Phuket motorbike crash injures elderly expat

A Phuket motorbike crash injured an elderly expat yesterday morning. Chalong Police arrived at the scene on Wiset Road in Rawai to find a foreign motorbike rider, 73 year old Georgi Simeonov Georgiev with minor injuries. The other rider involved in the accident was a 31 Thai man named Kittisak Buayai. Georgiev’s nationality was not provided by police.

After reviewing CCTV footage and questioning witnesses, police found that Kittisak was riding northbound when Georgiev pulled out from a side street. Georgiev was heading towards the U-turn area in the centre of the road, and he cut in front of Kittisak approaching on his motorbike, The Phuket News reported.

Kittisak’s motorbike hit the rear of Georgieve’s motorbike, and the impact caused Kittisak to fly through the air and land heavily on the road.

However, Kittisak was wearing a full-face helmet, and appeared to suffer little to no injuries at all. Meanwhile, Georgiev suffered minor injuries from landing on the road at a slow speed.

Georgiev’s motorbike ended up metres away in the lanes heading in the opposite direction. Both motorbikes were heavily damaged.

Officers brought the riders and the remains of their motorbikes to Chalong Police Station to solve the issue, and agree on the damages to be paid.

The ThaiRSC reported in January that as many as 939,713 road accidents were reported in Thailand last year, up 4.7% from 2021. Road accidents killed 14,737 people, and injured 924,799 last year, ThaiRSC said. The committee reported that 536 deaths and 7,885 injuries were among foreigners.

Following the Songkran holiday this year, during the ‘seven deadly days‘ from April 11 to 17, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) revealed that there were 2,203 road accidents, 2,208 injuries, and 264 deaths during this period.

Bangkok recorded the highest number of fatalities with 22 deaths. Chiang Rai had the highest number of accidents with 68, while Nakhon Si Thammarat recorded the highest number of injuries with 70.