Four foreign tourists dead as van slams in to turning 10 wheel truck

[Artisi]

17 minutes ago, natway09 said:

The Ministry of Transport & the Police have failed in their bid to educate & enforce traffic safety.

It is now time to start again, similar to the cabinet reshuffle.

But I doubt the boss is strong enough to interfere in the Police corruption scheme

Corruption scheme, how could you say such a thing?. 

[zaphod reborn]

Did they test for yaba?  That's the drug of choice for the van drivers.

[TechnikaIII]

The absence of good governance. It this case, as we all know so well, the absence of a real police force. :-(

[lvr181]

17 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Terrible. Truly terrible. 

 

 

And so is the inaction of Government failing to enforce regulations! And especially shame on the RTP and associated Government agencies for not doing their jobs properly either. 

[Curmudgeon1]

16 hours ago, jwalt421 said:

And yet... the driver survived. Hopefully long enough to go to prison for vehicular manslaughter. But that's probably not a thing in the LoS. Typical...

Likely the only one with a seat belt on 

[Happyman58]

Now time for big laugh  Today i went driving my car I got my nerves back So i was travelling down the 2 lane road and saw all these cars stopped in left lane. I was in in left Lane Get ready for this one guys it really cracked me up There was a car stopped in this lane holding up traffic  Guess what she /he was doing?  Drum roll Ladies and Gentlemen  They were waiting to change lanes like you do when you are driving along and indicate that you are  moving across to the other lane except they had stopped to do this Anybody ever seen that one before Truth it is first time i have ever seen that   I think out of 10 Thai drivers would rate -5

[greenchair]

Vans are to thailand as guns are to America . 

Talk talk talk .

nothing changes .

[josephbloggs]

Awful.  If only it was a microbus though everything would have been fine.

[hottrader77]

19 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

The carnage is unbelievable, but it continues daily !

R.I.P. to any family and friends of the bereaved.

thats what happens in a 3rd world country you always have to think for the other driver as his brain is far behind 1st world country , best take the train you can even get a sleeper train if going on long journeys and have a good nights sleep . the driver was going far too fast and did not anticipate the other driver turning , seen many over the years , some of these mini bus drivers have half a brain anyway 

[madusa]

20 hours ago, coulson said:

The van was unable to stop because it was trailing by about 10ft at 100kmph as usual.

 

Wake up Thailand, hub of road fatalities.

 

RIP

Yes, exactly. I could never understand why they do that all the time, driving at high speed and very, very close to the vehicle in front. There is no way you could stop in time. How does the Thai brain works?

Sometimes I would bribe the driver to listen to me, I would give him cash (good amount ) to get him to keep a distance, that is before the journey starts, I made sure he understands what I am saying and willing to do so. I show him the money I give him half of it and say the other half to give him if he follows my instruction. I really had no choice. 

To save your life and your family you had better spent some good money.

[anon537687643]

Basically no one will be held responsible It’s way it is!


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[David Walden]

6 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Not likely. Look closely at the wreckage. It's much more than that.

If your claim was correct, there would have been nothing left of the van and much of the structure  would have been sheared off as the vehicle went under the truck. Instead we have  crumple consistent with a lower speed type collision.

 

Yes, there was tailgating, yes there may have been excessive speed, but sadly the  damage you see is in large part due to the type of construction of the vehicle. That's an impact of perhaps as low as 40 kmh . That van has no reinforcement sufficient to withstand a front impact and its brakes and tires  were probably not in good shape.  In Thailand, vehicles need not be built to the same safety standards as a vehicle sold in Germany or California. What we see is consistent with tin can design common to vehicles in built for the SE Asian market.

Ahhhh  good we can blame the vehicle manufacturer now, That's much better.

[David Walden]

6 hours ago, connda said:

Back to the same narrative: 

 

What you see on Thai roads is in fact totally anarchy.  This is what roads anywhere in the world would look like that are completely devoid of proactive traffic enforcement (road blocks and speeding tickets in the mail are revenue sources - not traffic enforcement). 
 
So, Thais drive however they da*m well please which is generally aggressively and dangerously.  Serious fines and possible jail time as sanctions for dangerous/negligent driving are only issued after the fact (post-carnage) and if you have the money and/or the status you can buy your way out with nothing much more than a slap on the wrist.  Why the insurance companies who are on the hook to pay out damages for this stupid behavior don't intensively lobby the government to enact Western style traffic enforcement policies is beyond me.  It's their bottom line that is impacted.  But they seem uninterested too.  Go figure.

