Eight Killed In Chiang Mai Road Accident

[webfact]

Eight killed in Chiang Mai road accident

A transport truck collided with a ten-wheel truck in Chiang Mai's Doi Saket district Tuesday, killing eight passengers and seriously injuring three others.

The accident took place at around 7.30am on Doi SaketChiang Rai Road, after the transport truck for Wiang KalongChiang Mai route, running downhill, overtook other vehicle but could not get back to its original lane in time hence violently collided with an on-coming ten-wheel truck.

Police found four male bodies - including the ten wheel truck driver - and four female bodies scattered at the scene and rushed the three injured men including transport truck driver Nattapong Kaewsukham, 21, to Doi Saket Hospital . Their injuries were so critical that they were later transferred to better equipped Nakhon Ping and Lanna hospitals. The deceased were sent to Maharaj Nakhon Chiang Mai Hospital 's forensic department for identification, as some of them didn't carry ID cards.

-- The Nation 2011-06-28

[weary]

Sad, but fully expected.

Overtaking in bends, uphill and other situations where the oncoming traffic is not visible is so common on this route that it is surprising this sort of thing does not happen more often. Maybe that is just because most accidents are not reported in the media?

[cloudhopper]

SSDD in LOS, RIP to another 8.

[LadyHeather]

It seems its often overtaking in dangerous areas that is the cause of many of these accidents, Very sad for the families.

[TheWalkingMan]

8 passengers. Terrible.

TheWalkingMan

[tragickingdom]

I passed the accident when they were salvaging the bodies. Although the truck was on the wrong side of the road, I was under the impression that two of its tires were blown out and it might have become uncontrollable. The truck was in pretty good shape though. The yellow passenger pick up was new too. It came off the road and landed 5 meters or so below near a water stream. It was completely flattened. only the motor was still visible. The people must have been trapped like sardines in a can. The roof had completely collapsed. Fact is that the authorities do not give a dam_n thing. Converted Pick-up trucks are simply not suitable for transporting 15-20 people at a time. The transport Mafia will always oppose decent buses. But micro buses are the way to go.

[trainman34014]

I passed the accident when they were salvaging the bodies. Although the truck was on the wrong side of the road, I was under the impression that two of its tires were blown out and it might have become uncontrollable. The truck was in pretty good shape though. The yellow passenger pick up was new too. It came off the road and landed 5 meters or so below near a water stream. It was completely flattened. only the motor was still visible. The people must have been trapped like sardines in a can. The roof had completely collapsed. Fact is that the authorities do not give a dam_n thing. Converted Pick-up trucks are simply not suitable for transporting 15-20 people at a time. The transport Mafia will always oppose decent buses. But micro buses are the way to go.

You can bet your life that bad driving caused yet another 8 losses of life on the roads of Thailand. . It doesn't matter what type of bus,minibus,micro bus or whatever bus you wish to choose, if they are not driven properly and safely by competant drivers then this sort of thing will always be the outcome. RIP the poor souls who perished and condolences to the bereaved.

[millwall_fan]

One would like to think that this terrible and unnecessary loss of life woud hasten the day when songthaew are consigned to history in favour of a decent regulated bus service and who knows a decent light rail system in the city. We all know the SP - there were at least 11 passengers in this small vehicle, the driver has recieved no training, is probably old enough to have eyesight problems. may have been drinking and is in a hurry to dump one lot of passengers and pick up another lot. Having said that I don't hold out much hope. If you died today it was your karma. Wasn't it?

[Captain_Bob]

That section of highway north of Doi Saket is very accident prone. Seen dozens of cars off the road along those big hills and corners including a bus that flipped upside down and crushed a bunch of teachers a few years ago. Nasty piece of driving.

[bjderb]

I do the run from Chiang Saen to Chiang Mai by green bus at least 4 x a month,its a nitemare ride, some of the buses are so old,they barely make the steep climbs,then on the flat the driver does his Lewis Hamillton impersonation to make up time lost.

Edited June 28, 2011 by bjderb

[warfie]

R.I.P. the deceased... very sad.

Heartfelt condolences to the families and friends.

Comments about the standard of driving which may have caused this tragic incident withheld.

[Throatwobbler]

Was this accident past Doi Saket on the way to Chiang Rai? There was what looked like another big accident this morningBetween Doi saket and Chiang Mai. This one was near Boi Hin market. Were they seperate accidents?

[Seanextra]

Possibly all caused by failing to honk his horn as he passed his temple on the way to work !

