Italian couple crushed to death by oil tanker in southern Thailand

[ocddave]

7 hours ago, SammyT said:

Wow, that video was hard to watch. The scooter just riding along within the road rules and absolutely flattened by someone who clearly shouldn't have been driving. 

 

What a waste of life. 

Well that describes about 90% of the Thai drivers in this country, so in this case, nothing new.

[ocddave]

5 hours ago, hkt83100 said:

At least to a certain percentage the scooter is to blame. He should have stopped to let the tanker pass, because he was the one to make a right turn and the tanker had the right of way. This accident was avoidable.

Please tell me you aren't out on the roads driving, its pretty obvious you haven't the foggiest clue what the road rules are, its people like you who scare me.

[malcoml]

We see these videos all the time and think TIT. 

It really hits home when I spoke to basically my wife’s cousin and asked him how many of his friends had killed on bikes from his school class. He estimated 5 as that’s how many he knew off. 

 

Incredible... Yet the people’s behaviour won’t change.

[hkt83100]

10 hours ago, ocddave said:

its pretty obvious you haven't the foggiest clue what the road rules are

At least I am driving in Thailand cars and motorbikes for about 24 years now without accident. After 600.000 km I got some idea how it works. Ok, let's stop here. R.I.P. to the victims.

[connda]

17 hours ago, SammyT said:

Wow, that video was hard to watch. The scooter just riding along within the road rules and absolutely flattened by someone who clearly shouldn't have been driving. 

 

What a waste of life. 

Considering that a high percentage of Thais drive exactly in this manner it should be no wonder why the roads here are deadly.  And it seems that virtually all Thais will lie through their teeth as soon as they are questioned after they have caused an accident - brake failure being an excuse at the top of the list.
To stay alive you need to drive defensively and fully aware of what the other morons are doing 360 degrees around you because Thailand simply abounds with idiots who either can not drive or who drive aggressively (or both).  

The guy kills two people and will probably get a small fine and a slap on the wrist and be back on the road in no time flat.

RIP.

[animalmagic]

15 hours ago, bluesofa said:

...although he'd seen thousands.

and just missed thousands more!

[bluesofa]

15 minutes ago, malcoml said:

We see these videos all the time and think TIT. 

It really hits home when I spoke to basically my wife’s cousin and asked him how many of his friends had killed on bikes from his school class. He estimated 5 as that’s how many he knew off. 

Incredible... Yet the people’s behaviour won’t change.

One of the reasons is putting it down to karma, whereas if they'd approach it in a 'calmer', logical attitude it might help.

[animalmagic]

14 hours ago, 4evermaat said:

 

 

 

 

The tanker was merging from the side street; the motorbike was already driving on the main road.   

 

Who did you say had the right of way again? 

Completely agree.  Tanker was approaching a junction where he was to make a 90 degree left turn and was carrying speed in order to avoid having to change down too many gears.  Motorcycle had right of way and tanker saw it too late and tried to swerve to the left while turning rather than apply brakes.  Depending on fuel load, not completely full, it is quite possible that it all sloshed to the right as he turned left and then changed the centre of gravity to where tanker overturned.

Brake failure or not still travelling too fast, not giving way and not paying attention to other road users.  He saw them as shown by the attempt to turn harder to the left.

In fact, if you watch closely at around or just after 16 secs you can see the front right wheel turning hard left to avoid the collision.  Massive understeer caused by excessive speed and tanker plows straight on.  Sudden change of centre of gravity caused by shifting load.  The couple didn't stand a chance.

Edited March 2, 2019 by animalmagic
addition

[jerojero]

Brakes did no work. Even if fantastically true, don't turn corners with speed! Gear down while keeping going straight. Sheesh!

[bluesofa]

8 minutes ago, connda said:

Considering that a high percentage of Thais drive exactly in this manner it should be no wonder why the roads here are deadly.  And it seems that virtually all Thais will lie through their teeth as soon as they are questioned after they have caused an accident - brake failure being an excuse at the top of the list.
To stay alive you need to drive defensively and fully aware of what the other morons are doing 360 degrees around you because Thailand simply abounds with idiots who either can not drive or who drive aggressively (or both).  
{snipped}

That's something so often missing by drivers here - spatial awareness.

