Bus crash on Patong Hill takes out 12 other vehicles, passengers in bus shaken

[webfact]

Bus crash on Patong Hill takes out 12 other vehicles, passengers in bus shaken

By Kritsada Mueanhawong

 

PHOTOS: Phuket Traffic Report VIDEO: Provided by Newshawk Phuket

 

The tour bus accident on Patong yesterday afternoon, the third such incident in the same spot within 24 hours, has caused three injuries and with vehicles damaged as the bus careered down the hill, out of control. There were 10 tourists on the bus who were shaken by the incident but unharmed.

 

The Patong Police heard about the incident, adjacent to the Suwankeereewong Temple (Wat Patong) on Phra Baramee Road, the bottom of Patong Hill, just after 3.30pm yesterday.

 

Police and Kusoldharm rescue workers arrived to find damaged vehicles including a tour bus, passenger vans, trucks, cars and pickups – a total of 12 vehicles.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/bus-crash-on-patong-hill-takes-out-12-other-vehicles-passengers-in-bus-shaken

 

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2019-01-24

[darksidedog]

Unbelievable. In the video in the full story you can see him fly past the stationary traffic, on the wrong side of the road, and I couldn't even see his brake lights on! Says he was surprised by traffic slowing down ahead of him? D'uh? That is what happens in traffic. Absolute idiot, should not be driving anything, let alone a bloody great bus endangering countless lives.

[robblok]

6 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Unbelievable. In the video in the full story you can see him fly past the stationary traffic, on the wrong side of the road, and I couldn't even see his brake lights on! Says he was surprised by traffic slowing down ahead of him? D'uh? That is what happens in traffic. Absolute idiot, should not be driving anything, let alone a bloody great bus endangering countless lives.

I agree no brake lights at all, i wish they jailed people like this and make the company responsible for more then just damages. That would maybe deter them employing bad drivers and keeping their vehicules in a good condition.

[worgeordie]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

as the bus careered down the hill, out of control. 

Another one trying to freewheel down a hill to

save fuel.

regards Worgeordie

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Perhaps they should consider turning these episodes into ticketed attractions in Thailand:

 

Bus Crash Adventure, 1000b for adult tourists, 500 baht for children tourists.

 

"Take a wild ride on the streets of Patong, and feel the gripping fear and adventure as your untrained and possibly intoxicated Thai bus driver takes you careening through intersections, hitting cars, motorcycles, vans and various stationary objects, before finally rolling over and landing on its side in a ditch somewhere! It's sure to be a life changing experience -- if you get out alive!!!!"

 

[NamKangMan]

 

After the boat tragedy, Chinese holiday bookings decreased, a lot. 

 

How long before a bus tragedy, and the same thing happens????  Just a matter of time. 

 

Phuket's roads are a death trap. 

[bluesofa]

5 minutes ago, robblok said:

I agree no brake lights at all, i wish they jailed people like this and make the company responsible for more then just damages. That would maybe deter them employing bad drivers and keeping their vehicules in a good condition.

Agreed. If that happened, as well as 'driver fled the scene', a new accident-related category would evolve - 'director resigned the bus company'

 

 

21 minutes ago, webfact said:

Bus crash on Patong Hill takes out 12 other vehicles, passengers in bus shaken

They were shaken - being tourists. If there were local passengers as well, being an everyday event here they probably wouldn't have woken up from their nap.

A combination of 'shaken but not stirred'

[RotBenz8888]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Perhaps they should consider turning these episodes into ticketed attractions in Thailand:

 

Bus Crash Adventure, 1000b for adult tourists, 500 baht for children tourists.

 

"Take a wild ride on the streets of Patong, and feel the gripping fear and adventure as your untrained and possibly intoxicated Thai bus driver takes you careening through intersections, hitting cars, motorcycles, vans and various stationary objects, before finally rolling over and landing on its side in a ditch somewhere! It's sure to be a life changing experience -- if you get out alive!!!!"

 

And you can feed the driver with pink pills, depending on how much fun you want.

[tifino]

just from the video, it appears at least 4 other vehicles were swiped/hit?

[Mavideol]

14 minutes ago, NamKangMan said:

 

After the boat tragedy, Chinese holiday bookings decreased, a lot. 

 

How long before a bus tragedy, and the same thing happens????  Just a matter of time. 

 

Phuket's roads are a death trap. 

it appears all is well for TAT, no Chinese on board, no need for Chinese delegation visit

[Just1Voice]

This is the 3rd bus crash in 3 days on this hill.  When are they going to ban these busses? 

 

[digitalnobhead]

This is pretty horrific driving, this is going to be at least two purple notes and maybe even three wais - they are really going to town this time with this break failure

[bendejo]

Is there something like a breathalyzer for testing M-150 levels?

 

 

[shady86]

Thailand the hub of brake failures.

[Assurancetourix]

2 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

This is the 3rd bus crash in 3 days on this hill.  When are they going to ban these busses? 

 

Ban the busses or ban the drivers who don't know how to use the gears ?

 

when I go down the Doi inthanon I rarely use the brakes on my automatic pickup truck; there are several positions up to "L" which means "low"; I use the positions as if I had a manual gearbox.

 

When will coach owners know that there is a company in France called Telma that manufactures retarders based on eddy currents? 

 

https://www.telma.com/entreprise/historique

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

This is the 3rd bus crash in 3 days on this hill.  When are they going to ban these busses? 

