Brake failure again! Video shows carnage on Friendship Highway

 

video screenshot

 

A video put together by Thai Rath showed what happened on Friendship Highway near Tesco Lotus in Pak Chong, Nakorn Ratchasima on Saturday. 

 

A truck trailer tries to slow down as traffic comes to a halt but the driver's brakes fail. 

 

The resulting collision damaged a Fortuner and virtually destroyed a black pick-up before the truck trailer comes to rest in the central reservation. 

 

Three people were injured but there were no fatalities in the accident that occurred at KM marker 57. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-12-11

 

 

30+ years,driving HGV,running companies with HGV fleets,

never once had brake failures,here its a daily occurance,

but also doubt it is actually brake failure in a lot of cases

just the drivers excuse for bad driving,i also wonder if the

Police ever check these vehicles to see if the brakes are

actually the cause of the accidents.

regards Worgeordie

Its time to really fine owners and or jail them when brake failure happens as they don't properly maintain the vehicle. As long as its just the driver that is on the hook nothing will change. Sure drivers are responsible but their boss holds a lot more power and if he does not spend money to maintain the vehicle the driver is in trouble. 

The "ditch of death" seems to have done it's job in protecting the traffic coming from the opposite direction. What a mess it would have been had the truck plowed through to the other side.

brake failure - this deluding expression should be selected unword of the year in Thailand

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

Its time to really fine owners and or jail them when brake failure happens as they don't properly maintain the vehicle. As long as its just the driver that is on the hook nothing will change. Sure drivers are responsible but their boss holds a lot more power and if he does not spend money to maintain the vehicle the driver is in trouble. 

seems you believe in "brake failure"

- what about the tooth fairy?

1 minute ago, sweatalot said:

seems you believe in "brake failure"

- what about the tooth fairy?

I believe that maintenance is a problem in Thailand, unless you think its all perfectly maintained.

 

Sure sometimes its a guy sleeping behind the wheel. 

Looks like the driver took the best option and ran it into the ditch. Probably saved a few lives risking his own. A brave quick thinking man.

 

Truck didn't appear to be overloaded either.

 

Japanese built truck I assume.

Having driven more 150,000 Kms around Thailand over the past 10 years, I can safely say that the majority of 'brake failure' is caused by the driver. They approach a descent at a speed greater than is safe to do so. Subsequently, this speed needs to be reduced whilst travelling downhill. This is asking a lot of the braking system. The problem is exacerbated by the driver then failing to remove his foot from the brakes, to allow cooling, over a prolonged distance which then overheats them and renders them useless when required to stop. 

 

There are also some genuine cases whereby the vehicle was unroadworthy, but the driver is still responsible as to whether he takes charge of that vehicle. 

I don't think that those raised and educated in SEA are yet culturally or socially developed enough to properly and safely commandeer modern day vehicles. 

 

For the large part, they're coming from centuries of oxen and carts, to large, high powered modern day vehicles and road systems in one generation. 

I wonder if anybody will have anything original to say about this accident. 

1 hour ago, robblok said:

I believe that maintenance is a problem in Thailand, unless you think its all perfectly maintained.

 

Sure sometimes its a guy sleeping behind the wheel. 

you're right maintenance is a problem here.

But I believe in most cases when they claim brake failure  it is brain failure 

Brake lights not working either or was he playing with his d**ck or was  he drunk as that is what causes most of the accidents in Thai;and you know. Nothing to do do with being totally braindead and absolute rubbish drivers

45 minutes ago, Knocker33 said:

Brake lights not working either or was he playing with his d**ck or was  he drunk as that is what causes most of the accidents in Thai;and you know. Nothing to do do with being totally braindead and absolute rubbish drivers

Time to stop calling these collisions 'accidents.' Using the word accident implies there is no discernible reason why vehicles end up in a smoking heap on the road. Calling an event like this an accident suggests you dont have to research the reasons and then actually do something about preventing the next collision.

3 hours ago, worgeordie said:

30+ years,driving HGV,running companies with HGV fleets,

never once had brake failures,here its a daily occurance,

but also doubt it is actually brake failure in a lot of cases

just the drivers excuse for bad driving,i also wonder if the

Police ever check these vehicles to see if the brakes are

actually the cause of the accidents.

regards Worgeordie

Can't check, remember - face, face face.... 

1 hour ago, cleverman said:

I wonder if anybody will have anything original to say about this accident. 

Truck falls from sky????

2 hours ago, cleverman said:

I wonder if anybody will have anything original to say about this accident. 

The only thing interested in a truck on it's back would be another truck. 

I knew someone who worked in a parts shop in Chonburi,he said he could get me brake shoes and pads for my BMW at about 10% of the cost of those supplied by BMW.

Maybe it is brake failure,has anyone ever checked to see if the actual brakes are made from decent components or are they cheap knock offs,like so much else in this country.If they were, it would explain a lot of these brake failures.

3 hours ago, Pete1980 said:

Truck didn't appear to be overloaded either.

