14 Killed, 50 Injured In Thai Bus Crash

[george]

14 killed, 50 injured in Thai wedding party bus crash

At least 14 members of a wedding party have been killed and 50 injured in Thailand, after their chartered bus crashed into oncoming traffic and ran off a highway in the north of the country.

The bus was packed with guests traveling to a wedding in Chiang Rai Province from neighbouring Chiang Mai when it crashed into two pick-up trucks and flipped over in a gully.

The bus, rented by the bridegroom and packed with passengers, had departed from the northern city of Chiang Mai and was being driven downhill in thick fog when the accident occurred in Chiang Rai province's Mae Chedi village, police Lt. Suparb Kuenkheauw said.

The bus struck the minivans before crashing into a guard rail and overturning, he said.

It was not immediately known how many passengers were riding in the vehicles or whether the bride and groom were on the bus.

Thai authorites have been bracing for a surge in road deaths over the New Year holiday period, which last year left 562 people dead and 32-thousand injured.

--Agencies 2003-12-28

[KevinN]

These things will continue to happen until the Thai govt. see fit to put the police that are already employed to work doing the jobs that were hired to do.

It does no good to have any police if none of them do any traffic patrols,you can not enforce traffic laws by stopping a few motorcycles or cars and pickups at different places by standing in the road and flagging them down and checking for helmets and drivers licenses,and watching people go by at 150 KPH and doing nothing to traffic offenders, or by making people just pay for vehicular manslaughter victims by paying the family for those killed.

I can not see the difference in shooting a gun into a crowd or running a high speed vehicle thru the crowd,murder is murder,no matter what the weapon used.

The only hyway patrol you ever see in Thailand is a patrol car running at high speed as a blocker for a van load of politicos with local police stationed along the roadways.There never is a moving patrol to stop those that continue to cross over double lines, running at well over posted speeds,or any other form of offense.

It seems like a real laugh to me to think you can sell an ELITE card to tourists when it is not safe for them to tour your country and might be killed just riding in a taxi from the airport to their first hotel .It is not that they do not have police,,it is that the police just take their pay with out doing anything for it,We sat in a cafe the other day when two traffic patrol cops parked their motorcycle on the sidewalk,came into the cafe and drank beer and whiskey for 2 hours with a group at a table and then left,and one was a Sgt.

The way I see it,,IF YOU HAVE NO ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS, THEN YOU HAVE NO LAWS.

[maerim]

Some friends on there way here from Phayao saw this crash last Sunday it was horrific.

So what? happens every day, the death toll is now 16 and will probably rise.

The law enforcment agencies won't do anything about this carnage that happens everyday here but it's a bout time they did.

30% of Thai's die in RTA's, so best part of a third of Thailands population are going out with a bang.

Am I the only person to find this incredible?

If this is not going to stop can anyone tell me where I can buy shares in the spraypaint cans the "forensic"boys use?

[the gentleman]

it still bewilders me that an 8 year old kid on a motorbike can drive past a police officer and nothing is said, it bewilders me why they havent done some TV advertising about looking left and right before merging with traffic, it bewilders me that parents have not educated there kids about road rules, it bewilders me that two police on one honda dream patrol the streets, it bewilders me that licences are given out like bus passes, it bewilders me why no one indicates with a blinker, it bewilders me why side cars are allowed on the road as they ARE against the law. it bewilders me why someone with no lights would drive towards you on the wrong side of the road at night, it bewilders me why there is a whole family on one motorbike, it bewilders me why foreigners who have never ridden bikes, rent bikes. I am bew...................................................

[NedKelly]

Yeah it is incredible. One night I saw the cops put a road block on Pra Athit Road, down near the river near Khao San road. I watched as a Thai guy and hsi girl friend walked to their car which was parked right at the road block. The road block was set up to stop traffic so the 30 or so police could check peoples details I guess.....anyway, the guy who was walking with his girl, was so pissed that she had to hold him up and upon arriving at the car he proceeded to vomit all over the side of the car. Thenthere was a bit of an arguement as the girl wanted to drive the car....... seemed like a good idea. The cops were standing watching and laughing. Then the guy won the arguement, so the girl had to open the car door, place the guy inside, get herself to the passenger side and off they drove !!

This is f......ing incredible !!!!

[meemiathai]

That's what made Thailand so attractive to me!

[heychay]

in the u.s. 20 years ago if you walked into work and said "woah, cant even remember driving home last night", you'd get laughs. say it now and you get looks like you said " i cant remeber last night, except i think i fired a gun into a crowd". what changed? the overall consciousness of people in general. how did that happen? with the cooperation of government (including law enforcement) , media, the medical profession, and citizen groups- MADD, SADD, etc. And, grudgingly, the liquor and bar industry. I dont know the exact figures, but deaths and injury from drunk driving have dropped dramatically, although it still happens way too often. so media messages from victims and drunk drivers helped. punishment like drunk drivers being sentenced to speak at schools about how it feels to have killed someone is pretty effective. mandatory alcohol counselling for repeat offenders. unfortunetly a change cannot be made over one or two new years weekends. people have to be educated and believe that law enforcement is serious.

unlike, say thailand. i went to a local upcountry fair on new years eve, attended by thousands of people. thousands of kids and families on motorcycles. i'd guess the percentage wearing helmets was close to, oh, zero. there were plenty of police around, who did nothing. why not set up a block at the parking lot and no one without a helmet and who cannot pass a breathalizer drives home? that makes a point. but unless people are educated about why its bad to drive drunk or not wear a helmet, its just a stop-gap.

use public service announcements on tv (thai, not ubc) that feature victims, their families and those who have injured or killed people. it takes time, but it can be done. just takes alot of effort and cooperation. will it happen here?