Phuket Gazette Queer News: Man snores traffic to a halt

PHUKET: Motorists in Phuket who think traffic is bad here should prepare themselves if they are planning a visit to Pattaya, where a man last week caused a huge tailback on a major road after falling asleep at the wheel of his Jeep.

It took other citizens and police officers an hour to awaken the dozing driver, who clung to his unconscious state for so long that officers began to suspect he was dead.

A caller alerted Pattaya City Police to the problem at the tender hour of 5:30am on July 19.

A Jeep, the report said, was parked at the traffic lights at the start of Central Pattaya Road with its engine and lights on. The handbrake was set, and the vehicle wouldn’t move when pushed.

Inside the vehicle was a Thai man, aged 30-35, fast asleep in the driver’s seat.

The jeep was parked in a dangerous place on a busy road. As traffic piled up behind it, drivers had to brake suddenly to avoid crashing into other vehicles.

When officers arrived at the scene, they shouted at the driver to try to wake him up, but he didn’t budge. They also tried banging on the vehicle and shaking it, but to no avail.

Then they tried blowing whistles and honking horns, but the man continued to sleep.

After an hour, the police decided to break into the vehicle, prising open one of the windows and waking the man up.

They gave him a cold towel and some water and he drove straight off before officers even had the chance to question him as to why he had fallen asleep there.

— Pattaya One