An awful, yet typical story.

Just now, possum1931 said:

I believe what you say is right, but the road between Nakhon Sawan and Phitsanulok that's the 117, would be motorway all the way, but it is signposted the 117 Highway.

OK, I just checked on google to see if I could find a definition of "highway" and it's any public use road, so I'll concede that a "highway" could be a "motorway" in LOS if one wanted to use the term for that, though I wouldn't.

Apologies.

18 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

A motorway has at least two lanes in the same direction and a barrier or median between the opposing lanes. A highway has only 1 lane in each direction, except where passing lanes are added, and no mid line barrier

Don't confuse Motorway with Dual Carriageway.

As far as I know as of this moment in time, Thailand only has two stretches of road that are officially classified as motorway by the department of highways and they are 7 and 9.

They have grand plans to build and open 1000's of km's more over the next decade, some of it is well under construction now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_motorway_network

I do not know exactly how they make the classification TBH, for sure 7 is at least 3 lanes wide, 4 mostly, in the same direction and has no u-turns on it, apart from the emergency vehicle ones that are normally barriered off.

The road signs also have a blue background and not green. (follows the UK)

Most dual carriageways have got open u-turns and traffic lights at junctions, green background signs etc.

The expressways around Bangkok are called that, not motorway, again, don't ask me why.

1 minute ago, Mattd said:

Don't confuse Motorway with Dual Carriageway.

As far as I know as of this moment in time, Thailand only has two stretches of road that are officially classified as motorway by the department of highways and they are 7 and 9.

They have grand plans to build and open 1000's of km's more over the next decade, some of it is well under construction now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_motorway_network

I do not know exactly how they make the classification TBH, for sure 7 is at least 3 lanes wide, 4 mostly, in the same direction and has no u-turns on it, apart from the emergency vehicle ones that are normally barriered off.

The road signs also have a blue background and not green. (follows the UK)

Most dual carriageways have got open u-turns and traffic lights at junctions, green background signs etc.

The expressways around Bangkok are called that, not motorway, again, don't ask me why.

You are right, but I already conceded that I was misguided in thinking a highway was only one lane each way, so not surprising I was wrong about "motorway". Guess it's never too late to learn something new.

3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

you obviously don't drive an automatic.

 

??????

I can downshift on my automatic drive car, by moving the gear lever to a lower gear selection.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the accident of this double deck bus was caused by brake failure.

Had the driver selected a lower gear, he would not have had to rely on the brakes to control the speed. However, I've seen them speeding down hills and braking hard on the corners, which is not a good way to drive.

Carnage Thailand! It’s part of the culture and will take decades to change, if ever!


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3 hours ago, Mattd said:

And this is exactly why Thailand will continue to be number one for road deaths!

How the hell can they determine the cause was brake failure after such a short time span and destructive force of the crash.................... easier just to fob it off as that, the minions will believe!

It's always brake-failure but don't think they will start inspecting the brakes a bit better or buy higher quality brakesystems....

I very rarely hear of brakefailures in Europe and if that happens 3 times in row for sure they'll start inspecting all coaches with the same systems onboard.

 

Yup Thailand is the worldwide hub of deadly roadaccidents and rabies dogs...

12 hours ago, mok199 said:

that is a tangled twisted mess...all this life lost and songkran ,''the road carnage fest'' is still two weeks away...

Always good to do a gentle warm-up.  Think of it as the friendly's before the World Cup

5 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

you obviously don't drive an automatic.

 

Would appear that you can't. 

Feel sick to the stomach. Again unnecessary and avoidable deaths. Yes it happens all over the world but more frequently here. Whether the driver ran or not. He will still live with it his whole life. Yes we all rant on about driver training and limited hours at the wheel but until the law gets serious about enforcing laws it won't stop. We don't know if the driver was simpy careless, Texting, sleepy or on drugs..... or some mechanical failure..

12 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I'd venture to say that's due to the combination of low quality, low safety standards and irresponsible driving.

