Get these old minivans off the roads!

 

Thai caption: You expect us to sit on THAT?

 

The debate about retiring old minivans was reignited when pictures of a vehicle plying the Bang Pa-In to Pak Nam route around Bangkok were posted on Twitter. 

 

The poster complained that the passenger compartment door looked like it was going to fall off. There was no internal handle and bits of plastic were in place instead of paneling. It was dangerous and could cause injury to passengers, they said. 

 

In addition the seats had massive holes and were held together with string and were rattling. They were almost impossible to even sit on.

 

Also the seat belts looked like they didn't work anymore and the window seals were all rotten. 

 

Sanook said the pictures only added to calls for old minivans to be replaced. 

 

Source: Sanook

 

 

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...yes...disgusting...but much worse is the mold....been in some vans with walls and ceiling completely covered in mold...I guess the seats too...

 

...tending to take the new blue buses more...at a higher price..

 

...but there are many more newer vans running thankfully....

I live in Phuket and here i hardly ever see old vans instead theres heaps of old buses here and seen heaps thats unable to make it up patong hill. Getting old never maintained vehicles off the rpad should also include buses imo.

Do brain scans of the van drivers, they'll probably match the degeneracy of the vans. Could even be some mold growing in there.

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by RotBenz8888

5 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Do a brain scan of the van drivers, they'll probably match the degeneracy of the vans. Could even be some mold growing in there.

I agree. The drivers are more dangerous than the vans. Vans don’t fall asleep and drive off the road and into tree etc by themselves 

55 minutes ago, SOTIRIOS said:

...yes...disgusting...but much worse is the mold....been in some vans with walls and ceiling completely covered in mold...I guess the seats too...

 

...tending to take the new blue buses more...at a higher price..

 

...but there are many more newer vans running thankfully....

No need to take all old vans of but this one, Yes.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Also the seat belts looked like they didn't work

Exactly,"looked like". Iv'e never seen a Thai using seat belts in a van.

Ensuring vehicles are maintained is a whole industry you have supplier and service roles and it helps the economy 

They need to ensure every 3 months they get checked out and that will reduce the amount of badly maintained vehicles 

Check must include
- Seat belts
- Door fastenings
- Windows especially emergency exit
- Brakes
- Exhaust emissions / catalytic convertor 
- Replace Cabin filter / carbon filter (who wants to breath years of dead skin cells in really)
- Driver physical (narcotics check really important many using amphetamines) and eyesight test (very important!!)
- Tyres and tyre rotation

For these tests every 3 months the driver / owner must pay and pay for all checks - they should increase the ticket fee by 2 or 5 baht dependent on route to cover that

For owners that pass all tests for a year they should get a full tax rebate / credit for doing so and be given a recommendation sticker that only those who pass the tests can display so people know who is doing their bit and who is not concerned about passenger health

The bus system can then clean itself up

For vehicles over 10 years old it should be prohibited to be used for taxi / mini-van purposes and only private hire in my humble opinion

Vehicles under 3 years old need not have emissions test and the test should be cheaper to promote newer vehicle purchases

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by MartiniMan

I guess it will be less than a week now and all of the new safe check points will be in full operation!!!

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Get these old minivans off the roads

Get 'em all together and have a grand destruction derby with them .. Last one rolling is placed on a plinth in Victory Mon' ..

When I play D D and other such nutty computer driving games I always look for a bus or minibus to drive about .. Even managed to win one race on 3 wheels in one .. Beat that minivan drivers .. 

 

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Do brain scans of the van drivers, they'll probably match the degeneracy of the vans. Could even be some mold growing in there.

Nah. Mold growing indicates some kind of activity.

1 hour ago, Almer said:

No need to take all old vans of but this one, Yes.

This is 100% correct......

 

This is a classic case of Manufacturing the narrative....

Or Problem Reaction Solution....

 

STEP #1.....Find one old van in very bad shape...

STEP #2.....Imply that all older vans are the same as this one.....

STEP #3....Wait for the public out cry that some thing must be done...

STEP #4....Instead of working on the problem in steps just go from A to Z in one step and ban all vans and require mini buses.....

STEP #5.....Watch the money roll in from the mini bus sales from the now highly in debt ex-van owners....

How many as a guess would you say are owned by the police? the vans I mean

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Sanook said the pictures only added to calls for old minivans to be replaced. 

