20 killed after train collides with bus in Thailand

[cardinalblue]

If 4 people across with 15 rows that is 60 people right there...

 

probably more than 15 rows too so maybe not even a full bus...

 

I wonder if a family outing or this event was more geared towards elders of the village

[Mak25]

47 minutes ago, Mike Rodik said:

 

zoom in on warning lights, seems out to me...

 

 

40 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

Maybe the warning lights at the crossing were not working?  
many possibilities... 

Railway crossings usually have a railway crossing sign which gives the train the right of way in any case, even when signals are not working.

 

(I know, not in Thailand) It is a basic lesson at driving school to slow down in any case, look left/right before crossing, not to shift gears and not to stop on the tracks.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Mak25

[DekDaeng]

Driver won't do that again.

[GooEng]

Yet another tragedy involving bus travel in Thailand.  This is why I don't allow my boys to travel by bus to trips with school or scouts - they join the trip, but me or the missus drives them to the destination.  Many other parents at their school who can, do the same.

[chang1]

2 minutes ago, mickyr55 said:

If the driver was unable to see if there was a train coming or not surely his responsibility to the 60 passengers was to stop and maybe ask one of them to get out and check, quite easy to save 20 lives isn't it. 

Not if your employer puts you under massive pressure to meet a tight deadline and you can't afford to lose this job. Maybe another train had just passed and he thought it was now safe so not worth the effort. If he thought it was easy he would have done it but something meant it was too hard or unnecessary for him to stop and look up and down the tracks. Someone said he was good enough for the job but was that the bad decision? This crash could have been caused by a wealthy bus company owner sat in a nice air conditioned office wanting to save a few Baht and not having to worry about the consequences. 

[473geo]

12 minutes ago, tandor said:

...how about the guy in brown shirt and shorts..casually walks up and stands and looks at the wreckage..couldn't care a less about running to help !!

Looks like he could be making a call to the emergency services

[DJ54]

R.I.P.

 

Please take care when driving to be alert and safety minded. 

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, connda said:

Maybe they need to approach their problem of road carnage with the same enthusiasm as they did with their heavy-handed response to Covid-19.  I mean really.  Isn't it wayyyy past time to address the 21,000 people killed at year - at the scene - and apply a serious solution to this daily slaughter.

I have posted this before, but of course not everyone will have read it so for those who haven't....

There are many reasons that Thais drive as they do.

1 - I have never detected any sign of common sense in a Thai, and I've been living here for over 25 years. I am not sure how you teach that, but anyway there is no movement to do so.

2 - The Thais have a Me First mentality that is deeply ingrained, and that is the last thing you want to see in a driver.

3 - The education system demands that you do not think for yourself but listen and obey, so Thais do not develop the necessary skills to actually think. That may result in my first point above.

4 - Learning to drive in a proper and responsible manner is quite difficult, and Thais do not do difficult. Thais do 'near enough', but on the roads that isn't 'good enough'. One mistake can cost lives, so being lucky enough to get it right most of the time isn't good enough either.

5 - They have absolutely no concept that the vehicle they are attempting to operate is a potential killer. No concept at all.

6 - Along with inadequate teaching of all things about how to drive properly and safely, there is no test to determine if you have reached a standard where you are not a danger to yourself and others before you take to the road.

7 - Thais do not seem able to join the dots, and realise that if, for example, they drive at 120 kms an hour five metres behind the vehicle in front, or drive at night with no rear light (or front light if they are driving on the wrong side of the road because they have no concept of the danger), then they would have no time to react if the vehicle in front brakes suddenly. Ask any Thai what their safe braking distance is and they would have no idea.

8 - There are zero police patrols to help prevent accidents by pulling aside selfish and stupid drivers. Their only presence is setting up road blocks which seems in my experience to have only one purpose - to check your tax disc is in the window and up to date.

9 - Police have absolutely no interest in enforcing the law even when they are static beside the road, watching kids three or four on a bike go by with no helmet, no license, no ability to properly control the bike they are on. And that goes also for the parents and schools who allow Thailand's future to play Russian Roulette every time they go out. The police know they get paid anyway, so why work?

10 - The government does nothing to resolve the road death/accident toll as nothing practically can be done. The problem began decades ago when Thais first began to drive in numbers. No meaningful test was introduced and enforced, and now it is far, far too late. It would mean retraining every driver (and who would do that - it would be similar to those who teach English not being able to speak the language themselves). And it would mean the drivers having to take a proper western-style test before gaining a license. And it would mean police patrols to catch those who drive as if they are playing a video game.

Now, anyone can drive as they like and put themselves and others in danger as they know they have zero chance of being caught. They can drive that way with total impunity. And it would require said (non-existent) police to actually enforce the law. And not one of those things is possible in Thailand.

 

To finish, nothing can or will change and survival on Thai roads will continue to be a lottery. All we can do is remember the words that were used in the 70s police drama Hill Street Blues as the force were sent out on patrol - 'Let's be careful out there'.
 

[transam]

24 minutes ago, DekDaeng said:

Not true. Bus had slowed, but was still moving forward at time of impact. 

 

Therefore not stuck.

That is not my quote sunbeam.....????

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Mike Rodik said:

 

zoom in on warning lights, seems out to me...

 

 

A news article states that witnesses heard the audio alarm from the signal before the accident.

