3 Killed, 10 Injured When Train Hits Kindergarten Van

[george]

3 killed, 10 injured when train hits kindergarten van

SAMUT SAKHON: -- A Bangkok-bound train hit a van of a kindergarten school, killing two 3-year-old children, and the babysitter of the van.

Police said 9 other kindergarteners and the van driver were injured and rushed toa hospital.

The accident happened near Thung Si Thong station in Bang Nam Jued district at 4 pm.

The van belongs to Sunflower Kindergarten School in Bang Bon area.

Witnesses told police the van was speeding up to cross the railway but the incoming train hit into the van at the side of the driver.

-- The Nation 2007-11-06

[MrSquigle]

Shocking.

[lazeeboy]

Shocking.

unbelievable ,playing chicken with a train with peoples children

[Acquiesce]

Why are there always so many conflicting news reports in Thailand?

I have just watched this on Thai language news on television, it said there only one person killed, a three year old.

So which is correct?

Tragic whatever turns out to be true.

[lopburi3]

Current TV news report is different - saying the van engine stalled when it was on the tracks.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

If the van driver is guilty he should be sentenced to death and the kindergarten owners jailed to have employed stupid driver without the minimum safety rules knowledge.

I will never let anybody else but me drive my children in Thailand, this happens too often, so sad for the parents.

[sibeymai]

Didn't the van driver flee the scene ?

[Acquiesce]

Didn't the van driver flee the scene ?

What a pointless and predictable comment in a thread about the tragic deaths of children.

[sibeymai]

Didn't the van driver flee the scene ?

What a pointless and predictable comment in a thread about the tragic deaths of children.

Someone had to post it...so now it's been posted.

[Gravelrash]

If the van driver is guilty he should be sentenced to death and the kindergarten owners jailed to have employed stupid driver without the minimum safety rules knowledge.

I will never let anybody else but me drive my children in Thailand, this happens too often, so sad for the parents.

I am the same, it is easy and convenient to let a van pick up my kids, but I drive them to and pick them up from school every day. I have seen bus and van drivers in action - no way.

[thaiman]

Didn't the van driver flee the scene ?

classic

[Tony Clifton]

If the van driver is guilty he should be sentenced to death and the kindergarten owners jailed to have employed stupid driver without the minimum safety rules knowledge.

I will never let anybody else but me drive my children in Thailand, this happens too often, so sad for the parents.

I am the same, it is easy and convenient to let a van pick up my kids, but I drive them to and pick them up from school every day. I have seen bus and van drivers in action - no way.

We'll be moving sometime after the little one is born and this is one of the main reasons as to why, the roads.

Train tracks, school bus or not, even me driving the deadly circus still performs all around the vehicle.

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

Yes, what a funny person and what a funny comment.

Very appropriate.

Grab another Chang eh.

[Mai Krap]

Bad driving with truck loads of humans, including babies is a daily occurrence. While this is a horrible accident it is all to predictable. Last month I received a phone call that my 2 year old nephew was in the hospital from motorcycle accident, luckily he was only scratched up after his mom and dad hit a dog but I have sat eating dinner and watched a child die. I have also seen a motorcycle hit by a car on the corner of Siam Discovery Center, The car sped away as a father picked up his four or five year old child. What kind of complete jackass drives around Bangkok with a small child on a motorcycle, for that matter what is wrong with people wearing helmets and holding a infant as they speed along busy roads within the LOS?

[sriracha john]

The television news showed about as sad an image as ever possible with the two tykes laid out on a mat with the babysitter in-between.

It wasn't a horrific image as they were not mangled..... just an incredibly sad image.

Edited November 6, 2007 by sriracha john

[kat]

... What kind of complete jackass drives around Bangkok with a small child on a motorcycle, for that matter what is wrong with people wearing helmets and holding a infant as they speed along busy roads within the LOS?

Well. possibly the kind who are poor and cannot afford a car. However, those with cars don't drive any better, but they are safer for the passengers than motorbikes.

*Incredibly sad story, and stupid, ridiculous driving, with no real transport safety enforcements or consequences, except for unnecessary accidents and death. Unfortunately, boarding and riding a bus in Bangkok isn't that much safer, either.

Edited November 6, 2007 by kat

[Briggsy]

Let me bore you with one of Amazing Thailand's more amazing facts that I always trot out.

Annual road fatalities 15,000 - 30,000 depending whose figures you believe. These are deaths not injuries. Truly shameful. This has been the case for many years and there is no excuse for inaction.

[Scott]

A very sad problem for a lot of school bus drivers (but not meant as an excuse), is that they often have to make multiple trips back and forth between the school and taking kids home. This is in horrific traffic and under time pressure. This leads to excessive carelessness. I have watched and actually ridden with the school bus drivers and it is a really scary ride sometimes. I have asked them to slow down and on the last occasion when we reached our destination, I refused to ride back with him. I took a taxi.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a general principle at play in the Kingdom and that is the vehicle with the most occupants can do whatever it wants. Very often I will see a pickup with a truck load of people in the back and it is invariable driving more crazily than the one with one occupant. The same is true of vans & buses.

Now with all that said, my very deepest condolences to the families of the these very innocent children and also to the family of the babysitter.

[MrSquigle]

Bad driving with truck loads of humans, including babies is a daily occurrence. While this is a horrible accident it is all to predictable. Last month I received a phone call that my 2 year old nephew was in the hospital from motorcycle accident, luckily he was only scratched up after his mom and dad hit a dog but I have sat eating dinner and watched a child die. I have also seen a motorcycle hit by a car on the corner of Siam Discovery Center, The car sped away as a father picked up his four or five year old child. What kind of complete jackass drives around Bangkok with a small child on a motorcycle, for that matter what is wrong with people wearing helmets and holding a infant as they speed along busy roads within the LOS?

