Cyclist on world record breaking trip killed on Thai roads

[buksida]

A Chilean cyclist who was attempting to break the world’s record of cycling across five contents covering a distance of 250,000 kilometres in five years in November was killed in a road accident in Nakhon Ratchasima Saturday when he was struck by a pickup truck.

The victim’s Singaporean wife and their one year old boy were also injured in the fatal accident which occurred at Kilometre marker 247-248 in Bua Lai district.

The Chilean cyclist, 48-year old Juan Francisco, his wife and son were travelling in bicycle equipped with a small trailer. They started the world-tour journey about five years ago and expected to end the gruelling tour in November this year. Their next stop after Thailand is Australia.

Police said that the pickup truck driver, 64-year old Mr Thivarat Chaipidet, drove the vehicle from Khon Kaen toward Nakhon Ratchsima. He claimed that he didn’t see the victim’s bicycle when he slammed his truck into it.

The impact of the collision threw the body of the cyclist into a roadside ditch where he was found dead. The bicycle with the trailer was wrecked and overturned in the middle of the road.

The truck driver was later charged with reckless driving causing deaths to the other people.

Source: PBS

Follow up: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/chilea ... ast-jouney

[Ginjaninja]

Utter disgusting!!! What is wrong with these people.....

Reminiscent of this:

TAT apologises to Brit cyclists' families

GN.

[Gérard]

This is the most accurate report in english I have seen on this accident.
http://www.chiangraitimes.com/chilean-c ... iland.html

Khaosot in thai language gave a few more details : the 14 month's old baby was slighly hurt, the mother has a broken leg, the pickup was overtaking a truck on the left side when it rammed into the poor Juan Francisco who was certainly visible since he had a trailer and it was 14h20 when the accident occured.

[richard]

So so tragic. What a waste of a good soul and his family

[GLCQuantum]

You are risking your life when you choose to cycle/motorbike in a country of individuals that couldn't care less about other people. They only care about themselves. Add the lack of IQ to this and it's a recipe for disaster.

Such a horrible, selfish people for the most part.

Such a shame that Juan decided to meet them.

[Spitfire]

I read this one too and this cyclist was on the home straight, think he was finishing this year in November and started a longwhile back. Goes to Thailand, does a few hundred km and some irresponsible idiot ploughs into him on the hard shoulder under-taking a truck and the pickup ends up on it's roof when it leaves the road....unbelievable how stupid drivers here are and how little they care.

Riding motorbikes or bicycles is a reckless thing to do here.....FFS, I can't even go for a walk down the road without being harassed by dogs, local baffoons or having to walk in the road because the pavement/sidewalk doesn't exist or has been overtaken by street stalls/shops extending themselves and therefore being under the constant danger of being randomly run over by some mindless twat that shouldn't be anywhere near anything that involves gasoline and movement.

Unfortunately, Thailand is very pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly......not to even start on how hard it must be for the disabled. There are a couple of things I find hard to get used to here, and they are the constant lies from everyone and the general shear irresponsibility plus apathy & lack of remorse so many have.

RIP dude...sorry you had it end like this at the hands of some f*$%ing asshole.

[Gérard]

I started a bicycle-trip to Malaysia just after reading this accident report (now in Sawi, Chumphon).
I am really sorry for Juan Francisco, but the only time I was in danger when riding a bicycle was a few years ago in France when a truck grazed me and I fell without consequences.
I am still alive after 15 years in Thailand and thousands km riding big bikes and bicycle, and I will continue to do so hopefully many years more. A recent bicycle trip to Cambodia made me feel that Thailand is not so bad...

[Nereus]

I started a bicycle-trip to Malaysia just after reading this accident report (now in Sawi, Chumphon).
I am really sorry for Juan Francisco, but the only time I was in danger when riding a bicycle was a few years ago in France when a truck grazed me and I fell without consequences.
I am still alive after 15 years in Thailand and thousands km riding big bikes and bicycle, and I will continue to do so hopefully many years more. A recent bicycle trip to Cambodia made me feel that Thailand is not so bad...

You might have a problem getting that attitude past the families of the 20,000 plus killed on the roads here every year.

And yes, I have driven all over Thailand since 1988, and I still cannot understand the crap that is displayed on the roads here.

