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godmachine12
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 62
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 Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| Madame J wrote: |
Three teachers I knew whilst working in Indonesia died within eight months, two whilst still teaching in Indo and one shortly after finishing his contract and changing countries. It made me wonder whether the risk of an early death does increase when you go into this profession, at least when you go into it in a poor country without a US dollar salay. (Two out of the three died in motorbike accidents., which I'd imagine would be significantly less likely to happen in regions such as Japan.) |
Geez, that's horrible. I'm in Indonesia now and also get around via motorbike. At first, I was always on my guard and sure that this was the day I was going to get killed. However, while I'm still guarded and try to drive defensively�as much as possible�I've accepted the fact that if I die here, it will probably be on that damned bike. |
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Perilla
Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 792
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| godmachine12 wrote: |
| Geez, that's horrible. I'm in Indonesia now and also get around via motorbike. At first, I was always on my guard and sure that this was the day I was going to get killed. However, while I'm still guarded and try to drive defensively�as much as possible�I've accepted the fact that if I die here, it will probably be on that damned bike. |
The trick is that you'll never know how or when lightning will strike. The guy I mentioned in the OP was a hardcore boozer and fighter, and TBH it was only a matter of time before something went badly wrong. But oddly enough, one of his friends - also a TEFLer in Korea but a very different sort of guy - was stabbed to death in the corridors of his school by a deranged local. |
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Madame J
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Posts: 239
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I can't vouch for the circumstances of the second motorbike death, but the first guy was drunk and without a helmet when he died. From what I've seen most accidents happen when one or both these factors come into play, or when the rider's not paying their full attention to the road, or on a high speed road between cities.
I never feared for my life as a frequent motorcyle passenger in Indo because I always took lifts from sober people and always brought a helmet/made sure they had a spare, but I did have to accept that everybody would think of me as a spoiled demanding bule because I refused to go unhelmeted/accept a ride from a drunk. Sigh. |
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godmachine12
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 62
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| Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| Madame J wrote: |
Well, I can't vouch for the circumstances of the second motorbike death, but the first guy was drunk and without a helmet when he died. From what I've seen most accidents happen when one or both these factors come into play, or when the rider's not paying their full attention to the road, or on a high speed road between cities.
I never feared for my life as a frequent motorcyle passenger in Indo because I always took lifts from sober people and always brought a helmet/made sure they had a spare, but I did have to accept that everybody would think of me as a spoiled demanding bule because I refused to go unhelmeted/accept a ride from a drunk. Sigh. |
Just this past Saturday night I was at a small party with some friends. The guy hosting had been drinking for hours as had everyone else. Things were going great until he decided it was time that he and I go out for karaoke. I declined, told him he didn't need to drive and he went apeshit on me and everyone else that tried to stop him. He left and not ten minutes later we got a call that he'd crashed. He flipped the car 3 times and had I been a passenger, could have been seriously inured as the passenger side took the most damage. Luckily, he was unhardmed, but it could have been much, much worse.
The worst have got to be the travel car/van drivers. The buses are bad enough, but I vowed never to take a travel van again after my last experience. I usually don't get to jumpy and fussy, but the guy we had was just nuts. An ojek in rush hour felt safe after that trip! |
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Madame J
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Posts: 239
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| The saddest thing about that story is that that guy probably still won't think twice about driving next time he's had a drink. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Madame J,
"The saddest thing about that story is that that guy probably still won't think twice about driving next time he's had a drink."
People who drink and drive don't even think once, never mind twice.
Regards,
John |
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