[elliss]

2 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

there never is a full investigation - some police chief will make an unsupported segment in order for the matter to be closed. No lessons learned, blame irrationally apportioned and the danger continues.

 

          Agree. 

          All will be forgotten in a week or so ,

           Back to Covid-19 panic .  RIP .

       

[Cake Monster]

What a terrible accident

Thoughts and Prayers go to the victims their Families and Loved Ones.

RIP

Will lessons be learned from this - NO

This is Thailand 

[Cake Monster]

43 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Easy to criticise when you are not there.  Of course you would immediately spring in to action, running towards it and saving lives heroically.  Some people go into stunned shock, some don't know what to do, some might not truly realise the gravity of what has just happened, and until you are put in a similar situation no-one knows how they will react.  (Apart from you of course who would react positively and heroically).

Unless a person is fully Trained in such things, the first reaction will always be of shock and disbelief.

 

[recom273]

3 hours ago, khunPer said:

I presume this photo shows the road level in the crossing...

The bus certainly went up a slope, but he went through a stop sign without touching the brakes, I didn’t see any brake lights.

 

It was a matter of seconds before he was hit, sad to say, bottoming out on the crossing was just another poor excuse for bad driving, an exercise in face saving. 

[tifino]

never going to be any hopeful outcomes; when a Bus hits a Train 

 

I remember the Bus hit Train, of 1981... 18 students were the victims, and I recall that some of them were never found...

 - bus landed in a big swamp

[holy cow cm]

Just watched the video. Absolutely no excuse. Thai driver error once again.

[DUNROAMIN]

Sadly, another normal day in Thailand, it will never end here with poor infrastructure, lack of government control, driver training and policing.

[Arthur Mullard]

3 hours ago, teacherclaire said:

Such a bus has to drive very slowly over a railway even with a good suspension and it doesn't look like he's sitting on something. God, he almost made it. 

 

 

That's not what I saw... he was nowhere near making it. But there has to be an explanation - as you say - for the pause/virtual standstill at the point of impact?? Beggars belief. It certainly was VERY slow. Meanwhile some onlookers continue driving by.... ????

[ChipButty]

Had the train hit the middle of the bus I think the whole lot would have been wipped out

[Megasin1]

2 hours ago, chang1 said:

So you would prefer no-one found out about this sort of thing making it easy to cover up mistakes? 

If one of my relatives was one of the casualties I would want the world to know what really happened rather than it to have been put down to a problem with the tracks. The video showed the bus never stopped - I would want to know why.

Far from a scourge, it can help get to the truth. Obviously not all social media is good but it is still developing so, hopefully, will get better.

There are ways and means of doing everything properly and still getting to the truth. There should be more social responsibility within peoples actions. If you note on the video the first person to appear takes a photo. A first response should be to offer aid or summon aid, not record for your own devices. I at no point advocate suppression of news however family have a right to be informed of what has happened to their loved ones in an appropriate manner and not find out via speculative and often inaccurate social media speculation.

[vangrop]

The brain dead driver is now also physically dead

[Arthur Mullard]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

You need to study the video, bus never grounded, driver did not stop.

At the point of impact the driver appears to be motionless.. or < 0.5 mph??

[smew]

RIP.

My guess is the bus driver had no license.

but will blame road and bus mechanical conditions, poor visibility and no brakes.

 

Later government will set up a commission, have meetings and come up with conclusions. 

And in the end do absolutely nothing!! 

[cyril sneer]

25 minutes ago, smew said:

My guess is the bus driver had no license.

what difference does the license make?

[Steve Vincent]

Another accident that could have been avoided ! Health and safety in Thailand is shocking ‘ I’ve seen women climb buildings with babies strapped to them and when i say buildings i mean skyscrapers,over the the years I’ve witnessed many road accidents and majority of the time they could have been avoided about 8yrs ago had a bad motorbike accident in Buriram as a passenger on a motorbike taxi speeding spending  about 6 weeks in hospital... taxi man wasn’t insured and got no help from the police costing me several thousand pounds,.( suppose my fault as had no insurance ) now always take out insurance  Taxi man was found to have alcohol and drugs in his system ???? these poor people were supposedly visiting a temple “. There’s plenty of signs telling you tracks ahead STOP my heart goes out to those who’ve lost loved ones as with most things in life it could have been avoided if the driver was paying attention 

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, chang1 said:

3 hours ago, Mike Rodik said:

 

zoom in on warning lights, seems out to me...

 

 

 

The stop sign is still in working order though.

Are you a(n ambulance chaser) lawyer?

[nausea]

To be honest, this (vehicles getting hit by trains on level crossings) is quite a regular occurrence in Thailand, the only difference here is that it was a bus with 60 people. A disaster waiting to happen, as they say.

[smew]

Stop sign or railway crossing they never stop just go right through.

And get very angry when you toot horn at them...

 

One accident matches all covid19 deaths and yet their actions-reaction so much different, they over-react to chinese virus and do nothing about road safety, absurd, government of incompetence   

[NanLaew]

28 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

55 minutes ago, smew said:

My guess is the bus driver had no license.

what difference does the license make?

License to Kill... Dalton wasn't too bad as Bond.

[kensisaket]

Pretty much anywhere in Thailand flashing red lights are ignored. Not a problem for buses; because, they are normally the biggest thing on the road; and, everyone gives way to them.  Unfortunately that "train" of thought does not work so well at railroad crossings.