junction as one of the most dangerous in Hua Hin. Things that I noted (which don't only involve the railway crossing) include:

- Every time the sirens sounded, people raced across the crossing. On each occasion the last couple of people crossing were ducking under the dropping barrier. On no occasion did I see somebody simply pull up to the dropping barrier stop and wait. If just one of those trains had been a few seconds earlier, there would have been fatalities.

- OK, it was after dark, and the BIB were tucked up in bed, but I would estimate that I saw less than a dozen crash helmets in a couple of hours.

- I was watching the number of vehicles with no lights. I would estimate 1 in 6 were without lights - this included 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles.

- Because there is a double junction within the space of a few yards, vehicles were often caught out by driving on the wrong side of the road. There are no road markings, so it is a free for all, with the boldest (stupidest?) drivers taking the right of way - even if they were wrong. This often resulted in vehicles passing left side to left side, as opposed to right to right.

- I'm not sure of the legal age to ride a motorcycle, but I would have estimated several drivers as either pre-teen, or just into their teens.

Any group of BIBs with insomnia could make a killing by perching themselves in this restaurant and booking people for the many traffic offences taking place.

I actually had an incident myself walking across the crossing - something I did on average 6 times per day during my visit. I always made sure it was safe (road traffic wise) before crossing. As I crossed one evening, a motorcycle was going past me with traffic coming in the other direction. A pick-up decided he was going to overtake the motorcycle, which he actually pushed into me. I caught the motor cycle by the handle bars and steadied him. The pick-up's stupidity could have injured both the motorcycle rider and me.

TIT

[Lung Per]

Someone told me it was a suicide situation. The guy reportedly stopped his car right on the track when the train came.....

[hulltoon]

Lung Per,that is very possible.The train hit straight into the drivers side.

[nickinkip]

Im surprised there is only one death there, when you look at the Thai papers this happens everywhere with there own nationals, all the areas near the lines seems to be prime real estate for late night sleeping and walking home drunk. TiT.

[Bamboo Grove]

I lived on Chomsin Road, past Jee An Tung supermarket for more than 6 years so I've crossed the railway there for numerous times. I have never thought it to be unsafe for cars or motorbikes as the barriers go down fairly early when a train is approaching. It's easy to disregard the barriers if you are on foot, though. So I would quite see it being a suicide situation. How sad.

[Super Joe]

The crossing between Chomsin and the station.

I lived on Chomsin Road, past Jee An Tung supermarket for more than 6 years so I've crossed the railway there for numerous times. I have never thought it to be unsafe for cars or motorbikes as the barriers go down fairly early when a train is approaching. It's easy to disregard the barriers if you are on foot, though. So I would quite see it being a suicide situation. How sad.

Sounds like it's that dodgy little one that goes accross to the Royal Golf Course, which is about 100m(?) South of the entrance to the night market. There's been quite a few incidents with trains there, and to be honest I still drive past it and have to picture it as a train crossing, it just don't look like one you'd normally cross.

Sad & tragic in any case, suicide or accident.

SJ

[Amarita]

We should not speculate if this is suicide or not..
There can be many reasons and we should not
jump to quick conclusions. And we should
really think about the family...

[chelsea]

I lived on Chomsin Road, past Jee An Tung supermarket for more than 6 years so I've crossed the railway there for numerous times. I have never thought it to be unsafe for cars or motorbikes as the barriers go down fairly early when a train is approaching. It's easy to disregard the barriers if you are on foot, though. So I would quite see it being a suicide situation. How sad.

Osmo, is that the crossing at the bottom of the street where you walk up to your old bar.