"You're falling asleep and gonna crash" - Tour bus driver nods off and crashes, 30 hurt

[webfact]

"You're falling asleep and gonna crash" - Tour bus driver nods off and crashes, 30 hurt

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Passengers on a privately owned tour bus heading south got concerned when their vehicle was wandering off a straight line. 

 

They thought that their elderly driver was nodding off behind the wheel. 

 

They allegedly told him to stop and get rest.

 

He ignored their advice and plugged on. He then fell asleep and plunged into the central reservation with the vehicle ending up on its side in the ditch.

 

Everyone was shaken about severely, but only two of the 30 onboard were in a serious condition with head and other body wounds. Suwarin and Ankhana, 29, both from Nakhon Sri Thammnarat were taken to hospital. 

 

The bus - owned by Nakhon Sri Racha Tour - had left the southern bus terminal in Bangkok at 5.30 pm. The accident occurred near the PTT gas station on Moo 4, Bang Saphan KM384 around 11.30 last night.

 

Bang Saphan police are investigating the passengers' claims that driver Preecha,68, fell asleep at the wheel after being warned that was going to happen if he didn't stop and rest. 

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

 

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[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, webfact said:

They thought that their elderly driver was nodding off behind the wheel. 

They allegedly told him to stop and get rest.

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

Edited June 30, 2020 by BritManToo

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

Are you saying that old people can't do jobs as well as younger people. Be prepared to be lynched by the OAP's on the forum.. better run I hear a crowd approaching with pitchforks and tar. ????

Edited June 30, 2020 by robblok

[BritManToo]

Just now, robblok said:

Are you saying that old people can't do jobs as well as younger people. Be prepared to be lynched by the OAP's on the forum.. better run I hear a crowd approaching with pitchforks and tar. ????

At 64, I wouldn't hire me to drive a bus/cargo ship/aircraft.

Concentration, reaction speed, ability to stay awake all shot to hell.

[robblok]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

I did the same thing.. was foolish too. Gf told me she was tired (about 3 km before reaching home). It was during the day only went out to some restaurant and now back about 2 km before reaching home she fell asleep. I just had time to curse before we rammed a concrete post. 

 

I thought she could have made it and we were close.. after that i never underestimated the idea of people being sleepy.

[robblok]

Just now, BritManToo said:

At 64, I wouldn't hire me to drive a bus/cargo ship/aircraft.

Concentration, reaction speed, ability to stay awake all shot to hell.

I agree.. but I know people who disagree a certain Australian chap will be here shortly ????

[EVENKEEL]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

At 64, I wouldn't hire me to drive a bus/cargo ship/aircraft.

Concentration, reaction speed, ability to stay awake all shot to hell.

In the shipping world there's no age limit. You have the current merchant mariner documents in order and you good to go. We had guys in late 70's doing the job of steering.

[JensenZ]

10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

Falling asleep at the wheel can and does happen to people of all ages. You'd expect older drivers to be safer as they would be more aware of the risk than younger gung-ho drivers.

 

How do they get off if the driver refuses to cooperate?

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

In the shipping world there's no age limit. You have the current merchant mariner documents in order and you good to go. We had guys in late 70's doing the job of steering.

What i heard about steering those huge oil tankers it does not really matter how fast you respond as its hard to make last minute changes anyway. You need to plan well ahead. 

[BritManToo]

Just now, JensenZ said:

Falling asleep at the wheel can and does happen to people of all ages. You'd expect older drivers to be safer as they would be more aware of the risk than younger gung-ho drivers.

 

How do they get off if the driver refuses to cooperate?

You think a 68 year old could fight off 30 passengers?

[JensenZ]

8 minutes ago, robblok said:

I did the same thing.. was foolish too. Gf told me she was tired (about 3 km before reaching home). It was during the day only went out to some restaurant and now back about 2 km before reaching home she fell asleep. I just had time to curse before we rammed a concrete post. 

 

I thought she could have made it and we were close.. after that i never underestimated the idea of people being sleepy.

Most falling asleep incidents happen close to home, because drivers think they can make it before falling asleep. I had this problem in my 30's when I used to do a long drive from one city to another early in the morning (4am) after a night of work. It's this "nearly there - I can make it" attitude that is very, very dangerous.