[connda]

17 hours ago, 4evermaat said:

 

 

It was a real time video of CCTV footage.  It is likely coming out from the the PT refinery off one of the side roads.  Not too far from the right turn to go to the lookout point.

 

I think the Italians may have seen them but were thinking (like many tourists) that the rules back in their home country would apply.   In other words, the motorbike driver likely didn't anticipate the tanker would actually take the corner the way he did.

 

Personally I don't even think even the police understand the rules of right-of-way, and if any Thai actually does understand those rules 99% of them don't bother to abide by those rules.  Take entering a primary thoroughfare from a side road such as this truck did.  The driver entering the thoroughfare is required to yield, and if there is a stop sign they are required to stop - well, at least in first world countries.  The majority of Thai drivers will enter the thoroughfare without stopping, slowing, or yielding, and instead will simply barge their way in front of oncoming traffic.  If they cause an accident then they will simply say, "Brake failure" or they will attempt to assign fault to the vehicle who does have legal right-of-way.  "I pull out from side street onto main road.  Car coming down main road no slow down for me.  I in front so it my road.  Bad driver no slow down on main road to let me in.  I in front...not my fault."  That's how they think. They don't think like, "I enter main road from side road - I must yield to oncoming traffic on main road." The engineers who designed Thai roads know the law I'm sure, but not the average citizens or the average clueless police.  Or if they do know the laws, they ignore them.  The end result?  Unending carnage.

[wvavin]

It is all about their Thai sickening on road accidents. Tired commenting. 

[Jai Dee]

An off-topic troll post and a reply have been removed.

[overherebc]

17 minutes ago, connda said:

Personally I don't even think even the police understand the rules of right-of-way, and if any Thai actually does understand those rules 99% of them don't bother to abide by those rules.  Take entering a primary thoroughfare from a side road such as this truck did.  The driver entering the thoroughfare is required to yield, and if there is a stop sign they are required to stop - well, at least in first world countries.  The majority of Thai drivers will enter the thoroughfare without stopping, slowing, or yielding, and instead will simply barge their way in front of oncoming traffic.  If they cause an accident then they will simply say, "Brake failure" or they will attempt to assign fault to the vehicle who does have legal right-of-way.  "I pull out from side street onto main road.  Car coming down main road no slow down for me.  I in front so it my road.  Bad driver no slow down on main road to let me in.  I in front...not my fault."  That's how they think. They don't think like, "I enter main road from side road - I must yield to oncoming traffic on main road." The engineers who designed Thai roads know the law I'm sure, but not the average citizens or the average clueless police.  Or if they do know the laws, they ignore them.  The end result?  Unending carnage.

I was told once by a Thai driver that he had been taught to just turn left onto the main road and drive slowly near the left to give drivers on the main road time to see him and either slow down or overtake him. ????????????????

[high plane drifter]

If you want to commit  suicide , don't do it yourself, just come on a holiday to Thailand and ,,,,,drive around for one hour,,,that will be it,,,

Edited March 2, 2019 by high plane drifter

[gwynt]

Just down the road a concrete lorry lost control turned over and demolished a pick up and aroad side restaurant apparently the driver drunk. Pickup driver died plus cafe business destroyed.

just scary.

[bluesofa]

32 minutes ago, animalmagic said:

15 hours ago, 4evermaat said:

The tanker was merging from the side street; the motorbike was already driving on the main road. 

Who did you say had the right of way again? 

Completely agree.  Tanker was approaching a junction where he was to make a 90 degree left turn and was carrying speed in order to avoid having to change down too many gears.  Motorcycle had right of way and tanker saw it too late and tried to swerve to the left while turning rather than apply brakes.  Depending on fuel load, not completely full, it is quite possible that it all sloshed to the right as he turned left and then changed the centre of gravity to where tanker overturned.

Brake failure or not still travelling too fast, not giving way and not paying attention to other road users.  He saw them as shown by the attempt to turn harder to the left.

In fact, if you watch closely at around or just after 16 secs you can see the front right wheel turning hard left to avoid the collision.  Massive understeer caused by excessive speed and tanker plows straight on.  Sudden change of centre of gravity caused by shifting load.  The couple didn't stand a chance.

Edited 8 minutes ago by animalmagic
addition

If the motorcycle had right of way (not that I'm necessarily denying that) and the tanker should have given way, wouldn't you expect to see some 'give way' road markings for the tanker. There aren't any.