Nothing will change unless by some amazing quirk of fortunate, Thailand somehow enters the realm of developed, first world nations.  That's a long way off in my humble opinion.  

And not only with road rules.

[DrTuner]

I thought everybody knew already stepping into these flying coffins is a 99% sure death sentence. 

[David Walden]

3 hours ago, natway09 said:

The Ministry of Transport & the Police have failed in their bid to educate & enforce traffic safety.

It is now time to start again, similar to the cabinet reshuffle.

But I doubt the boss is strong enough to interfere in the Police corruption scheme

The country is administered by soldiers.  Administration What's that?

[Sinistralian]

A tragic accident - and we've all seen the way these Hiace Van drivers behave be it on the open road or at junctions forging an imaginary lane on the inside - Oh I forget they're the 4th Emergency service of course - they own the road don't they . But seriously how regulated are the drivers and the vans - be they  public or private ? Some difficult answers  for the next of kin .

RIP

[stanleycoin]

2 hours ago, hottrader77 said:

 some of these mini bus drivers have half a brain anyway 

Think that could be,   a tad to generous. 

[Nemesis7]

When will it STOP these vans speeding mania and people paying with their lives on this roads??? So sad.

[observer90210]

This tragedy should serve as a strong warning to the expats and citizens living in Thailand....and deserves larger coverage in international media to warn tourists.

 

If human lives mean nothing to many, for others it still has a value...

 

RIP to all.

[PAIBKK]

13 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I detect an inability to think ahead..... like there is a 5 second brain delay

5 second brain delay??? In Thailand times 4.0 !!!

[Next stop NK]

Thailand likes to be number one in many things, most tourists in the world etc, but you still need to beat Libya to become number one in the most deadliest countries in the world per capita

But by doing nothing you are clearly on the track of becoming number 1, and if Thailand would not only count the people dying at the crash site but also those dying in hospital later, you may actually have beaten Libya!

May the tourists and the other 25.000-100.000 dying in Thai traffic every year have peace

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by Next stop NK

[Suetape]

RIP.

[dieseldave1951]

and what about the van driver ????

 

[hottrader77]

7 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Think that could be,   a tad to generous. 

ok a quarter then i dont want to be too generous ! ha 

[bristolgeoff]

the driver of these vehicles try to get to a point asap.before in cm  the border run to burma in those vehicles was chance u took.they drove fast and crazy and many accidents happened along the way.but driving into a big truck well the people in the bus had no chance

[balo]

16 hours ago, djayz said:

So you believe that only those who can afford a private driver are safe on the roads? Maybe you also believe that those private drivers have the real, genuine lucky charms hanging up in their vehicles, you know,  the ones which protect the passangers from everything, right? 

 

 

No I don't believe that , they were unlucky with the driver .   I drive myself so I can only blame myself if an accident happens. Not happened yet and I have been all over Thailand.  Unfortunately tourists have not a lot of options if they want to visit tourist attractions. 

 

If it were me flying in as a tourist I would choose the train instead, it leaves every hour from Bangkok , 

http://www.thailandtrains.com/ayutthaya-train-station/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bust]

Anyone who believes in reincarnation should not be allowed to operate any vehicle 

[buick]

20 hours ago, Artisi said:

Wow, seems you can learn something new everyday, and here I was after 20 years in Thailand thinking that brake failure was one of the major reasons offered for the majority of fatal  accidents, but then of course maybe the OP was being factious about brake failure, and then on the other hand some people have no sense of understand or humour. 

artisi, there is a poster on this board that frequently uses 'myth perpetuated' as a response in connection with a post such poster reads and feels might be a 'thai bash'.  if the comment i reacted to had come from another poster, i would have said nothing.  i can understand your 'what are you talking about' type comment(s).  i react the same way as you when i get the 'myth perpetuated' from this poster (what is this person going on about ???!!!).

Edited November 10, 2017 by buick

[sebastion]

I refuse to enter any mini van in Thailand. I went in one once and that was enough for me. Speeding and blind corner overtakes.
My nerves can't handle that again.
The driver was a pig. Talking on the phone and aggressive to people asking him to slow down.


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[djayz]

4 hours ago, balo said:

 

No I don't believe that , they were unlucky with the driver .   I drive myself so I can only blame myself if an accident happens. Not happened yet and I have been all over Thailand.  Unfortunately tourists have not a lot of options if they want to visit tourist attractions. 

 

If it were me flying in as a tourist I would choose the train instead, it leaves every hour from Bangkok , 

http://www.thailandtrains.com/ayutthaya-train-station/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True. Unfortunately when our time's up, it's up - irrespective of where we are.