[spidermike007]

The proper thing to do, at that stage, was to start immediately slapping him around. A drastic situation requires a drastic solution. That would help to wake him up. Then you mobilize a number of people, and get him to pull over. Either he takes a nap for a few hours, or everybody gets off the bus. Better to be stranded somewhere, than to lose you life over a fool. 

 

I have been in minivans where a driver was driving recklessly and going way too fast. I confronted him, and he slowed down. I was ready to get off at the next stop. It is just not worth it. 

[JensenZ]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You think a 68 year old could fight off 30 passengers?

They asked him to stop and he refused. How do you propose to stop the bus if you attack the driver while he is driving?

[EVENKEEL]

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

What i heard about steering those huge oil tankers it does not really matter how fast you respond as its hard to make last minute changes anyway. You need to plan well ahead. 

I've only steered those on simulators and you're right about the lack of responsiveness especially at low speeds.

[ezzra]

This is a culpable negligence on the part of the bus company, that's is strange that usually those long hauls trips there is and should be a relief driver to take over in such cases, and mind you, not that they have shortage of drivers now that all this covid business and people out of work...

[tracker1]

Problem was he was full of <deleted> and not Red Bull

[actonion]

The bus left Bangkok at  5.30pm and the accident happend at 11.30 pm so this driver was at the wheel for 6 hours, no wonder he was having micro sleeps

[Grumpy one]

22 minutes ago, ezzra said:

This is a culpable negligence on the part of the bus company, that's is strange that usually those long hauls trips there is and should be a relief driver to take over in such cases, and mind you, not that they have shortage of drivers now that all this covid business and people out of work...

The problem with 2 drivers is they talk for the whole trip, so neither gets any rest.

Plus the fact they are distracted from doing their job 100%

[robblok]

Totally different story in the BKK post. So strange must be journalism.

 

In the BKK post the driver claims a bicycle cut his path and nothing about passengers alerting him about sleeping ect. 

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

Are you saying that old people can't do jobs as well as younger people. Be prepared to be lynched by the OAP's on the forum.. better run I hear a crowd approaching with pitchforks and tar. ????

No - they are coming with Zimmer frames and Deep Heat cream  ????

[anterian]

Familiarity with a regular route can cause microsleeps. Conversely I once drove across Europe non stop for 36 hours, but I was hyped up on adrenaline. 

[tifino]

off dreaming to his happy place

where nothing can go wrong in the confines of a pinball machines walls... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yet can still manage to fall out of the cot

 

[Trentham]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

I am 77 and I tell you what - I would be a more competent and safer driver of a bus than the 6 who commented favourably at the time of me writing this. A bit of ageism there!  

[jaiyen]

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You think a 68 year old could fight off 30 passengers?

He is driving a bus at 90 kph !  So who is going to knock him out while he is in the driving seat ??  I know it wouldn't be you !

[stouricks]

6 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

In the shipping world there's no age limit. You have the current merchant mariner documents in order and you good to go. We had guys in late 70's doing the job of steering.

Not too many trees or concrete posts in the Atlantic Ocean   PML

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The bus - owned by Nakhon Sri Racha Tour - had left the southern bus terminal in Bangkok at 5.30 pm. The accident occurred near the PTT gas station on Moo 4, Bang Saphan KM384 around 11.30 last night

So he had already driven 6 hours without a break, where was the final destination?

Passengers should have called him out and stopped the bus.

[robblok]

1 hour ago, Trentham said:

I am 77 and I tell you what - I would be a more competent and safer driver of a bus than the 6 who commented favourably at the time of me writing this. A bit of ageism there!  

Im sure your a better driver thwn me. However im sure you were a bettwr driver at 45 then now at 77. Agism is realism. 

 

I am weaker in the gym then when i was younger. I have less energy then when i was younger. Age is not just a number.

[Dumbastheycome]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

Is it so easy to  jump off a moving  bus?

[mrfill]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No sympathy, they should have got off, or chucked him off.

Not to mention why is a 68 year old allowed to drive a bus?

They let people a lot older than that, run countries...

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, jaiyen said:

He is driving a bus at 90 kph !  So who is going to knock him out while he is in the driving seat ??  I know it wouldn't be you !

90kph for 5 hours with no stops or traffic lights?

Just amazed at how daft posters on this forum have become.

another on ignore, I just can't force myself to communicate at this level.

Edited June 30, 2020 by BritManToo