Phuketwan Updated Report
AN AUSTRALIAN man died in a motorcycle crash on Phuket's notorious Patong Hill about 3.30am yesterday. He was named today as Adam John Sutcliffe, 32.
Some questions about the crash remain to be answered. Phuketwan understands Mr Sutcliffe was travelling across the hill alone on a rented motorcycle, with his helmet hanging off the pillion seat.
Mr Sutcliffe was on his way to meet his Thai girlfriend in Phuket City. The crash came before the Taoist temple at the top of Patong Hill.
It is believed Mr Sutcliffe died almost instantly when his head hit the roadway, after a collision with a second motorcycle.
However, damage to the motorcycle was so slight that the possibility exists that Mr Sutcliffe may have been struck by another vehicle while lying on the roadway.
The two Thai men on the other motorcycle are being treated in intensive care units, in two different island hospitals. They both suffered serious head injuries. Neither man was wearing a helmet.
A computer laptop that Mr Sutcliffe was believed to have been carrying with him on his motorcycle is missing.
Police are planning to question Mr Sutcliffe's friends today and are likely to question the two survivors in detail as soon as their health permits. The men have yet to learn that the collision resulted in a death.
Ironically, a campaign to encourage more motorcycle riders to wear helmets - successful in Phuket City in July - was about to be extended to Patong, with an emphasis on encouraging Thais and tourists to protect their heads.
A female friend of one of Mr Sutcliffe's mates told Phuketwan today that the two friends had been together in Patong earlier on Saturday night.
Mr Sutcliffe sent an sms to his friend at 2.35am to say he was about to head ''over the hill'' to see his girlfriend. That was the last they heard.
Mr Sutcliffe had visited Phuket more than once. He had been on Phuket for more than a month on this visit and was planning with his girlfriend to open a restaurant.
The stretch of road across Patong Hill, in places pitted with humps in the road surface caused by heavy vehicles braking to take corners, is notorious. Motorists traditionally toot horns three times for good luck as they pass the temple.
A little further across the hill, down the descent, workers are erecting a nine million baht sign* that will say: Welcome to Patong.
Mr Sutcliffe's body is at Patong Hospital.
Phuketwan supports Mothers or Motorcycles (MoM) an action group formed to encourage all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets and drive safely.
*We inadvertently added a nought. It's a 900,000 baht sign.
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A terrible event, of course, but we do get inured to them, don't we; but I must say, that the inferences, all of them, are very well managed by K Chutima in her account.
Posted by donmphkt on August 2, 2010 17:33