richard_smith237

Au contraire..... I can effortlessly rack up 10,000 steps in the blink of an eye while trailing behind my wife in a shopping mall - like a bewildered pack mule in a never-ending quest on what should become an Olympic-level endurance event. And... then there is this issue... half the streets are barely navigable by foot... https://aseannow.com/topic/1339848-bangkok-streets-to-undergo-significant-improvements/#comment-19282053

I agree... But I also remember a deadly school bus incident in the UK in 1993 when a mini-van struck a motorway service vehicle on the hard shoulder of the M40 motorway (14 deaths) - it was huge news at the time. An inquest's most significant findings were that the minibus was not fitted with seatbelts, as legislation did not require minibuses or coaches to be at the time. The law was changed in 1997 to make seatbelts standard equipment on all minibuses and coaches as well as outlawing bench seating. It took 4 years for the law to be enacted which IMO is a ridiculous amount of time considering the risks. My point in discussing the above is that tragic incidents happen - its the legislative response and enforcement that becomes the measure of a development. I hope Thailand moves faster than the UK did and bans all CNG in public transport vehicles and also legislates that seatbelts wearing in all vehicles becomes law.

I'm not sure really...... there are many hazardous crossings in Thailand. Being 'stuck' in the middle is definitely a 'no-no' for me... waiting for the whole road to be clear is the obvious answer and I've had to do that in the past. It does surprise me how many people cross the road (without a crossing island) in two goes... i.e. cross to half way, then stop and wait for a gap in the traffic comming from the other direction... it just seems so lethal... With regards to being cautious - I'm not sure she was, being 'stuck' in the centre like that her eyes 'should' have been on stalks but it would appear that once she was half way across she was only interested in the traffic coming towards her from the direction she wanted to cross. Of course, the black pickup is 100% at fault - the driver should never be hitting a 'stationary anything'.... the driver had clearly drifted out of their lane... But - I think this is a perfect example of 'what not to do when crossing a wide road in Thailand'.... I hope they find the driver and his insurance compensates the lady for her loss of income while she recovers.

Please explain why ? I'm on macOS sonoma 14.0.... Just curious, why not to go straight to 15.0.1 ? And why is someone a 'dummy' if they went to 15.0 ???

When its safer to carry a 1 year old in your arms in a taxi than it is push them down a semi-existent footpath, we know there is something very '3rd world' about the attitudes here...

Solution - well lit speed bumps before the crossing...

Was she suicidal ??? I know thats a pedestrian crossing and cars 'should' stop... but she seemed to make no effort whatsoever to cross the road with any degree of common sense or safety whatsoever... Also, the design of the crossing is awful... on a road that wide there surely has to be a 'central island' which protects the pedestrian...

Its something that definitely needs to be done... Every official needs to be put in a wheel-chair and told to 'get around'.... then the would truly understand the scale of the issue... Its impossible to go half the places with a kid in push-chair. We'd have to drive 500m down the road, just to avoid using the push chair in the road (because there was no useable pavement / sidewalk) - so this is definitely needed. Then when the pavements / sidewalks are in good condition - the motorcycles use them, so that needs to be addressed too. Bangkok is already doing a decent job of burying the cables... I hope they keep it up.

- Must have Neon lit interior - Must have garish illustrations / paint on the exterior - Must have an extremely loud sound system - Must have loads of lights at the front If after a journey people can exit the bus and still hear and see and not feel nauseous - the vehicles fail the certification for not being 'sanook' enough....

The latest rumours are that she's changing her surname from Shinawatra to Canute...

Following this incident I agree, but if I am to be totally honest it is not something I have ever given any thought to previously . The same probably goes for most people. I do however remember a year or two ago when a minibus exploded during an accident killing an extraordinary amount of passengers. I think the issue raised then was overloading of passengers, I don't remember any calls for gas to be banned I agree.... Its CNG in public transport has never been banned... It was actively pushed by none other than Thaksin back in the day. I also agree that 'most people' would not be aware of the risks and not know to show concern about CNG in a public vehicle, but enough on this forum have raised such concern. Back in 2017, I raised concerns to my Son's school regarding 'school bus transport' before a field trip - I make this point only to highlight that the concern (e-mail) was forwarded directly to the bus company (Montri) who in their response also highlighted that their vehicles are diesel only. Thus, companies which could be considered more professional at the time, seemed aware of the risks associated with CNG.

Another with the same weird fixation. Would the course of action you are suggesting, have any effect on incidents like this ? No it would not , so give it a rest for gods sake I saw a car the other day with a sticker on it saying " my other car is a porsche" should the owner be fully investigated and prosecuted if his other car is not actually a Porsche ? If I'm not mistaken, companies such as Mercedes, Volvo sell the chassis... So the chassis and engine are Mercedes and everything else in 'added on'... The simple reality is that no public transport should be permitted to use CNG. Busses, Vans or Taxis. It was Thaksin Shinawatra who instigated the use of CNG in public transport vehicles and taxis... if you look into why, it can be found that at the time he had his fingers in.... you guessed it... --------- My son has been on field trips.. and each time I have checked the school and 'bus company policy' regarding safety.... .... The don't use diesel busses only (I still have the email responses from the school and bus companies themselves).