This kinda jackas....and he ain't thai.

Even worse, this was speeding along sukhumvit and into asoke, not a sleepy laneway and even worse, there was another child in front of him you cannot see.

[kmart]

Let me bore you with one of Amazing Thailand's more amazing facts that I always trot out.

Annual road fatalities 15,000 - 30,000 depending whose figures you believe. These are deaths not injuries. Truly shameful. This has been the case for many years and there is no excuse for inaction.

Wonder how that relates to stats from other (developing) countries..? I can't find any accurate data.

Nothing much ever changes here. Tomorrow, or even several more times today, horrific accidents will occur. People will wring their hands and cry and... carry on again. The most horrific road carnage images will be printed full-colour in magazines, sandwiched between pics of scantily-clad models.

The sheer waste here in LOS is amazing. The waste of time; money; human and natural resources; it must cost billions /year, but it is symptomatic of a culture that knows the price of everything, but the true value of nothing.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

If the van driver is guilty he should be sentenced to death and the kindergarten owners jailed to have employed stupid driver without the minimum safety rules knowledge.

I will never let anybody else but me drive my children in Thailand, this happens too often, so sad for the parents.

I am the same, it is easy and convenient to let a van pick up my kids, but I drive them to and pick them up from school every day. I have seen bus and van drivers in action - no way.

We'll be moving sometime after the little one is born and this is one of the main reasons as to why, the roads.

Train tracks, school bus or not, even me driving the deadly circus still performs all around the vehicle.

Maybe living near BTS or MRT and sending kids to school near BTS or MRT station is possible ?

But of course kids shouldn't be allowed to ride motorbikes, god gave them legs to walk and I don't think it's a so big problem for kids to sweat. I can't believe it when I see them taking moto taxi after school because they are lazy to walk 500 meters to the BTS station.

And I also think that big orange air con buses are quite safe, and only small green buses really seem dangerous.

[Tony Clifton]

Let me bore you with one of Amazing Thailand's more amazing facts that I always trot out.

Annual road fatalities 15,000 - 30,000 depending whose figures you believe. These are deaths not injuries. Truly shameful. This has been the case for many years and there is no excuse for inaction.

I think those estimates are quite low. I estimate at least one dead motorcyclist per province per day. A rough total of about 26 000 dead motorcyclist/passengers per year. Still, I'm afraid my numbers are way too low. My wife mentioned that over two hundred a day die on motorcycles only.

Then there's the trucks, buses, pick-ups, cars, even food-carts pushed around in dangerous traffic, I nearly clipped one who dared to cross 10 lanes of traffic on both sides of bypass road, madness

Sadly, it's often all about taking a shortcut or making some crazy maneuver to save a few minutes which ends up costing a whole lifetime worth's of those same precious minutes.

Edited November 7, 2007 by Tony Clifton

[Moruya]

It's a shame but you could write a book about the amount of improvements required to driving/traffic here. Even on the expressways they drive in the breakdown lane turning 3 lanes of traffic into 4 or sometimes 5 lanes or danger - normally followed by the intransigent police on their bikes. The speed limits are never enforced unless the police have spent their pay packets, the idea of U-Turn lanes instead of roundabouts and traffic lights can only be explained by the fact that not one Thai driver knows how to use a roundabout and they think you can go through red lights up to 15 minutes afterwards.

36 road deaths a day was the last semi-official statistic that I saw.

[TAWP]

Every day on the way to the vans I have to dodge cars and bikes passing solid red up to 10 seconds after the switch - making the worst ones coming into oncoming turning traffic. Yellow doesn't mean 'brake' here, it means 'more gas so you cannot brake if it switches'.

I wouldn't mind seeing some rifle-towers around some intersections for the worst offenders...

[TAWP]

Even worse, this was speeding along sukhumvit and into asoke, not a sleepy laneway and even worse, there was another child in front of him you cannot see.

I actually doubt the kid is his, seeing as to how blase he is about his wellbeing.

Which leads us into the next speculation...

[cloudhopper]

Didn't the van driver flee the scene ?

What a pointless and predictable comment in a thread about the tragic deaths of children.

Maybe the point is that it IS so predictable here in LOS...tho I would have never predicted the elephants doing it too....

[MrSquigle]

Only reason he did not flee was because both his legs were broken...

As for the farang on the bike, both kids looked half/half, so presume they were his and regardless of if they are his or not.....children are children and all deserve the same protection, not some <deleted> carrying them on a bike down the busiest streets in Bangkok.

I take my children on bike taxis, but only in my soi to the end of the soi, they never go on busy streets and all the bike drivers know to take it slow and easy when they are on board. Still I bought them both mini helmets, blue and pink and they wear them even on the shortest ride. Only once have I had a taxi driver not go slow and carefull when asked, the third request he stopped and showed me the speedo, trying to tell me he was not even doing 40k's, I said stiff cheddar sunshine I asked you 3 times to slow down, so on your bike and bugger off. I got a new one.

I do not like doing it, but weighing up the risk when managed as much as possible, it is the only real option, to far to walk and to much clogged slow traffic to get a taxi to the end of the raod where it can take 10 to 30 minutes on a bad day to go such a short distance.

[Robski]

Tragically normal and very sad.

[Payboy]

Current TV news report is different - saying the van engine stalled when it was on the tracks.

of course, its easier to blame an inanimate object and save face all around...

[JimsKnight]

The farang carry kid looks half thai to me.