 

I saw it more that the tanker could turn left onto the inside lane of the main road, without giving way. Having said that, I don't know if there was some sign telling the main road traffic that there was traffic merging ahead, and perhaps to move over to the outside lane? I doubt it very much, but who knows.

 

A lot of the time 'give way' signs and line markings are completely missing anyway, not that most drivers observe them.

[animalmagic]

Just now, bluesofa said:

If the motorcycle had right of way (not that I'm necessarily denying that) and the tanker should have given way, wouldn't you expect to see some 'give way' road markings for the tanker. There aren't any.

 

I saw it more that the tanker could turn left onto the inside lane of the main road, without giving way. Having said that, I don't know if there was some sign telling the main road traffic that there was traffic merging ahead, and perhaps to move over to the outside lane? I doubt it very much, but who knows.

 

A lot of the time 'give way' signs and line markings are completely missing anyway, not that most drivers observe them.

Very valid points but a lot of drivers consider road signs, if there are any, as advisory or simply decoration.

I still maintain the tanker should have given way as he was merging onto a road where traffic was already there and he could not turn safely at that speed without affecting other road users; I'm not sure if that is taught here.

[overherebc]

Can anyone see brake lights showing on the truck?

I can't but that might be the quality of the recording.

If the brakes weren't used then for me it's just too much speed and a panic hard steering, it does look a bit like the right hand front wheel just tucked under and weight transfer did the rest.

[bluesofa]

19 minutes ago, animalmagic said:

Very valid points but a lot of drivers consider road signs, if there are any, as advisory or simply decoration.

I still maintain the tanker should have given way as he was merging onto a road where traffic was already there and he could not turn safely at that speed without affecting other road users; I'm not sure if that is taught here.

You're right there - nothing is taught here regarding driving, apart from who to wai to when taking your driving test.

[stanleycoin]

39 minutes ago, high plane drifter said:

If you want to commit  suicide , don't do it yourself, just come on a holiday to Thailand and ,,,,,drive around for one hour,,,that will be it,,,

or go on a boat trip. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peterphuket]

Comparing with the rest of the world. they have the worst cars here, many cars in Thailand have brake failure??

????

But we all know  the real reason.

[4evermaat]

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

One of the reasons is putting it down to karma, whereas if they'd approach it in a 'calmer', logical attitude it might help.

 

Your analysis is not far off:

 

[kcpattaya]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

64 year old driver of the tanker

....should go life long in prison.

[neeray]

17 hours ago, hkt83100 said:

At least to a certain percentage the scooter is to blame. He should have stopped to let the tanker pass, because he was the one to make a right turn and the tanker had the right of way. This accident was avoidable.

A Thai gal taught me how to ride motorbike in Thailand. I considered her a good driver, very careful but perhaps lacking in the defensive driving category. I found her all too often driving beside a big truck, me on my bike behind her. I endeavoured to teach her the perils of such a habit (not sure that it really sunk in).

Thus, I agree with the words of hkt83100, "This accident was avoidable". My view of the video sees a bike riding right into the path of destruction. If only they had exercised defensive driving and held back or given way.

RIP to the deceased. Condolences to family and friends.

[Formaleins]

Talk about bad luck or bad timing- It had to be a million to one chance of that happening. Damn bad luck!

[Humpy]

'' when an oil tanker lost control ''...... really ?  Was this a self drive tanker ? Oh! no... not a brake failure again ?

RIP poor tourists .

[hotchilli]

Jeez what a way to go, must've been frightening to see that truck come out in front of you, then see it start to flip as you're alongside!

Driver must be banged up for this accident, a truck doesn't just flip at a bend like this in normal circumstances, something he was doing is not right.. speed being the main thing, you can see the back of the truck start to slide a little before it tips over!!

[Liverpudlian]

We need to make will provisions way way before we think we ought to.

[bluesofa]

20 minutes ago, 4evermaat said:

 

Your analysis is not far off:

Quoting from the above:

"Thais attending a conference on road safety were told that a recent survey indicated that a staggering 32% of adult respondents thought the road carnage was just their fate."

 

Personally I think it was a misprit and should have said. "just their feet."

Whether it's missing the using brake pedal completely, or like so many truckers do, push the brake pedal hard to the floor when going down hills, not using the gears to slow down.