BREAKING NEWS Seven Dead as Runaway Bus Slams into Trucks and Bursts into Flames

[Will B Good]

15 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Of course, but old tried and true habits die hard.

 

One truck I used to drive had no synchromesh, a 5 speed gearbox and a 2 speed rear axle. That WAS a bitch to drive and change gear, especially when it was fully loaded.

 

I still find enjoyment in changing gear smoothly and quietly matching engine revs to road speed instead of just ramming the truck into gear and letting the clutch up, synchromesh or not.

 

Funnily enough, I hired a manual recently and found myself doing the same.....555

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Briggsy said:

This is the small stretch of the 304 that descends from the Isaan plateau down into Prachinburi. I have never known a small stretch of road anywhere in the world have so many horrific accidents with so many fatalities.

 

I would love some of these accidents to be fully investigated. The level of negligence combined with brainlessly dangerous driving is beyond credulity.

But this is rife in Thailand

[Aussie999]

So brake failure only assumed, well I, like many others, assume other possibilities, driver fatigue, poor driver skill, poor maintenance, and let's not forget, dual brake systems, how does both fail, at the same time, and if so, the brakes show activate automatically.

[billd766]

20 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Funnily enough, I hired a manual recently and found myself doing the same.....555

Old (and dying) habits again.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

So brake failure only assumed, well I, like many others, assume other possibilities, driver fatigue, poor driver skill, poor maintenance, and let's not forget, dual brake systems, how does both fail, at the same time, and if so, the brakes show activate automatically.

 

An easy out.....they really CBA investigating stuff like this, let alone do anything to prevent it in the future.

[billd766]

Many years ago I rode my motorbike back from Mae Sot on the Mae Sot to Tak highway before they government improved it. I was going down the hills in 3rd gear with trucks and buses roaring past me, and all I could smell was burning asbestos from brake pads and brake linings.

 

I was glad to get off that road and back on the AH 1/2 towards Kamphaeng Phet to get rid of the smell. Back then it was one of the worst roads in Thailand.

[balo]

There's been too many bus accidents recently.  I can't remember it was this bad only 5 years ago. 

 

[smew]

Maintenance and maintenance… inexperienced driver… not using low gear 

[pacovl46]

It's ime that Thailand introduces a biennial, mandatory, technical compliance inspection for all motorized vehicles, like Germany has, for example.

[SLOWHAND225]

1 hour ago, HK MacPhooey said:

It heats everything up except the brakes thus helping to prevent ‘brake failure’ which is actually brake fade caused by the driver ‘riding the brakes’ which also degrades the brake fluid over time adding to the problem.

Except there is no brake fluid, they are Air brakes, very different.

[richard_smith237]

9 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

It's ime that Thailand introduces a biennial, mandatory, technical compliance inspection for all motorized vehicles, like Germany has, for example.

 

IMO - For 'public service vehicles' the inspections should be biannual...

 

The issue with such inspections here is that it only takes a little back-hander for them to be passed... 

 

 

But, one of the issues here is the extent of the bus fire... Should it not be made of non-flammable materials ? - there's no mention of LPG.... 

 

The video shows the 'frame of the bus' on fire - was this one of those 'wooden frame' busses, that look modern but are far from it.

 

Perhaps busses made like that should not be on the road in the first place.

 

 

[nauseus]

3 hours ago, natway09 said:

 Many silly comments on here obviously made by folks who have never driven heavy vehicles.

 Gearing is the ONLY way to get  a heavy vehicle down a long steep incline.

 Brakes on their own will sooner or later just get too hot & fail.

 Even heavy planes use reverse thrust to aid their brakes in slowing down, well some  ( eg: Qantas 747   landing at Don Muang did not hence going off the end of the runway)

 

 

Most light planes too. Unless they have a long (flat) runway and easy exit.

[nauseus]

3 hours ago, Chongalulu said:

A pointless and wasteful exercise in a modern small  vehicle. Use the function designed for slowing down a small passenger vehicle. Brakes are cheaper to replace than transmissions, clutches and engines. Do you still look for the starting handle too ? 
 

 

An old habit that does no harm and which can still reduce damage to clutch, gearbox and brakes, especially in heavy vehicles.

[advancebooking]

Its why I always sit in row 8 near the rear of the bus. Never at the front. 

[pacovl46]

23 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

IMO - For 'public service vehicles' the inspections should be biannual...

 

The issue with such inspections here is that it only takes a little back-hander for them to be passed... 

 

 

But, one of the issues here is the extent of the bus fire... Should it not be made of non-flammable materials ? - there's no mention of LPG.... 

