35 university students injured in Phrae bus-car crash

By The Nation

 

 

Thirty-five Uttaradit Rajabhat University students were injured when a bus taking them from Rayong to Chiang Mai collided with a car and overturned in a ditch in Phrae on Thursday evening.

 

Pol Lieutenant Apichat Chuathong of Huai Rai Police Station was on the scene at about 9.30pm – a U-turn on Denchai-Uttaradit Road in Ban Mae Puak (Moo 5), Den Chai district.

 

 

He found four of the students and the unidentified car driver seriously injured and the rest with minor injuries, including bus driver Wichien Phromtha, 52. 

 

 

Wichien said the Ford Fiesta sedan with a Phitsanulok licence plate was making a U-turn in front of him. He applied the brakes but was unable to avoid a collision and then lost control.

 

Apichat said both drivers would be charged with reckless driving causing injury.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30350935

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-27

U turns - the 'U' stands for undertaker.

Looks like the Fiesta was hit in the front. Must have been a very 'wide' U-turn.

Good drivers would see and avoid this problem here that is an oxymoron ,hence the high death and accident rate. 

On 7/27/2018 at 2:37 PM, Vacuum said:

Looks like the Fiesta was hit in the front. Must have been a very 'wide' U-turn.

Dont forget this is Thailand.  Good possibility the Fiesta was reversing into the U turn.

I don't know how many lanes this road has, but a bus full with people (no matter kids or adults), should never be in the fast lane.

 

Drivers (either bus, van or normal car) in Thailand don't have any responsibility feelings for the people they carry. Absolutely none!

 

They only want from A to B as fast as possible without even thinking about the safety of their passengers. Most likely they also never heard of fuel economy. They can save lives (luckily no deaths in this accidents) and fuel (money).

 

Then there's the Fiesta. Of course I wasn't there, but a couple of possible scenarios: The Fiesta did a U-turn from the opposite lane and did the turn without looking if any vehicles were coming (or just didn't care and think anyone can stop in time, which I see happening many times. Sometimes I wish I was in a big strong tank to just ram those A-hls!).

 

Or the bus was behind the Fiesta and of course driving way too close to the car in front of him,  which seems to be standard and one of the main causes for many accidents, and couldn't stop in time. Thai would think they are not at fault since they didn't do anything wrong (in their mind), but in any civilized country driving too close to the car in front of you, will net you a huge fine! But this doesn't make sense, since the Fiesta is hit in the front. 

 

Most likely the Fiesta made a U- turn and didn't give a d a m n about the other traffic AND the bus was in the fast lane where he shouldn't be. Or the bus driver was busy keeping up with his Facebook stories, which wouldn't surprise me as well. 

 

I always keep enough distance to be able to brake in time AND to monitor and act on the cars behind me. On the highways near the u-turns, I always check if I have an escape lane if I drive in the fast lane and see people who want to make a u- turn. 

 

Last but not least, I always let any passenger in my car wear their seatbelt. 

 

Save driving to all of you!