[Just1Voice]

Only when the husband, wife, son, daughter of someone important is killed will anyone even THINK of doing something about the driving in Thailand. Until then, it's every man/woman for himself, and "rules of the road" simply don't exist.

[TechnikaIII]

I passed the accident when they were salvaging the bodies. Although the truck was on the wrong side of the road, I was under the impression that two of its tires were blown out and it might have become uncontrollable. The truck was in pretty good shape though. The yellow passenger pick up was new too. It came off the road and landed 5 meters or so below near a water stream. It was completely flattened. only the motor was still visible. The people must have been trapped like sardines in a can. The roof had completely collapsed. Fact is that the authorities do not give a dam_n thing. Converted Pick-up trucks are simply not suitable for transporting 15-20 people at a time. The transport Mafia will always oppose decent buses. But micro buses are the way to go.

"But micro buses are the way to go"

1. Passengers would be just as dead as the unfortunate in this incident. "5 meters or so below? ... completely flattened?"

2. Not when they are screaming along at 140 kph as they do en route from Bkk to my village. Have you ever seen the result of a high speed micro-bus / van crash? Not much left of it I can tell you. And no one walks from it.

The roads should be better marked and signed with speed restrictions, and better policed. .. by police who do serious police work and don't take bribes, and who don't just target farangs.

In Thailand it's all about money, as you may have noticed. Start handing out fines for speeding and confiscating vehicles for multiple offenders, plus imprisonment. A few hard-hit ones will languish in jail, and providing the news media publicise the fact, others may get message, and a few of them may even take note, or better, take heed. The revenue from fines could go towards funding the safety upgrades. Come up with a good strategy and implement it, with commitment..

[Ta22]

over the 10 plus years staying up north i had many time drove up - and recently been going more offen cos my wife love to soak her leg at the hot spring .

totally agree that , it one of the more dangerous Road in thailand . the REAL problem is that Large Tourist Bus & Mini Van . Often speeding cos there feel that their PRO at the road since there had done it so many time ..

Tour bus and mini bus alike . often take Huge risk over taking blindly . one way which i learn to protect myself on this road is to drive slower and also if possible be the following car instead of the leading car .

[rich54321]

Sad state of affairs all round - a lot of grieving families tonight - When will the Highway Police actually be Highway Police instead of taking money for overloaded pickups with Burmese in - bout time they stopped a few more trucks along the way - its crazy on them there roads

VERY SAD!

[swerver]

One would like to think that this terrible and unnecessary loss of life woud hasten the day when songthaew are consigned to history in favour of a decent regulated bus service and who knows a decent light rail system in the city. We all know the SP - there were at least 11 passengers in this small vehicle, the driver has recieved no training, is probably old enough to have eyesight problems. may have been drinking and is in a hurry to dump one lot of passengers and pick up another lot. Having said that I don't hold out much hope. If you died today it was your karma. Wasn't it?

You named the problems and so it goes in LOS.

Let’s take an in-depth look - between Royal Road 7 and highway 331 runs road 3009. Along this connector road 3009 are ±1,000 people employed.

The other day I took at random 10 employees working along road 3009 who drive a motorcycle to work. Of the 10 people, ONLY one (1) had a motorcycle Driver License. Nine did not have a motorcycle Driver License, several did not have registration and for that matter insurance and not having registration means also no Uninsured Motorist Insurance because that is part-and-parcel of the vehicle registration.

All these people are driving motorcycles for anywhere from 10 to 15 year to work along road 3009.

The one having the motorcycle Driver License has been driving to work for the past 10 year not having a motorcycle Driver License. The motorcycle Driver License turned out to be spick-and-spank NEW, only one week old. Why, because a couple weeks ago at five o’clock in the morning three (3) overweight teenagers, drunk, were hauling ass up hill and down dale along road 3009 and during this hauling ass the driver of the overweight load for which the motorcycle is NOT designed lost control and smacked full bore into the back of a truck parked along the side of the road, killed two outright and the third one died in Hospital. This driver with the new license figured there may be one of these Thai Famous Crackdowns checking Driver Licenses. Turned out not to be the case because everything is as usual, trucks, busses, motorcycles hauling ass hundred, hundred twenty KPH and faster over the double YELLOW with hash marks in between the lines – indicating under no circumstance to cross over - full speed head-on with the oncoming traffic.