 

The video shows the 'frame of the bus' on fire - was this one of those 'wooden frame' busses, that look modern but are far from it.

 

Perhaps busses made like that should not be on the road in the first place.

 

 

Well, Germany eradicated the "backhander" option by rmaking it mandatory to keep record of who it was who inspectied the vehicle and by making them personally responsible for it's compliance with roadworthiness. So, if a car crashes that wasn't roadworthy and the inspector let it pass in exchange for an envelope, the inspector will go to prison. 

[jwl53]

10 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

The incident occurred around 02:00 on 21 April,

There is a awful lot of busses that have brake failure, do they not check them, as its 2.0am more chance the driver after a few bevvies fell asleep and lost control

[Captain Flack]

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[Gknrd]

Anyone that has traveled in Thailand knows how allot of the accidents happen. Probably driving with the pedal to the metal then trying to break at the last moment.  

[LeRoux]

6 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Is double clutching a thing since they invented the synchro?  I learned to drive our 1957 Ford firetruck, and that's the last time I recall double clutching.

 

You might find him double-Clutching an Automatic, as well.

Many newer buses use different types of automatics, (as far as I know).

The amount of engine-braking can vary with the construction of the Automatic Gearbox.

(I didn't see it mentioned which type of gearbox was employed in this model.)

[kwilco]

and all the usual tripe blaming the driver and pretending they know how to drive ....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It also would seem no coincidence that MANY of these kinds of horrible crashes seem to happen in the early morning hours overnight -- and not in the daytime, broad daylight or even early evening periods.

 

One might assume that has something to do with the reduced attention / nodding off of the involved bus drivers during those overnight hours in some way contributing to the fatal end results.

 

 

 

[dallen52]

The old Brake Failure routine..

 

You have to seriously question the driving ability of the people in control of these vehicles. 

 

You can't constantly use air brakes on these oversized buses.

You have to use gears and engine retarders where fitted. 

 

The driving skills lack of, seriously concerns me.

[outsider]

The inter-provincial and tour buses in Thailand are death traps. Period. Avoid at all costs.

[Sierra Tango]

51 minutes ago, kwilco said:

and all the usual tripe blaming the driver and pretending they know how to drive ....

So, the drivers are never the root cause or even contributing factors to these incidents? Is that what you are implying?

[Sierra Tango]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

IMO - For 'public service vehicles' the inspections should be biannual...

 

The issue with such inspections here is that it only takes a little back-hander for them to be passed... 

 

 

But, one of the issues here is the extent of the bus fire... Should it not be made of non-flammable materials ? - there's no mention of LPG.... 

 

The video shows the 'frame of the bus' on fire - was this one of those 'wooden frame' busses, that look modern but are far from it.

 

Perhaps busses made like that should not be on the road in the first place.

 

 

Agree on the biannuals and with a rigorous follow up tracking system to record where and when the inspections were carried out. I know, don't hold your breath right?

I doubt that wood is used for framing any more however there are plenty of plastic window surrounds, vynal & foam rubber seats and no doubt plenty of other combustible material used.

I thought about the LPG / CNG factor too. but as was pointed out earlier, the fire started in the front 1st and 2nd levels of the bus. As this is a rear engine model, any fuel storage,  be it compressed gas cylinders or diesel tanks, including fuel lines of course, would be located much closer to the engine. Only one other cause of the fire that I can think of, is that the truck that was rear ended was carrying something flammable...

[billd766]

1 hour ago, outsider said:

The inter-provincial and tour buses in Thailand are death traps. Period. Avoid at all costs.

Rubbish.

 

I used to take the National Transport Company bus  from the local village to Bangkok. some 350 odd km, for years and had no problem. That was either the lower deck of a 1 1/2 deck bus, or the single deck bus without any problems.

 

How many times have you taken an inter provincial bus?

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, Sierra Tango said:

So, the drivers are never the root cause or even contributing factors to these incidents? Is that what you are implying?

Sorry you're too un-informed to discuss this with.

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, kwilco said:

1 hour ago, Sierra Tango said:

So, the drivers are never the root cause or even contributing factors to these incidents? Is that what you are implying?

Sorry you're too uniformed to discuss this with.

 

Pathetic cop out - the question is a valid one and singles out the utter tosh you keep peddling that 'humans are not at fault'... 

 

 

 

[Sierra Tango]

12 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Sorry you're too un-informed to discuss this with.

Try me, or have you run out of AI produced quotes?

[kwilco]

Just now, Sierra Tango said:

AI produced quotes?

that kind of sums you up, doesn't it?