Phuket Holiday Ends in Tragedy as Helmetless British Man Crashes Motorcycle
Thursday, November 24, 2011
PHUKET: A British man has been killed in a motorcycle crash in the Kamala area of Phuket, north of Patong, on Phuket's west coast.
A motorcycle being ridden by Jason Paul Richards, 40, hit the pavement near the FantaSea show as he headed back towards central Kamala village about 12.30am on Tuesday.
Mr Richards died later, in Patong Hospital. He was not wearing a helmet.
Friends told police they had been with Mr Richards earlier at a bar not far away. He had been staying on Phuket for about three months.
Phuket's British honorary consul, Mr Martin Carpenter, said today that Mr Richards' family had been notified.
Phuketwan supports Mothers or Motorcycles (MoM), an action group that supports the 100 percent helmet campaign and aims for improved road safety.
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Comments
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A bit stupid riding a motor bike with NO hat on you can not do it in England so why do they think they can do hear .
I have no time for people like that he paid the price?????
Posted by
john
on
November 24, 2011 22:54
Well John don't we all do something stupid in our life time.I wonder what yours is? At lease most people have sympathy.So please don't reply to this, because most won't have time for you.
Monica (MoM)
Posted by
Monica
on
November 25, 2011 03:35
John you're an a*****e he was a friend of mine, see how you would like it if it was someone close to you. d********
Posted by
Andrew llewellyn
on
November 25, 2011 08:00
No appologies to anyone. It is quite obvious that Monica's helmet on heads campain only works for those who have something to protect upon their shoulders. If the persons have an empty shell, then they are not going to wear a helmet are they? Ride to live THEN live to ride.
Posted by
Dun
on
November 25, 2011 09:09
Answere to Monica, we all do something stupid in our life - I have deep sympathy - I am 68 years and - still driving a car and a motorbike. Some stupid things can be fatal. So in one way - I understand what John is saying.
Posted by
Retired roadworker
on
November 25, 2011 15:29
Some "friend" Andy...letting him drive drunk and with no helmet.
Posted by
J. Sanford Ellis
on
November 25, 2011 18:12
Monica i understand your point but THE LAW IS you should have a helmet if you want to stay alive and that IS THE LAW if every one sticks by it just might be not to many deaths and monica if you do stupid things that your problem not mine??????
my point is just the same thank you, helmet??????
Posted by
john
on
November 25, 2011 22:08
you only have 1 chance in life and the best thing is to protect it the best way you can, that's all i can say????
Posted by
john
on
November 25, 2011 22:27
Where does it say his death was caused by not wearing a helmet...and so what if it was... It makes it no less a sad loss of life...
Those putting their helmet obsession ahead of sympathy for this guy losing his life, need to take a good look at themselves...
R.I.P Mr Richards
Posted by
Steve
on
November 26, 2011 02:07
John, I am guessing that English, human decency and logic are not your strengths. If I read your rambling incoherent messages correctly I think you are saying that if someone passes away under circumstances which you infer are caused by their own stupidity then they are not worthy of your consideration. Since your consideration of how others might feel over the loss of a friend, co-worker, family is apparently non-existent I would say that the loss of it is not much to worry about.
If you think people should wear helmets and that not doing so is dumb, that is fine but this can be communicated without ridiculing a dead person's friends and dis-honoring his memory. To denigrate, speculate and belittle the deceased (who can't defend himself against your attacks) is pathetic.
In traditional society it is accepted that people who are mourning deserve that opportunity to do so without being faced with wild speculation based on a 6 sentence blurb. I personally believe that with few exceptions most people have value, I would rather not judge their value based on a six sentence blurb in a local news site and would not wish to be judged likewise. I find it pretty offensive that anyone would make such judgment. I prefer not to judge them at all as I don't believe I have that power or right. Perhaps your omniscience gives you that right, but I doubt it.
More amazing to me is that people seem to think it is ok to post unfounded speculation and reduce a man's worth to the guesswork they can apply to malformed ideas about the final five minutes of his life. That people like Dun have apparently no thought that perhaps someone is ought there who loved and cared for this person and how they might feel or what consequences there might be to him voicing his "opinion". Or that perhaps there was more to this man's life and contributions than what was shown in the few minutes surrounding his passing in an accident. Dun's opinion is of more importance than the feelings of others or anything positive the victim might have done.