Since this road 3009 opened as a 4-lane divided road I have seen the Highway Police stopping motorcycles to check – registration and driver license – they became so overwhelmed by the lack of proper paperwork that I guess they decided to throw in the towel and let them kill themselves – like the three teenagers a couple weeks ago. And why shouldn’t they, the other day I warned the father - manager of a section - with a teenage son to slowdown – Him and his son, now he has the heehaws and is pissed at me.

Having seen Thailand progressively go downhill over the past fifty years you still wonder why I have no hope for the place. LOL in LOS

[thailand49]

<p>It isn't the stretch of road it 'sthe individual driver. One of the rule of thumb in truck driving is never overtake going downhill unless there are more than one lane going in your direction. This truck most likely ran on air brakes that is why the tires were blown. As soon as he saw he couldn't make it the normal reaction is to slam on the airbrakes, the plods lock and all he can do is watch his death slow motion with thousand of pounds of cargo behind him pushing vehicle forward slowly to his death along with others. The tires are frozen to the pavement in one spot rubber ripping apart from he rims. <br><br>In the end, a system that has no proper training for drivers, no logistic system to track bad driver history and finally a system that is unwilling to enforce the laws already on the books. I sure someone will again decide to bring up the topic of putting a device to the engine to reduce speeding as the solution. The reason you have these types of accidents is the people at the top don't get it? because they themselves drive the same way! and when people say enforcement is the problem they don't have a clue?</p>

[garyk]

I am a wildlife photographer in thailand. So I am all over Thailand. Now in Fang. Driven that road many times. But will have to say. Although that is a challenging drive I have seen just as many accidents all over Thailand. It is amazing how many trucks i see turned over. It was just a matter of time before this happened.

My heart goes out to the dead and injured. But it will happen again.

Edited June 28, 2011 by garyk

[TechnikaIII]

If the government cared, they could commandeer a certain amount of media space and time, time to bring this to the attention of the Thai public. Sending even as half as much on billboards warning of driving hazards as they do on pictures of, and monuments to, the king, would bring about significant change, together with more draconian measures I have mentioned in previous post

[PhayaoPete]

My condolences goes out to those killed, but the fact is....Thai drivers don't have a lick of sense when it comes to driving safely. Period. It is a white-knuckle drive for me when I have to go to Chiangmai from Phayao. Like previously posted....go slower and by all means don't be put in the lead spot. PP

[meadish_sweetball]

<br />

<br />I passed the accident when they were salvaging the bodies. Although the truck was on the wrong side of the road, I was under the impression that two of its tires were blown out and it might have become uncontrollable. The truck was in pretty good shape though. The yellow passenger pick up was new too. It came off the road and landed 5 meters or so below near a water stream. It was completely flattened. only the motor was still visible. The people must have been trapped like sardines in a can. The roof had completely collapsed. Fact is that the authorities do not give a dam_n thing. Converted Pick-up trucks are simply not suitable for transporting 15-20 people at a time. The transport Mafia will always oppose decent buses. But micro buses are the way to go.<br />

<br /><br />"But micro buses are the way to go"<br /> <br /> 1. Passengers would be just as dead as the unfortunate in this incident. "5 meters or so below? ... completely flattened?"<br /> 2. Not when they are screaming along at 140 kph as they do en route from Bkk to my village. Have you ever seen the result of a high speed micro-bus / van crash? Not much left of it I can tell you. And no one walks from it.<br /> <br /> The roads should be better marked and signed with speed restrictions, and better policed. .. by police who do serious police work and don't take bribes, and who don't just target farangs. <br /> <br /> In Thailand it's all about money, as you may have noticed. Start handing out fines for speeding and confiscating vehicles for multiple offenders, plus imprisonment. A few hard-hit ones will languish in jail, and providing the news media publicise the fact, others may get message, and a few of them may even take note, or better, take heed. The revenue from fines could go towards funding the safety upgrades. Come up with a good strategy and implement it, with commitment..<br />

I don't think signage is the problem.

There are actually plenty of road signs on this stretch of road, many of them stating things in Thai and English, or sometimes only in Thai like 'accident-prone area' and the ever-present 'dangerous curve', 'the road is slippery during rain' and 'use low gear', and there are signs stating conservative speed recommendations for particularly sharp curves. Where overtaking is risky, there are double yellow lines - but just like a previous poster mentioned, what use is that, when the majority do not respect the double line anyway?

A police reform would be great, but I do not have high hopes in that regard.

Police targeting farang over any other group does not seem to be a problem in the CM or CR area at all. On the contrary, whenever I pass check points, the people they stop are overwhelmingly poor locals and hill tribe people.