 

I arrived at the crash scene (as already posted somewhere) after being stuck in nose to tail traffic for over an hour and saw the damage to the bus and a large truck and as others have said, by the look of the video clip, this idiot was going way too fast.

 

Reminded of the poor bugger who was crushed to death in his car a few years ago in that same spot when a truck came careening down the hill out of control...........one minute sitting peacefully in his car, the next minute crushed to death.

 

They won't learn, they can't learn, they don't want to learn because they know it all...........pathetic.

[JimmyJ]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Perhaps they should consider turning these episodes into ticketed attractions in Thailand:

 

Bus Crash Adventure, 1000b for adult tourists, 500 baht for children tourists.

 

"Take a wild ride on the streets of Patong, and feel the gripping fear and adventure as your untrained and possibly intoxicated Thai bus driver takes you careening through intersections, hitting cars, motorcycles, vans and various stationary objects, before finally rolling over and landing on its side in a ditch somewhere! It's sure to be a life changing experience -- if you get out alive!!!!"

 

While tourists get to sit roadside and score the driving:

 

[Benmart]

No consequence for reckless driving and endangering the public. Mere speech and wording is another matter altogether. Truely amazing.

[Ulic]

I suggest a multi-pronged approach. Signage at the top of the hill requiring busses, and trucks to use low gear. 30 kph speed limit for buses and trucks. 5000 baht fine for those trucks and buses exceeding the speed limit, and to ensure police enforcement the policeman issuing the ticket gets to keep half. Any truck and buss involved in an accident because of brake failure the driver does six months in jail, the bus company pays all damages and a 10 million baht fine. 5 million to anybody killed or maimed. 

[NCC1701A]

horrible to see the young girl with no helmet go flying.

 

great to see all those mini vans taken out of commission.

Edited January 24, 2019 by NCC1701A

[ubon farang]

15 hours ago, Mavideol said:

it appears all is well for TAT, no Chinese on board, no need for Chinese delegation visit

The doesn't matter if the Chinese delegation arrives The Thai authorities tell them a pack of lies all is good till the next accident. Like how could they say to the Chinese " Don't worry your people are safe even though our bus drivers are not good drivers and don't know how to handle a bus because they never have been trained"

[ubon farang]

9 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

horrible to see the young girl with no helmet go flying.

 

great to see all those mini vans taken out of commission.

Well, keep writing your answer I get a laugh out of them. I did think about the minivans after one sped past me doing about 120klm per hour 

[ubon farang]

9 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

horrible to see the young girl with no helmet go flying.

 

great to see all those mini vans taken out of commission.

WAs that one about the dam pic That was funny 

[Lingba]

17 hours ago, robblok said:

I agree no brake lights at all, i wish they jailed people like this and make the company responsible for more then just damages. That would maybe deter them employing bad drivers and keeping their vehicules in a good condition.

I wouldn't be surprised if bus companies are already making monthly contributions to certain officials to NOT pursue arrests and punishments of their employees and companies

[george11]

 

"The accident brings the total of Chinese tourists being sent to hospital following bus crashes on Patong Hill to over 50 in the past two months. Phuket’s Governor Noraphat Plodthong promised to stem the carnage on the notorious hill road..." 2017-8-07.

[xylophone]

15 hours ago, Ulic said:

I suggest a multi-pronged approach. Signage at the top of the hill requiring busses, and trucks to use low gear. 30 kph speed limit for buses and trucks. 5000 baht fine for those trucks and buses exceeding the speed limit, and to ensure police enforcement the policeman issuing the ticket gets to keep half. Any truck and buss involved in an accident because of brake failure the driver does six months in jail, the bus company pays all damages and a 10 million baht fine. 5 million to anybody killed or maimed. 

Nice ideas Ulic, but the usual problems because this is Thailand...............NO law enforcement of any description; lazy cops; corruption will ensure no fines are paid or jail sentences served; connections will also help get offenders off the hook, and so on.

 

There are signs on the hill and road as regards speed limits and have been for some time, as well as edicts issued regarding busses and trucks using this road, but you have to remember one important thing.........you can't fix the corruption, laziness or stupidity here.

[farcanell]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

the incident, adjacent to the Suwankeereewong Temple (Wat Patong) on Phra Baramee Road,

Is this Buddha’s input? Not enough medallions being bought?

Edited January 25, 2019 by farcanell

[nasa123]

A perfectly normal day in Patong and Phuket no things and write about.

[Lokie]

Lucky this Nutter driving the bus did not come flying down the hill at rush hour as there is normally a Cop on point duty directing three lots of traffic at that junction, so you can have two lanes (up/down direction stopped) while Cop allows traffic to exit Pissit Koranee Rd outside Wat Patong to join hill traffic out of Patong, would have prob killed the cop and smashed a lot more vehicles/people...

 

The Hill really is not suitable for tour busses and heavy goods (or at least here in LOS where the driving standards are dire) but its all been gone over for years... 

[DrDave]

On a positive note, the number of accidents involving cement trucks on Patong hill has decreased to nearly zero. Up until several years ago, it seemed that there was one cement truck flipping over in that area every week and usually involving fatalities. I'm not sure, but I believe that a limit was placed on cement trucks regarding the number of cubic meters that they were permitted to carry over the hill which seems to have eliminated these accidents.

Unfortunately, accidents caused by cement trucks have been replaced by accidents caused by tour buses, and while cement truck weights can be limited it seems that bus driver stupidity cannot.