Sleeping behind the wheel: Chiang Mai to Nakhon Phanom tour bus in scary smash

[webfact]

Sleeping behind the wheel: Chiang Mai to Nakhon Phanom tour bus in scary smash

 

Thai caption: They jumped to safety just in time (land for sale sign next to the bus)

 

Villagers in shops by the roadside in Ban Pho, Nakon Phanom in Thailand's north east jumped for their lives when a tour bus careered off the road. 

 

Pictures showed the Chiang Mai - Nakhon Phanom tour bus on its side off the road. A video on the 77kaoded site had interviews with people lucky to escape uninjured. 

 

Three men on the bus were hurt and taken to hospital with facial and leg injuries. 

 

Driver Sutipong, 35, is believed to have suffered what the Thais call "lap nai" - a microsleep. 

 

The accident happened earlier this month at 9.30 am in the morning. 

 

Source: 77kaoded

 

 

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[johng]

Lots of "Lucky lottery numbers" in the above video.

[toofarnorth]

An ad by google appears right underneath the commentary saying  Best Travel Offers.  Not by bus in this country thank you very big !

[Dmaxdan]

10 minutes ago, webfact said:

Driver Sutipong, 35, is believed to have suffered what the Thais call "lap nai" - a microsleep.

Not acceptable on any level. Forget the paltry fines and ban him from driving any form of public transport for life.

[KhunKenAP]

Seems a weekly occurrence.

 

Need to make a new law to report sleeping drivers with a 1,000 baht reward.

 

Problem solved.

[keith101]

1 minute ago, Dmaxdan said:

Not acceptable on any level. Forget the paltry fines and ban him from driving any form of public transport for life.

Almost all the drivers do it and the locals don't seem to care until the accident happens .

[worgeordie]

Another one !, sleeping at the wheel has taken over as an excuse

from brake failure, is there any truth they are going to replace the

drivers seat with a single bed ! in trucks and public transport.

regards worgeordie

 

[bluesofa]

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

Driver Sutipong, 35, is believed to have suffered what the Thais call "lap nai" - a microsleep. 

 A microsleep - surely that's another way of saying he blinked?

These drivers can cause so much devastation in the blink of an eye.

[trainman34014]

1 hour ago, Dmaxdan said:

Not acceptable on any level. Forget the paltry fines and ban him from driving any form of public transport for life.

No point as next week he will be driving a school bus as nobody will bother checking to see if he even has a licence.  Recently a school bus driver had an accident near us and they discovered he hadn't had a driving licence for 27 years !

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

An ad by google appears right underneath the commentary saying  Best Travel Offers.  Not by bus in this country thank you very big !

Oddly enough, under mine is an ad for a baby and toy company event called IMPACT !

[Redline]

 Oh no problem, it happens all the time 

[hkt83100]

5 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Recently a school bus driver had an accident near us and they discovered he hadn't had a driving licence for 27 years !

A Driving License would not have made any difference. After 27 years there is nothing left of what he might have learned in the past.

[Knocker33]

7 hours ago, KhunKenAP said:

Seems a weekly occurrence.

 

Need to make a new law to report sleeping drivers with a 1,000 baht reward.

 

Problem solved.

Just imagine if it was a farang sleeping at the wheel it would be a 10 k reward

[Moti24]

This "Micro Sleep" <deleted> must be glued into the Thai gene pool.  Best if Thais weren't allowed to drive public service vehicles.  In fact, they shouldn't be allowed to drive any motorised vehicle.

[30la]

Stop accepting what you call "micro sleep" as an excuse for these incidents, for me these people are simply unscrupulous criminals and must be executed as such!

[toofarnorth]

The driver says he is vey sorry and his future as a bus driver is bothering him and he is going home to sleep on it. That's twice in one day.

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Driver Sutipong

Not a term I would use!

[billd766]

9 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

An ad by google appears right underneath the commentary saying  Best Travel Offers.  Not by bus in this country thank you very big !

Actually if you think how many bus journeys are made in Thailand every day the accident rate is not that high. The National bus company have quite a good safety record and well trained crews,  but most of the bus accidents are from "tour buses" similar to the one above. Their drivers seem to be of a lower standard and work longer hours for less pay and benefits.

IMHO it is more the fault of the bus owners and operators who want more and pay less. I believe that tachographs should be mandatory on all buses and commercial vehicles, and that driver sleepiness detectors should be mandatory as well.

The government should subsidise them as much as 75% as large amounts of money will be saved by not calling out the emergency services, hospital charges, repair of vehicles etc.

 

I know it is only a pipe dream as the owners and operators will be screaming blue murder about the costs but in the longer term it is worth it.

[simtemple]

This is a failure of the morons responsible for Thai road safety education. It's litlle wonder that Thailand has the highest road trauma rates in the world. If Thai were subjected to road safety messages that they can relate to, the death toll might reduce, slightly.

 

https://youtu.be/MSZ_so_4c7U

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by simtemple

[Assurancetourix]

On 12/18/2019 at 7:31 PM, billd766 said:

I believe that tachographs should be mandatory on all buses and commercial vehicles,

I believe like you but 

unfortunately it is not tomorrow  it will happen.
I have driven coaches and semi-trailers for 40 years in Europe; I started in 1971 at the wheel of a line coach, a Chausson 110 CV!
In France , the tachograph is compulsory on all vehicles over 3.5 t, since 1969, therefore for 50 years.

The problem with Thailand is that this country cannot decently accept a technological innovation if it comes from abroad; it would be losing face;
they therefore prefer that thousands of people die on the road rather than installing a digital and intelligent tachograph on their vehicles, goods and travelers, of more than 3.5 t.
In addition, the Chiang Mai - Nakon Phanom line is more than 1,000 km long;
how many drivers are there in the buses that make this line? and after how many hours do they stop to change drivers if there is more than one?

Nothing is controlled in this country

Edited December 23, 2019 by Assurancetourix