Five Thais die after car plunged into ravine in northern Laos

[rooster59]

Five Thais die after car plunged into ravine in northern Laos

 

 

Five Thai tourists were killed when their car plunged into a deep ravine in Luang Prabang, approximately 300 km north of the Lao PDR capital Vientiane, on Friday.

 

The fatal crash was reported by Laotian authorities to the rescue unit in the northeastern Thai province of Nong Khai at about 10pm on Friday, according to Mr. Charnvit Punnanant, president of Nong Khai charity association. Rescuers were immediately sent to Luang Prabang to join their Laotian counterparts in the search and rescue operation between Kasi and Nan townships.

 

All the five tourists were found to have died in the accident.  The five bodies were retrieved from the mangled wreckage and taken to a hospital in Luang Prabang to await collection by their families.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/five-thais-die-after-car-plunged-into-ravine-in-northern-laos/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-03-03

[soalbundy]

Never take Thai brakes abroad, they don't like it.

[British Bulldog]

It should be noted that this happened on one our steepest roads in Laos, drivers who are not familiar with driving up and especially down steep hills, must apply Low gears (Even in Automatic vehicles you can usually apply a fixed a low gear), do not apply your foot on the brakes at all times, use the 10 seconds on 10 seconds off approach, to help keep both the brakes shoes/pads, disks/drums and brake fluid cool. Hot brake fluid will brake down and your foot will go flat to the floor and you'll have no control of the vehicle. DO NOT splash water over drum brakes at the bottom of this dangerous road, (As many people do) most brake drums are made of Cast Iron and will crack or distort if enough water is thrown over a hot enough drum (I have seen some vehicles with drums glowing red in the dark when I have passed the parked vehicles).

Obviously most Thai drivers are not used to driving up and down large mountains as the Country is relatively flat ... on this road in question, we are talking 9+ kilometers either side of the famous Kasi mountain drive to Luang Prabang

[CGW]

^ How many vehicles still have brake "drums" in this day and age?

[KhunBENQ]

2 minutes ago, CGW said:

^ How many vehicles still have brake "drums" in this day and age?

Many, especially on the rear axle.

Normal pickups often.

And the report does not say how old the vehicle was.

[cardinalblue]

Wouldn’t the driver be extra careful on a mountain road he didn’t know? Maybe the car was also unfamiliar to the driver?

 

it must have been brake failure....

[CGW]

Just now, KhunBENQ said:

Many, especially on the rear axle.

Normal pickups often.

Agree, but they will have discs up front where majority of the braking is biased, don't believe any currently produced vehicles have drum brakes up front?

[sammieuk1]

Thai drivers abroad is one export the world could do without????RIP

[overherebc]

7 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Many, especially on the rear axle.

Normal pickups often.

And the report does not say how old the vehicle was.

Some even have a combination disk and drum on the rear axle.

[KhunBENQ]

1 minute ago, overherebc said:

Some even have a combination disk and drum on the rear axle.

That's what I meant.

And as you know the break force on the rear axle must never be stronger than at the front or else...

[KhunBENQ]

8 minutes ago, CGW said:

Agree, but they will have discs up front where majority of the braking is biased, don't believe any currently produced vehicles have drum brakes up front?

Just tried to check online but as usual such essentials are hard to find

My small car is almost 8 years old and so won't use it as a reference (disk breaks in front, drum on the rear).

[overherebc]

3 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

That's what I meant.

And as you know the break force on the rear axle must never be stronger than at the front or else...

 

[KhunBENQ]

27 minutes ago, British Bulldog said:

Obviously most Thai drivers are not used to driving up and down large mountains as the Country is relatively flat ... on this road in question, we are talking 9+ kilometers either side of the famous Kasi mountain drive to Luang Prabang

It's enough to watch them driving down Khao Yai (rd. #304 in Thailand).

Or this  "highly dangerous" Patong hill in Phuket.

I am Swiss and found it a laughing stock.

And uphill even 6-cylinders creeping.

 

But what can you expect in a country where such does not appear with a word for getting a driving license.

[ChipButty]

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

[overherebc]

9 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Just tried to check online but as usual such essentials are hard to find

My small car is almost 8 years old and so won't use it as a reference (disk breaks in front, drum on the rear).

Many trucks still use drums on the front. Much bigger friction area using two big shoes but the driver has to be aware of continual use downhill causing fluid to boil ( no pressure left when that happens ) or the drum expanding to the point where the shoes can't reach it, it will cool and work again but that generally happens after the truck has used a brick wall, other truck or 15 cars to halt it's progress.

 

[overherebc]

3 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

They do it all the time around my way. ????????

[KhunBENQ]

5 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

As there are no witnesses or details in the article it's hard to say whether a 3rd party was involved.

And at least they made it up to Luang Phrabang.

There are many survivors

And vice versa, a reasonable amount of Laos cars in Udon e.g.

[CGW]

"Modern" driving relies a lot more on brakes than when I was taught to drive and brakes were crap! & disc brakes were still being invented, the average Thai driver will have no idea how to engage a low gear in a Auto when descending a long down hill section of road, as stated above - simply not taught ???? 

Mention brake fade to a Thai driver - you will get a blank look..............

[Liverpudlian]

32 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Thai drivers abroad is one export the world could do without????RIP

Let them try and pass a UK driving test . 

[wgdanson]

22 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

Why not, they do it here!

[White Christmas13]

30 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

they do in Thailand all the time

[freedomnow]

31 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Cant imagine Thai's being able to drive on the other side of the road

I nearly got RIP'd with such antics 2 days ago, car overtook 4 vehicles all the while accelerating straight towards me. I just pulled over hard left till the impatient idiot cut back to the front...

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, CGW said:

^ How many vehicles still have brake "drums" in this day and age?

On the rear axle about 90% maybe you should look a bit closer

many vehicles still only use disc brakes on the front !

[overherebc]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

On the rear axle about 90% maybe you should look a bit closer

many vehicles still only use disc brakes on the front !

Cost is the biggest factor.

[fisherd3]

1 hour ago, CGW said:

^ How many vehicles still have brake "drums" in this day and age?

The majority at the back.

[CGW]

11 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

On the rear axle about 90% maybe you should look a bit closer

many vehicles still only use disc brakes on the front !

I shall indeed look closer in the future, but doubt I will see any new vehicle with drum brakes as the primary means of braking, slowly but surely drum brakes are disappearing from the rear of vehicles, along with leaf springs as they find different ways to fit into the 17% tax bracket.

[CGW]

4 minutes ago, fisherd3 said:

The majority at the back.

"Majority" are you sure about that? ???? 

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, British Bulldog said:

use the 10 seconds on 10 seconds off approach

If you need 10 seconds to slow down, you're going way too fast.

[Almer]

2 hours ago, CGW said:

^ How many vehicles still have brake "drums" in this day and age?

80%

[Almer]

1 hour ago, freedomnow said:

I nearly got RIP'd with such antics 2 days ago, car overtook 4 vehicles all the while accelerating straight towards me. I just pulled over hard left till the impatient idiot cut back to the front...

Normal day then