Which is probably a good thing since a fully loaded one would have oodles more mass and momentum and ploughed on through a lot more. The fact that it was empty is probably why it flipped so easily in the ditch and limited the 'carnage' reported. I was rear-ended by a truck-trailer years ago in Brisbane rush hour traffic where the trucker, having just emptied his semi-, hit the brakes too late coming up to traffic lights and skated and bounced into me. He admitted fault and explained something that I was already aware of that an empty truck behaves way differently than a loaded one under heavy, sudden braking. Wheels lock up, rubber skids, etc., etc..

 

Not making apologies for numpties but maybe that's the whole thing about the too frequent 'brake failure' claim here in Thailand and what they mean to say is the brakes didn't act like expected and it gets mangled in the translation? They don't consider their own speed, load, rough or wet road surfaces when they fly into a danger zone. Add the lack of spatial awareness and Whoop!... there's another one.

2 hours ago, cleverman said:

I wonder if anybody will have anything original to say about this accident. 

same same, mai bpen rai....hieuw.

50 minutes ago, MaxYakov said:

The only thing interested in a truck on it's back would be another truck. 

Unless the other truck was maybe gay?

3 hours ago, BKKMG said:

Having driven more 150,000 Kms around Thailand over the past 10 years, I can safely say that the majority of 'brake failure' is caused by the driver. They approach a descent at a speed greater than is safe to do so. Subsequently, this speed needs to be reduced whilst travelling downhill. This is asking a lot of the braking system. The problem is exacerbated by the driver then failing to remove his foot from the brakes, to allow cooling, over a prolonged distance which then overheats them and renders them useless when required to stop. 

 

There are also some genuine cases whereby the vehicle was unroadworthy, but the driver is still responsible as to whether he takes charge of that vehicle. 

A "professional" truck driver uses his engine braking system (in N.America known as a Jake Brake), to retard his speed, not just his brakes. I am more familiar with dynamic braking on a locomotive but similar idea.

I look at this and shake my head.

 

They don't learn - despite all the carnage, these people just do not learn.

 

The police do not enforce the law. Despite all the mayhem, the police just will not enforce the law. And the government just will not require them to enforce the law..

 

Take a drive on a main road in the country and watch the daft buggers. Crossing double lines, overtaking on blind mends, overtaling on hill brows. Driving on the wrong side of the road. No crash hats. Packed semi-trailers going up a 5 km winding 'mountain' roadat 20km per hour and a following queue of 10 cars. No driving lessons, no driving licenses.

 

It just goes on and on with no improvement in sight in my 10+ years in Thailand, it's just the same now as it always has been except now there are  more vehicles on the road. And correspondingly more idiots. There is no explanation other than stupidity, yet to hear them tell it, Thailand leads the world.

 

Amazing really.

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, robblok said:

I believe that maintenance is a problem in Thailand, unless you think its all perfectly maintained.

 

Sure sometimes its a guy sleeping behind the wheel. 

They basically run their vehicles into the ground and don't bother to fix anything until it actually breaks down on the road or there is an accident like this. I've seen numerous times overloaded pickups with 10-year-old blown out tires broken down on the side of the road. Thailand truly is the "wild west".

2 hours ago, DavisH said:

They basically run their vehicles into the ground and don't bother to fix anything until it actually breaks down on the road or there is an accident like this. I've seen numerous times overloaded pickups with 10-year-old blown out tires broken down on the side of the road. Thailand truly is the "wild west".

 

Maintenance (or rather the absence of maintenance) is indeed a problem in that regular preventative maintenance just doesn't exist, it's a foreign concept invented by the fools that populate western countries. 'Replace or repair it when it breaks down' seems to be the cry, do it on the cheap. Of course, one day, cheap becomes expensive so then it's off down the wat for a few nice chants, a free meal for the monks and maybe a special henna tattoo. As if that'll make any difference.

 

Living in Thailand is not without it's challenges. Correction: Living among Thais is not without it's challenges.

 

 

Could it be subliminal messages from the temple Tannoy affecting this mass failure of brains and brakes ????

Brake Failure = Asleep at the Wheel..........

4 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

A "professional" truck driver uses his engine braking system (in N.America known as a Jake Brake), to retard his speed, not just his brakes. I am more familiar with dynamic braking on a locomotive but similar idea.

TBH, I haven't heard the unique sound of a jake brake being applied on any semi-trailer on steep descents through the Kabinburi 'mountains' until quite recently on only on some newer tractors. I think the technology, although old, hasn't quite made it to LOS yet. All you can hear on the aforementioned 304 cut is squealing brakes. That and the smell of burning brakes and clutch plates.

4 hours ago, HalfLight said:

It just goes on and on with no improvement in sight in my 10+ years in Thailand,

Hang in there. In another 10 years, their apathy will have rubbed off on you. Then you can rant about something disagreeable happening back home.

10 hours ago, worgeordie said:

30+ years,driving HGV,running companies with HGV fleets,

never once had brake failures,here its a daily occurance,

but also doubt it is actually brake failure in a lot of cases

just the drivers excuse for bad driving,i also wonder if the

Police ever check these vehicles to see if the brakes are

actually the cause of the accidents.

regards Worgeordie

Back in Massachusetts they'll have state troopers pulling over vehicles to do inspections and also weigh stations to make sure the vehicles aren't overloaded. Thailand definitely has a problem there feeling think good not bad all will be well!