Thursday, October 28, 2010

A bit of excitement

A bit of excitement on this afternoon's walk. I was passing the intersection of Sihanouk Blvd and Monivong Blvd when I witnessed a minor traffic accident.

A Land Cruiser was tooling up Monivong against the flow on the wrong side of a divided road when he had a head-on accident with a motorcycle. In fact, I didn't see if he actually hit the moto, but when the motorcyclist was confronted with this Land Cruiser coming the wrong way he either dumped his bike trying to avoid it or was hit lightly and knocked over.

The downed motorcycle blocked the Land Cruiser, laying in the road partially under the front bumper. The driver stepped out of his car briefly, looking at the moto on the ground and at the motorcyclist limping around and rubbing his injured arm. He then demanded the moto-driver drag the motorcycle out of the way so that he could leave. The motorcyclist was indignant, refused and called for help from a group of nearby traffic police.

The cops trotted over to see what the commotion was about. The Land Cruiser tried backing up to pull around the downed motorcycle, all the while the cops calling and signaling for him to stop. Moving slowly, he got past the fallen motorcycle but a cop then pulled his own motorcycle up in front of the Land Cruiser blocking the way. It stopped. He placed his motorcycle up close against the front bumper and parked, then pointed and yelled at the driver to stay stopped.

The driver demanded that the cops let him pass, but apparently his ordinary license plates didn't entitle him any special treatment, and besides, he was clearly in the wrong. The police ordered him to turn off the car. He refused and this is what happened next:


A cop car and a couple of motorcycles gave chase and the whole thing disappeared up Sihanouk Blvd. Being on foot, I couldn't keep up. I don't know how it ended.

25 comments:

  1. Fuck that is just fantastic. Many a day I have wanted to do that.

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  2. That is going to be world news. Happens every day I'm sure but never caught on camera. Well done!

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  3. well done... with video cap...i will wait for the news early morning .....if not than will send this out...

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  4. Awsome !! the guy ,cop ? in black did shot actually the right wheel , it did not have much effects !!

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  5. Awsome , actually one of the cop in black shoot the wheel on time , but without effects .

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  6. ogui, Yeah the guy in black was a cop. And that was his motorcycle, possibly his personal motorcycle. He rode up on it and parked it in front of the Land Cruiser. He's also the guy running down the street after the Land Cruiser at the end of the video.

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  7. not a very clever thing to do

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  8. Amazing to have caught this on tape. Great stuff.

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  9. Apparently this story has reached Cambodian circles and there is a follow up in Khmer that says the police caught the driver of the Landcruiser near Wat Moha Mun Dray (nr. Olympic Stadium). The Head of the Traffic Police was quoted as saying that it is suspected that the driver has a mental illness. This was allegedly confirmed by the guy's relatives who said he may have a mental illness as he previously had an eye operation (can't quite see the connection myself but there you go...). Latest is that the police have impounded his vehicle, his relatives have collected him from the police station and taken him home and police are currently 'investigating'! I think we can all guess what will happen next...

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  10. Honestly, that is fantastic! This needs to be passed to Hun Sen himself.

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  11. surely the whole point of having a landcruiser in Cambodia is so you dont have to obey anyone, ever. Know thats why I have mine....LOL.

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  12. Is that Ken Wilcox driving?

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  13. Oh well, there are some peolpe who still think that we don't have trafic law and rules. He forgot to realize that he is in car on the road and not on oxcart on the his own rice field anymore. I don't think the prime minister is so crazy to give this suicide man the permission to do this thing that has been seen. He begongs into a psycho hospital or jail. He need to be takend care in any case. My rcommendation is "please respect other and you will be respected as well.

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  14. Reporter said that he is nervous guy his age about 60 years.

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  15. Sweet.....the RULE of LAW wins again...slow steady progress.........Viva Las Vegas ...the moto cops have Harley Davidson and BMW....The Chairman should get the P.P. cops the same

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  16. Why this man has a driving license?

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  17. Likely he doesn't have a driver's license, like most folks on the road...but you don't need a license to know what's right and wrong!

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  18. Have you seen the "driving schools" in Phnom Penh? The instructors are as clueless as the students. A license isn't acquired through passing any tests. Obviously, this guy failed the part of the test where they teach you how to run over motos with a Land Cruiser.

    Anywho, hopefully, some form of justice will be meted out, but, it being Cambodia, justice is a nebulous concept.

    Nice catch. Someone needs to put up a 24-hour web cam streaming Phnom Penh "traffic" for guaranteed shits and giggles.

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  19. "Someone needs to put up a 24-hour web cam streaming Phnom Penh "traffic" for guaranteed shits and giggles."

    There are a few traffic web cams in Phnom Penh streaming live. See at http://www.khmerlive.tv/livecams/ Though the feed is slow and doesn't seem to work well sometimes.

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  20. How come ? THat driver must be blamed and fined in large amount of money , I never withness that such aggressive driver like that ..damn driver. Some car operator still use their power as top-ranking officers or police or military they serve to defy traffic law or.....

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  21. From The Cambodia Daily, Oct 30-31, 2010:

    "Phnom Penh traffic police temporarily detained a senior government official Thursday afternoon for aggressive driving...

    ...berated police officers as he drove over a motorcycle belonging to a military police officer and drove to Olympic Stadium, where police stopped him using two police trucks as a barricade...

    ...his wife told police that he has a mental disorder since having optical surgery..."

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  22. that is the kind of attitude of government officials in cambodia. they think they are above the law. how can cambodia moving forward if these people are doing this to their own country?

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