I'd venture to say its all about EDUCATION !

and so here we are again.

 

year after year.

10 hours ago, PEE TEE said:

Tragic loss of life . It will go on until the people who matter clean up the road laws . But this can can happen anywhere . Needs road checks for license. Tax insurance  . driving here 16 years and never been asked to show any documents. 

Many vehicles on Thai Roads are not road worthy No tyres are checked all adding to danger . 

It will go on until the average IQ of the populous increases. They ALL drive like morons.

13 hours ago, colinneil said:

Tragic loss of life, people traveling on a bus returning home from a temple in Chantaburi, after visiting a temple for tamboon.

I dont know how it happened, but a bus going downhill, driver probably in high gear, not using the low gears, then driver loses control.

What a sad / tragic loss of life, my condolences to the bereaved families.

Last year  I travelled to Chiang Mai. The driver was crawling up the hills painfully slowly and then accelerating as fast as he could down the other side like a madman.

 

I think it was his idea of reducing fuel consumption, or sonething.

9 hours ago, Jingjock said:

Loads on these drivers are on drugs to stay awake while they drive 18 hours a day (MONEY) it will never change. RIP to all those killed. So I will not travel on a bus or mini bus at all.

No , nor me Jingjock , I would rather walk , if too far to walk I will stay home.

13 hours ago, Lungstib said:

Are Thai buses and trucks made to good standards of safety? Several after accident scenes show awful damage and scattered vehicle parts. They do seem to break apart rather easy.

Well I recall last year a post about 200 CN buses bought...

Just now, Seeall said:

Well I recall last year a post about 200 CN buses bought...

A way of understanding is like the pickup with 30 Minmar workers standing up as its so full....  we can see the undercarriage rusty and about to break.....  does the owner repair it?  why?  its still working fine..   why fix it?  why do you think so strange?

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

??????

I can downshift on my automatic drive car, by moving the gear lever to a lower gear selection.

Yes .see your manual for the manufacturers opinion on that

This is normal situation in Thailand nothing new and it will carry on forever until some kind of system would evaluate driver license to this people that can not read or write and there is a lot of them on the road  it is a bit dangerous and you will never know who is going to get you on these roads.

12 hours ago, ikke said:

I'd venture to say its all about EDUCATION !

No need to "venture" - it is all about education backed up by effective policing.

58 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

No need to "venture" - it is all about education backed up by effective policing.

Sadly not so...they are only 2 factors in a raft of interconnected measures needed to bring about an effective response and a long term reduction in death and injuries. Just look at countries with the lowest rates and you'll see its a much bigger and more complex task than you seem to suggest

On 3/22/2018 at 8:15 AM, bluesofa said:

I'd venture to say that's due to the combination of low quality, low safety standards and irresponsible driving.

The later being the root cause 

This turn on the way down the hill going north from Wang Nam Khiao on 304 have always been an accident spot. They recently closed that lane and put new black top but did nothing with the completely wrong swing dosage in this turn. When you coming down one of the steepest sections into a sharp left turn, the road surface is higher on the inside of the turn then outside, making the swing dosage completely wrong. Large vehicles have to go very slow to make this turn. The concrete barrier dividing the up and down traffic lanes have to be repaired at least every month on this spot from idiots going to fast and hitting the barrier.  A huge engineering mistake that will keep claiming lives.

Police news media conference this arvo.

 

The driver has been charged with being dosed up on yaabaa.

2 hours ago, electric said:

Police news media conference this arvo.

 

The driver has been charged with being dosed up on yaabaa.

Problem solved them, so it will probably 3 wai's, 1 week in the wat and B1000 fine, licence re-instated and full-time employment as a bus driver.

55 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Luckily Thai bus drivers don't have to use roads like these:

 

Not sure where in Thailand this road is, but I would love to drive it.

This is so messed up it's shocking .. 

This is very sad, but the dead mean nothing.  Just another day with no action on road carnage 

An off-topic post has been removed.