Thailand Motorcycle Driving: Keeping Your Brain in Your Head
During this morning’s motorcycle trip to a city 170 km away I experienced what was, without a doubt in my mind, the oddest, and maybe most unexplainable thing I’ve ever seen…
Riding down the road – doing 120 kph on the motorbike… through Thai countryside. Sunny morning about 9:30am. Ambulance flies by me doing about 150 kph. Wow. I sensed it was something real bad. I haven’t seen any really bad accidents in about a year in Thailand and I was due.
In 10 minutes I came up to the scene… cars stopped in lane, other lane too. Guy trying to wave people through – but those on motorcycle stopped and wanted to know who was under the blue plastic cover.
I didn’t want to stop – never do. I look quickly, but make sure I’m not going to become another statistic as people have their heads in their arse staring at accident scenes instead of driving.
Strange – there was nothing around. No cross roads, nothing. A rubber tree plantation on the left. Dead Thai motorcyclist in the street, motorbike down and destroyed. Just one.
Everyone was looking at the body and beyond and as I drove by I noticed, just to my left… 1.5 meters from my motorcycle’s front tire was a human brain.
It was intact… but missing the head it went with. It was pinkish red with some blood at the base, and whitish grey I guess… it looked just like a brain in the street.
Now why this part wasn’t covered up and the person’s body was – can only be explained by Thais. I don’t really get it. Everyone was quite curious about seeing the brain in the street though because as I passed I noticed another group of people staring at it and me for my reaction to it.
As I passed it I didn’t react at all. It took 20 minutes to come to grips with it fully. It just didn’t make sense. Not sure what happened but my own brain had a tough time admitting what it just saw.
Motorcycle accidents are horrorshow to some nth power. I’ve seen some real doozies here in Thailand – and seen brains on a couple of occasions. Not whole brains outside the head though. Must have been quite an impact.
So – if you must drive a motorcycle in Thailand think really hard about it – are you a safe rider? This person (male/female?) maybe hit someone from behind that was walking? Maybe plowed into the back of a truck that disappeared immediately after? Maybe hit someone that pulled out in front of them? The tarp was large that covered the body – so it may have covered 2 bodies and the other motorbike for all I know.
But the brain in the street got all the attention.
Drive safely…
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Category: traveling
Aiyee! Gross!
I had a motorcyclist hit a taxi head-on in Soi 20, he flew through the air and landed at my feet… No helmet – blood gurgling from his mouth, pooling around his head. No brain on the street but it was scary enough. I took his pulse, it was at first normal and then the adrenaline kicked in and it raced into tachycardia, blood that was seeping now spurted. I stepped back. Died that night in Bumrungrad. Paramedic came on motorcycle, he as there in only a few minutes…
Wow, not a nice visual…
As opposed to your “brain making its own way home” story!!
Women killed as two motorbikes collide at high speed on Pattaya Third Road…
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