Yet the new transport minister thinks there's life left in these yet & no need to replace them with micro-buses just yet.

The seat belts are always tightly wrapped under the headrests, only for show, but I've never, ever seen one being used.. 

 

When will Thailand ever get serious on road safety measures, old minivans that should have already been retired, aging 40 Yr old buses still on the roads.. No care, too expensive, not my problem.. 

 

On recent trips to Penang, and also Vietnam, was amazed at the almost new, modern buses being used.. 

Thailand public transport is on par with India, but not as bad as Bangladesh.. 

While sitting in Pattaya traffic yesterday, I had an apiffany ,as I looked around me, all I saw was old, beatup diesel belching vehicles...buses ,mini vans, songtaws, pickups...the end

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by mok199

26 minutes ago, mok199 said:

I had an apiffany

Not to be confused with a Jack and Danny with added pith .. 

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Yet the new transport minister thinks there's life left in these yet & no need to replace them with micro-buses just yet.

 

Micro-buses? You mean like this one?

 

I think there is more safety to be gained by addressing drivers before equipment, but both are important.

old  van driven carefully and safely  new  van driven badly..............clueless

6 hours ago, Adventra20 said:

I agree. The drivers are more dangerous than the vans. Vans don’t fall asleep and drive off the road and into tree etc by themselves 

No, but their brakes seem to fail with amazing regularity.

This likes the old-age-pensioner version of clickbate.  You're going to get all kinds of <deleted> transport whatever country you're in.  Either suck it up or don't get in.  Don't complain about it.  You ain't in Europe no mo

 

10 hours ago, MartiniMan said:

Ensuring vehicles are maintained is a whole industry you have supplier and service roles and it helps the economy 

They need to ensure every 3 months they get checked out and that will reduce the amount of badly maintained vehicles 

Check must include
- Seat belts
- Door fastenings
- Windows especially emergency exit
- Brakes
- Exhaust emissions / catalytic convertor 
- Replace Cabin filter / carbon filter (who wants to breath years of dead skin cells in really)
- Driver physical (narcotics check really important many using amphetamines) and eyesight test (very important!!)
- Tyres and tyre rotation

For these tests every 3 months the driver / owner must pay and pay for all checks - they should increase the ticket fee by 2 or 5 baht dependent on route to cover that

For owners that pass all tests for a year they should get a full tax rebate / credit for doing so and be given a recommendation sticker that only those who pass the tests can display so people know who is doing their bit and who is not concerned about passenger health

The bus system can then clean itself up

For vehicles over 10 years old it should be prohibited to be used for taxi / mini-van purposes and only private hire in my humble opinion

Vehicles under 3 years old need not have emissions test and the test should be cheaper to promote newer vehicle purchases

This is Thailand not Switzerland.  Who is going to pay for all your expensive ideas.  Who forces you into these vans?

If you think that's bad, you should see the one they use to transport children to and from school! Criminal negligence and child endangerment come to mind. ????

2 days after the van crash killing 11 phuket had van check point out all over phuket. That lasted 2 days so i assume all is under controll here inn phuket.

a side note, these check points 2 of them are the first ever i had been allowed to procede with out being shaken down on my motorbike.

10 hours ago, timendres said:

 

Micro-buses? You mean like this one?

 

I think there is more safety to be gained by addressing drivers before equipment, but both are important.

Exactly... notice how the passenger is walking away from this accident, even though it's on it's side.
That's because micro-buses are designed as buses.... to carry passengers and to withstand impacts.
Mini-vans are designed to carry cargo... not passengers & thus are made like tin cans !!!

15 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Get 'em all together and have a grand destruction derby with them .. Last one rolling is placed on a plinth in Victory Mon' ..

When I play D D and other such nutty computer driving games I always look for a bus or minibus to drive about .. Even managed to win one race on 3 wheels in one .. Beat that minivan drivers .. 

 

!) The traffic circulating around the Victory Monument was, I believe the inspiration behind"DD".

 

2) Three wheels? For goodness sake don't give them any ideas!

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Exactly... notice how the passenger is walking away from this accident, even though it's on it's side.
That's because micro-buses are designed as buses.... to carry passengers and to withstand impacts.
Mini-vans are designed to carry cargo... not passengers & thus are made like tin cans !!!

Good point.