No he didnt... This is a screen shot of the video showing the driver run to get a Fire extinguisher after trying and failing to open the rear doors... By then it was probably all tragically too late. There are two specific videos doing the rounds. 1) Screen shot below is from one of the videos. 2) Another video taken from the opposite side showing the driver franticly trying to get access to the bus from the other side. The driver did flee though - but only after all attempts to rescue the kids failed. He probably feared for his life.... not a correct action at all by the way, but the manner in which the 'some-media' and people on forum are spreading this misinformation is poor form. One video here (though the ack of urgency is heartbreaking - the driver already seems to know all souls have been lost). https://www.tiktok.com/@kiepertot.28/video/7421123731168251154 The bus driver 'escaping the scene' seems like a narrative everyone is keen on to direct their anger... Finally, as this thread shows, it is the owners who need to be targeted.

What you wrote in your post, quote : However, if a person looking for mushrooms or just crossing the mountain/forest Come on keep up People can become sign-blind, people commonly ignore signs... Or, for whatever reason they may not be looking in that direction of the sign or have missed it (i.e. if they were off the path or head-looking downwards foraging etc - which is a perfectly reasonable example of why someone missed the sign). The best example of why someone might not 'read the sign' is their lack of language ability. Getting petty about why someone missed a sign is a bit pathetic - the fact is the deceased missed the sign or ignored it... Either way he crossed into a highly dangerous area that was a) left highly dangerous by authorities not turning of the power & b) remained unstable, so more than a simple sign 'should' have been placed there.

You assume he could read? Quite a lot of the Hill Tribe people living in that area never went to any school. Extremely valid point... I'm wondering why there were not full on barriers blocking the road completely.... The 'land slide' is clearly an unstable mass of land and could easily have 'slid further' - so the electricity was not the only hazard and simply placing a 'sign' seems rather negligent. But more so than any of the above, I'm wondering why on earth they would not turn off power the the fallen power lines - surely thats the very first step in any response.

How about 'authorities promptly' switching off the electricity ????? - We have one fool ignoring signs. - & a whole department of fools ignoring the most basic of safety protocols not turning off the power. They had time to put up a sign but not turn off the power ??? - I'm struggling to find the logic here, if there is any.

Agreed... a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking on this issue - but thats only natural and this is a Discussion forum after all... Would have been useless against a fire that powerful anyway. Completely agree. 3 Teachers died - their bodies found cradling the kids - that was as much command has the could possibly have had in their dying seconds in that intense instantly spreading inferno. Agree with the Monday morning quarterbacking on this - inspect away... that should be the minimum. Either and oversight or they failed - nothing points to them being locked, I guess they are hydraulically operated, so if the bus is powered down, they wont open, Agreed - nevertheless... an accident waiting to happen... As is an NGV fire in all those taxi's and many other mini vans and busses operating on NGV... No public vehicle should be permitted to use NGV.

Thats why I'm interested in it.... and am interested in responses such as yours, primarily because I'm a layman when it comes to such thoughts and I know I know so little of it. I'm aware that Aramco has spearheaded carbon recapture tech and still is... Particularly with haulage and shipping.... developments may be made to scale this down to ICE's. The same can be said for Nuclear Fusion (not not Fission), and Hydrogen fuel cell tech... ... I'm interested in them as an alternative, but see we are not quite there yet, although perhaps a lot closer with H2.

Topple the Ayatollahs and the rule of the Islamic Republic and see the region achieve stability. Iran is doing all it can to destabilise the region and maintain its strangle hold on the poorer nations.

I think in the past - the brake failure excuses are for three reasons. 1) Poor driving - riding the brakes on a hill and them over heating 2) Driver inattention - brake failure is the go to excuse 3) Rare instances of genuine brake failure - poor maintenance.

Thanks - I think the acrynms being used... LNG / LPG / CNG / LGV etc are being mixed up... I'm not sure what this bus was using - but for all gasses at these temperatures, they need to be compressed. Also, as you pointed out, I'm not sure of an explosion - but the rate of the spread of fire was rapid... This is a photo of the driver running to get a fire extinguisher after trying and failing to get the back door open.

The reasonable response is no LNG in ANY form of public transport.... When I have e-mailed our schools before (two of them) regarding their transport policy for field trips, part of their policy is 'Diesel vehicles' i.e. no LNG / CNG vehicles because of the known safety risks compared to something as 'less volatile' as diesel.

So many reports that the bus driver ran away.... but they paint a false narative. Upon catching fire, the bus driver can be seen in numerous videos attempting to open the rear door of the bus... in another video he can then be seen to fetch a fire extinguisher (presumably from one of the other busses).... and attempt to use that (before the video cuts). I suspect the 'LGV tank explosion' was so severe, he (he bus driver or other teachers) couldn't access the back of the bus from within. That said: after all attempts failed to save the children, the bus driver did then 'flee'.... I think through fear of immediate retribution from bystanders. Thats not to forgive his actions - but to shine light on the reports that he fled when he did not, not immediately anyway.

Agreed... but lets not be too judgemental here - I bet every single person who has contributed to this topic and drives has done exactly the same thing as the op... (follow cars into a junction then get 'stranded' as the lights change)... Its just a daily occurrence. We (Drivers) would never get anywhere if we didn't 'push through' and approach driving here with a degree of assertion... If we didn't enter a junction until the exit was clear we'd have vehicles just going around us instead.... (and drawing a lot of anger on ourselves as well). I agree that there should be fines for ensuring traffic isn't blocked, that junctions remain clear etc... but who are we kidding here... the police are lazy... its just the AI and cameras doing 'some work at some intersections'....

The real issue of course is that 'if you already know about it'... so do the Police.... If its being reported on, the police definitely know about it... So the issue isn't the racers... its the Police, they just dont care to deal with it. Simple solution - Put up checkpoints on any stretch of road the try and race on.