Koh Samui: Taxi driver killed, tourists in hospital after accident on "danger hill"

[rooster59]

Koh Samui: Taxi driver killed, tourists in hospital after accident on "danger hill"

 

 

A taxi driver was killed after he lost control of his meter cab on the infamous Laem Yai Hill on the Koh Samui ring road. 

 

Pictures showed the Toyota Innova car wrapped around a power pole. 

 

Driver Pongpot Madang, 47, from Songkhla was not wearing a seat belt. He was propelled through the windscreen and was dead from head injuries by the side of the road when rescue services arrived. 

 

Two tourists were also thrown out of the vehicle. A man and a woman were initially unconscious when rescue arrived, said Manager. They were taken to Bangkok Samui Hospital. 

 

The driver apparently lost control coming down the hill. He had picked up his passengers in Bo Phut and was taking them to the ferry at Nathon. 

 

Manager said that the hill is one of the largest and most dangerous for drivers in Samui and is the scene of many road accidents.

 

Source: Manager

 

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[Just1Voice]

Unskilled driver going too fast, thinking the 6 Buddha amulets handing from the mirror would protect him. 

[NCC1701A]

new day.

same copy and paste.

[RotBenz8888]

22 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Toyota Innova car wrapped around a power pole. 

Yes, the power poles do seem to attract vehicles here in Thailand, like having some strange magnetic power.

[NCC1701A]

29 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Two tourists were also thrown out of the vehicle. A man and a woman were initially unconscious when rescue arrived,

meanwhile in other news:

Carnage on the Thai roads: More than 8,000 dead so far this year

Tourism minister plans to get back the lost Europeans - with MASSAGE and GANJA!

 

[evadgib]

Several observations from a regular user of that hill:

- Flow of traffic is stifled daily by idiots refusing to use the left lane even when the road is empty.

- Undertaking is rife, indeed I was very nearly clipped by a Black Fortuna a few days ago who simply sped off afterwards. It's so common that I no longer bother to upload the footage despite having front and rear dashcams.

- There are dangerous entrances at the bottom of the hill at both ends. Drivers make no allowance for speed/traffic flow if they wish to use them, they simply turn as if nothing is there. There are two at the top too but they're not quite so bad.

- A lorry will lose it's load there around once per week & be on it's side around once per month.

[geoffbezoz]

54 minutes ago, Just1Voice said:

Unskilled driver going too fast, thinking the 6 Buddha amulets handing from the mirror would protect him. 

Pole axed for sure

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Yes, the power poles do seem to attract vehicles here in Thailand, like having some strange magnetic power.

They should put them in the middle of the road to keep the taxis going in right direction.

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Pictures showed the Toyota Innova car wrapped around a power pole.

Wrapped around!? The pole is sticking out from the car. How tall are these power poles?

[cardinalblue]

He seemed to dive headfirst into this one....

 

unlucky tourists....feel for them

[RichardColeman]

Another nail in the tourism coffin 

[MeePeeMai]

Downshift and use low gear would be the norm (in a normal society).

[Lenny Jones]

3 hours ago, evadgib said:

Several observations from a regular user of that hill:

- Flow of traffic is stifled daily by idiots refusing to use the left lane even when the road is empty.

- Undertaking is rife, indeed I was very nearly clipped by a Black Fortuna a few days ago who simply sped off afterwards. It's so common that I no longer bother to upload the footage despite having front and rear dashcams.

- There are dangerous entrances at the bottom of the hill at both ends. Drivers make no allowance for speed/traffic flow if they wish to use them, they simply turn as if nothing is there. There are two at the top too but they're not quite so bad.

- A lorry will lose it's load there around once per week & be on it's side around once per month.

Exactly! - I see the same, I travel that road several times each week.

 

Local drivers have NO CLUE about using multi-lane roads - straddling the lane lines or using the right lane at slow speed.

 

The downward slope on both sides required a lower gear - not continuous braking the whole way.  At least most trucks coming off the ferry know how to go down hill in low gear.  Locals? - Noooo!

 

I did a trip to Phuket recently and - by Thai standard - the drivers there generally know what they are doing.  Local Samui drivers are worse than mentally-retarded sheep and much more dangerous.

 

The same stupid behaviour occurs on the roundabout just South of Nathon.  Drivers totally ignore the lane lines and drive through using both lanes, also charging in and not giving way to cars already in the roundabout.  They have NO clues about the road rules!

[sammieuk1]

Micro hill sleeper then the big sleep????RIP

[justin case]

most taxi's I have been in, have the seat-belts not working, how come ?

[mike787]

And another road fatality....BORING!!!  Thais should stick to rick Shaws...much safer. 

[oldrunner]

What's new?

[spidermike007]

Samui remains the single most dangerous place to drive, on planet earth. The death toll in Thailand is at the top of the leaderboard, but Samui tops that by multitudes. Alot of inexperienced drivers, doing an Andretti imitation, on super dangerous roads. Alot of Thais and foreigners leave Samui in wooden boxes. Alot. 

[Almer]

There is a lack of knowledge how to drive, how to approach a potential problem, how to prepare due to the thick black cloud overhead etc etc, i was in a car  the other evening and the thai male driver drove with his right foot on the gas and the left on the brake, when we needed to slow a bit he pulled up the handbrake and zero awareness of any going on around him, they truly think they are the only ones using the road and have the right of way everywhere, if this man took a western driving test he would not get out of the test centre  

just to elaborate the car i was in was an Auto

[terminatorchiangmai]

Rented a motorbike when i was on holiday in Samui.

After this hill i brought it back and never drove there again.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Samui remains the single most dangerous place to drive, on planet earth. The death toll in Thailand is at the top of the leaderboard, but Samui tops that by multitudes. Alot of inexperienced drivers, doing an Andretti imitation, on super dangerous roads. Alot of Thais and foreigners leave Samui in wooden boxes. Alot. 

 

In general taxis on Koh Samui drives too fast for the road conditions – both surface and visibility – when full, and utterly slow, when empty. However, the traffic on the specified hill is sometimes problematic – I know well from years of experience – as others have already described it; sometimes when passing I wonder how that big truck managed to end, as it did, but probably the common "brake failure".

 

I also wonder how that pole got through the taxi (the body on the road is the taxi driver)...

 

[monk280915]

The rear of the car is wrapped around the power pole. I have a picture from a different angle but it won't upload.

[monk280915]

 

 

[kotsak]

Seems he was almost running on slicks... ????

[Samuel Smith]

8 minutes ago, kotsak said:

Seems he was almost running on slicks... ????

Racing drivers prefer slicks ????

[atyclb]

how the fxxk did he get a concrete power pole to pierce the taxi ???

 

brain dead prior to accident but after body simply in harmony with brain.

 

he was likel so happy having a fare without using the meter.

 

 

karma

[robsamui]

10 hours ago, justin case said:

most taxi's I have been in, have the seat-belts not working, how come ?

 . . . didn't you mean 'seat belt's'?

[robsamui]

7 hours ago, monk280915 said:

 

How did he get the pole to pierce the car??

 

I wondered that as soon as I saw this pic. Amazing.

[robsamui]

I KNEW this reminded me of something . . . 

[wisperone]

Unfortunately the unsuspecting tourists don't know what they are getting themselves into when they get into a cab.