UPDATING All Day, Every Day
The young couple are on honeymoon on Phuket until July 21 but the woman said this evening that she had ''no idea'' what had happened. She said she hoped to be out of hospital and back on honeymoon quickly.
Original Report
PHUKET: An Australian woman who crashed off Patong Hill road on Phuket this afternoon is being treated at Patong Hospital for injuries.
The 26-year-old woman, riding alone on a motorcycle with a male companion on a separate motorcycle behind her, somehow crashed off the road surface into the undergrowth.
Her friend was quickly on the scene and police arrived soon after.
She was treated for injuries to an ankle at Patong Hospital and was due to be transferred to the better equipped Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket City.
She had been staying at a resort in Karon, south of Patong.
Patong Hill is notoriously difficult to negotiate but it has most often been buses that have run off the road in the past.
Sorry for her injury, though it could have been a lot worse! Unfortunately this is an example of yet another tourist who has absolutely NO BUSINESS riding around on any kind of motorcycle or scooter.
Of course I'm making an assumption but does anyone want to bet that she doesn't currently have a motorcycle operating license from her home country and most like never has in her whole life? And while I wish they were more strict about such things, I personally don't put the onus on the renters -- if a tourist is stupid enough to rent and operate a vehicle you're not even skilled, experienced or licensed with, then if something bad happens you've got no one to blame but yourself, not even nefarious tuk tuk drivers...
Yes, one can go on about alternative transport being expensive/extortionist but which is worse, to end up in hospital/dead or to pay maybe a few hundred or even 500 Thb more for a proper ride where you don't have to put yourself in the position of operating a vehicle you have little or no experience with, ESPECIALLY in a place where it is well-known that many people don't follow common sense traffic rules?? There's always the Baht Buses -- I rarely see these mentioned in any such transport discussions on this forum -- there are actually quite a few of these operating on the island and they are cheap as heck. Also the driver's are much nicer than tuk tuk jerks -- ever hear of a songtaew guy attacking any passengers? Not me in the 14 years I've lived/worked here.
Posted by Gforcejunky on July 16, 2013 18:51