[jumusman]

This just adds to the other popular post right now talking and expanding on motorcycle helmet law. Thais just simply don't give a fu**about safety. Every day I go out on my motorbike I feel like I am putting my life on the line, people driving the wrong way towards me on the main road, people doing the "blind merge" into my lane EXPECTING me to slow down so they can merge safely, sorry that's MY RESPONSIBILITY you fuc*king twats... no wonder this country has the second highest rate of road fatalities in the world.

And this is one of those subjects that the usual "You are a guest in Thailand, learn to live like a Thai or go back to your country" arguments simply does not fly. When it comes to losing a limb or dying because of some lazy piece of shit decides to overtake on the wrong side because its too much effort to wait another 15 seconds till the traffic was clear then I think the truck driver deserved to die... sorry but that's just how angry I get at this situation, its beyond a joke at this point...

[richard]

Don't forget, it's all Buddha's will

[Gérard]

Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2013 Annual Report
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 013-02.pdf

►In 2013, pedal cyclist deaths decreased by 8 per cent to 109, compared to 118 in 2012.
► The number of pedal cyclists seriously injured also fell by 2 per cent to 3,143 in 2013 compared to 3,222 in 2012. This is the first decrease in reported seriously injured cyclist casualties since 2004.
►The total number of pedal cyclist casualties in road accidents in 2013 was 19,438, up 2 per cent from the 2012 total.

France is better of course, with 143 deaths and 3784 casualties in 2013...

[buksida]

Govt compensates family of dead world cyclist
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports will hand over this week Bt300,000 in assistance money to the wife and son of the late Chilean intercontinental cyclist Juan Francisco Guillermo, 48, Nakhon Ratchasima Tourism and Sports Office director Pichet Dechakhamphu announced Tuesday.
Guillermo was killed in a road accident in tambon Bua Lai in Nakhon Ratchasima's Bua Yai district on Saturday while completing the final leg of a five-year, round-the-world cycling journey.

Guillermo's 39-year-old Singaporean wife, Pei Ling, and their two-year-old son, were also injured in the accident, and Tuesday remained at Bua Yai Hospital. Pei Ling sustained a broken leg and will take another week to recover. The Chilean Embassy contacted Guillermo's family in Chile and the family authorised his wife to proceed with arrangements for his funeral at Wat Pa Thamma Utthayan in Khon Kaen province, as he had reportedly asked for earlier.

Guillermo was not the first intercontinental cyclist to die in a Thai road accident. Two years ago, two world-famous British cyclists died after being struck by a pickup truck in Thailand.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 54763.html

Thought: The price of a clear conscience?

[GLCQuantum]

^

Ahhh, beautiful amazing Thailand... let's throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. Not only that, but we'll throw an insulting amount of money to boot. A few thousand quid.

"Sorry you died because of our lack of morals, empathy, awareness, education, legal system, law-abiding citizens, regret, concern and shame...

... but here's a few quid to keep your wife and child going for a few months. Hope you like it. Oh, that's right, you can't like it because you're dead. Sorry about that then."

Thailand - the cesspit of the world.

[Big Boy]

Personally, I think it was a nice gesture to help the survivors to pay for their initial expenses. I've never known any government anywhere in the world to make such a gesture (I'm not saying they haven't, but I've never heard of it).

The real money will come when the guy's insurance settlement comes (of course, TIT and he mightn't have been insured).

It might sound like blood money to some, but as I said, to me, its a fantastic gesture.

[Name Taken]

I read this one too and this cyclist was on the home straight, think he was finishing this year in November and started a longwhile back. Goes to Thailand, does a few hundred km and some irresponsible idiot ploughs into him on the hard shoulder under-taking a truck and the pickup ends up on it's roof when it leaves the road....unbelievable how stupid drivers here are and how little they care.

Riding motorbikes or bicycles is a reckless thing to do here.....FFS, I can't even go for a walk down the road without being harassed by dogs, local baffoons or having to walk in the road because the pavement/sidewalk doesn't exist or has been overtaken by street stalls/shops extending themselves and therefore being under the constant danger of being randomly run over by some mindless twat that shouldn't be anywhere near anything that involves gasoline and movement.

Unfortunately, Thailand is very pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly......not to even start on how hard it must be for the disabled. There are a couple of things I find hard to get used to here, and they are the constant lies from everyone and the general shear irresponsibility plus apathy & lack of remorse so many have.

RIP dude...sorry you had it end like this at the hands of some f*$%ing asshole.

It's the same as you describe where I live with the addition of noisy scooters and supped up cars frequently drag racing up and down the street.