[sirchai]

One would like to think that this terrible and unnecessary loss of life woud hasten the day when songthaew are consigned to history in favour of a decent regulated bus service and who knows a decent light rail system in the city. We all know the SP - there were at least 11 passengers in this small vehicle, the driver has recieved no training, is probably old enough to have eyesight problems. may have been drinking and is in a hurry to dump one lot of passengers and pick up another lot. Having said that I don't hold out much hope. If you died today it was your karma. Wasn't it?

You named the problems and so it goes in LOS.

Let's take an in-depth look - between Royal Road 7 and highway 331 runs road 3009. Along this connector road 3009 are ±1,000 people employed.

The other day I took at random 10 employees working along road 3009 who drive a motorcycle to work. Of the 10 people, ONLY one (1) had a motorcycle Driver License. Nine did not have a motorcycle Driver License, several did not have registration and for that matter insurance and not having registration means also no Uninsured Motorist Insurance because that is part-and-parcel of the vehicle registration.

All these people are driving motorcycles for anywhere from 10 to 15 year to work along road 3009.

The one having the motorcycle Driver License has been driving to work for the past 10 year not having a motorcycle Driver License. The motorcycle Driver License turned out to be spick-and-spank NEW, only one week old. Why, because a couple weeks ago at five o'clock in the morning three (3) overweight teenagers, drunk, were hauling ass up hill and down dale along road 3009 and during this hauling ass the driver of the overweight load for which the motorcycle is NOT designed lost control and smacked full bore into the back of a truck parked along the side of the road, killed two outright and the third one died in Hospital. This driver with the new license figured there may be one of these Thai Famous Crackdowns checking Driver Licenses. Turned out not to be the case because everything is as usual, trucks, busses, motorcycles hauling ass hundred, hundred twenty KPH and faster over the double YELLOW with hash marks in between the lines indicating under no circumstance to cross over - full speed head-on with the oncoming traffic.

Since this road 3009 opened as a 4-lane divided road I have seen the Highway Police stopping motorcycles to check registration and driver license they became so overwhelmed by the lack of proper paperwork that I guess they decided to throw in the towel and let them kill themselves like the three teenagers a couple weeks ago. And why shouldn't they, the other day I warned the father - manager of a section - with a teenage son to slowdown Him and his son, now he has the heehaws and is pissed at me.

Having seen Thailand progressively go downhill over the past fifty years you still wonder why I have no hope for the place. LOL in LOS

What's your point in poeple who are not holding a drivers' license? Most of the Thais in the North and Northeast don't have one. Do you really think a drivers' license creates better drivers?

It's sad that again some innocent people got killed because of human stupidity. Let them REST IN PEACE. My deepest condolences, what a tragic death......

Edited June 28, 2011 by sirchai

[Dellboy218]

From what I have seen over the past 20 years you would have to teach the Police first! They seem to run red lights with the best of them. Legislation and the enforcing of it aside I think it has to come down to educating the kids. Find someone that is capable (not the teachers) and teach them road safety and common sense starting with bicycles. Licenses are not worth much when you see what it actually entails. Even then some are bought. Teach the kids common sense and self preservation and there might be some hope in the future.

[connda]

This will keep happening until the Thai police decide to actually issue moving citations, especially for violations involving right of way violations.

[asiaworld]

Condolenses to all those perished. But what really makes me sad are all the comments (also in other threads) about speeding ! It is the lack of speed, that creates all these accidents ! Imagine overloaded truck uncapable of doing more than 30-40 km/h overtaking some Moron, that travels even slower ! I have driven over 100,000km in Thailan, and other SEAsian countries, and comparing to Europe it is those idiots doing 30-50km/h in the inner lane of so called highway that are causing most of the accidents.. AFAIK the speed limit on thai roads is NOT 50 km/h or slower.. how many cars are travelling withing 10% of the limit, as they do in Europe ?!?

PS; btw. i am yet to see a speeding bus here, as none of them are capable of exeeding 100km/h .

[Joop50]

It is a very dangerous road, many people are in a hurry and many others drive very very slow. Just as on the ringroads here but on that road.... Thai cut of the curves all the time, not only cars but also trucks and the big VIP-busses pass where I absolutely will not. My condoleances to to the poor people who lost their beloved.

[MrChangers]

and it is so hard to get a drivers licence here......... they can't even park a car in the so called test.

[Beetlejuice]

This is tragic and horrible.

No words can express the sadness of this incident.

What a terrible why to depart this world and waste of life.