Five Vehicle Pile-up In Phuket

[webfact]

Five vehicle pile-up in Phuket

CURIOSITY FACTOR: The rush-hour accident caused a long tailback on the bypass road southbound.

PHUKET: -- Slippery road conditions last night led to a five-vehicle pile-up on the bypass road that left one pick-up truck upended in a roadside drainage ditch and several people injured.

The accident happened at about 6:15pm in the southbound lanes, about two kilometers north of the Tesco-Lotus junction near the Thanachart Bank.

Just after light rain started, a motorcycle with a pillion passenger lost control in the left- hand lane, causing 27-year-old Jirawat Chuaybumrung to slam on the brakes of his green sedan to avoid running them over.

His car was hit from behind by a red pick-up truck carrying four passengers, all heading home from work at the time.

After that, a silver pick-up tried to swerve into the passing lane to avoid hitting the two vehicles in front, but was smashed hard on its right side by a large Laguna Phuket bus carrying 40 staff back to town from Cherng Talay.

The silver pickup, with 45-year old driver Usah Saenganun and four passengers, smashed into the red pick-up and ended up in a roadside drainage ditch.

Several people were taken to hospital, but there were no serious injuries.

Mr Jirawat, who was with his wife and seven-month-old baby, said, “We are okay, but the baby was a bit shocked.”

Accidents are a daily occurrence on the bypass road, which is currently being resurfaced. Completed in early 2006 under a 111-million-baht road building project, the surface has since become uneven and potholed.

Motorists, especially those on motorbikes, are advised to proceed with extreme caution while the work continues.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-06-04

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[Valentine]

The comment about the road being completely resurfaced in 2004 makes me wonder about the quality of the job as surely roads are built to last longer than that. The current resurfacing is not the same as Thepkasatri road where they ground up the old surface first. On the bypass the new surface is just being laid on top of the old one. Seems to me grinding up the old surface is a better method but then again I have no road building expertise.

Rear end collisions have been on the increase for years as has the number of tail gaters. Safe driving distance seems to be unknown here & anyone who does practice it finds the gap immediately taken.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Valentine

[metisdead]

I agree, through all the education us westerners have had in our home countries and in some cases at work regarding maintaining safe distances while driving, just do not apply here.