To Sanford J. Ellis - you should be ashamed of yourself. Blaming the death of a man on his friends is irresponsible. When you know nothing about the person, the friend, the circumstances, whether the men were together prior to the accident, in fact anything at all other than where or when the accident took place, is criminal. Idiotic comments like yours argue a strong case for the editor and his pithy comments. Maybe the posters on this site are not intelligent or socially capable enough to be allowed an open forum. Just a bunch of sad little do nothings who are so desperate for validation that they sit behind their screen and belittle those in pain or who are suffering to feel better about themselves. See that is what it sounds like when the shoe is on the other foot. The unfair part is you people can respond. The victim of this tragedy cannot.
My condolences to his friends and family.
Posted by
Martin
on
November 26, 2011 08:18
I always wear a helmet and it is my choice to. I also wear shoes that strap on and adequate clothing and gloves. Most riders in Phuket do not. Shall we mandate their entire code of attire? Someone who drives without these articles, or even a helmet is in no way endangering anyone else. Seems to me that is the definition of what a law should do- allow individual freedom while protecting the rights of all. In fact I've argued putting helmets on yahoo drivers will only embolden them to drive even more irresponsibly in addition to hampering their hearing and vision. If someone is drunk, and driving a motorcycle, it is an accident waiting to happen. Please don't dictate to safe riders
Monica,
My sympathies, But I'd far rather see energies and funds put into getting ALL drivers to slow down and have respect for inertia instead of the the utterly selfish and inconsiderate behavior that is the norm.
Martin,
I stopped reading after the fifth word as again, your input is about calling people names and making assumptions and accusations about their lifestyles. What's the old saying about those who talk about people.. and those who talk about ideas?
Posted by
Media Watcher
on
November 26, 2011 11:14
So Media Watcher what your saying is that those who assumed the man deserved his fate because he made a mistake, their assumptions are ok. But anyone who questions these assumptions and their civility in doing so is name calling. Hmm. Sorry, I don't think suggesting people be more humane and considerate is name calling. Lack of sympathy, deriding the victim of an accident and insulting his friends is wrong and should be called out. Maybe reading a comment before posting on it might give you more insight.
Posted by
Martin
on
November 26, 2011 15:17
Sorry for him, a helmet should be on head all the time and sometimes even that is NOT enough. It is just dangerous to drive around here.
Posted by
Olivia
on
November 26, 2011 15:24
Yes we do have a choice to what we do, but even then when we take the wrong one. I most certainly have sympathy with that person. Just like the people that smoke and then get Cancer, well knowing it will Kill them. And the warning is on the packet , Smoking Kills.
It just takes a bit longer before you die but you still do it.
Monica (MoM)
Posted by
Monica
on
November 27, 2011 00:07
He was drinking in a bar until 12:30 am. I'm willing to bet he wasn't drinking water or coke all night either. He was also presumably drinking together with friends. (OK, so I made two assumptions, but it seems 99% reasonable to me that they are correct assumptions.) In my opinion, his friends are as irresponsible as he is to let a (presumably) intoxicated man drive himself home on a motorbike, without a helmet, at night, on roads as hilly, bendy, potholed and poorly lit as Phuket. There are a lot of habitual alcoholics in denial in Phuket, living a perpetual holiday (they call it "living the dream") but it's really called living irresponsibly and out of touch with the serious working world they were probably used to back in Europe. A lot of people will probably feel angry by this, but if you consume any alcohol at all and then drive a vehicle, you ARE an idiot. I'm not saying of course that he DID drink alcohol, but honestly speaking, he spent an evening in a bar, so what do you think? (Cue vituperative streams of anger from alcoholics in denial.) A real friend would NEVER let someone intoxicated drive themselves back home. A true group of friends would appoint a designated driver (selected on a rota basis) who would abstain from drinking that night and would drive all the other drunk friends back to their homes, in a car, wearing a seatbelt. That's just basic common sense. Seems to me that a lot of the expats living in Phuket behave like overgrown teenagers.
Posted by
Henry
on
November 27, 2011 03:16
If I have read and understood your comment here Henry, I would say that you would be without a doubt a true friend. What you say here should not upset anyone at all, but many should be thinking about it.
There should be more true friends like you around.
Cheers
Posted by
Mango
on
November 28, 2011 08:13
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A bit stupid riding a motor bike with NO hat on you can not do it in England so why do they think they can do hear .
I have no time for people like that he paid the price?????
Posted by john on November 24, 2011 22:54