4 Young Swedes, 1 Thai Dead In Horror Smash Near Phuket

[Commentor]

They are all so young. The driver must be apprehended soon and put behind bar for a long time.

RIP.

[balo]

I see its big headline news in the Scandinavian newspapers today .

I think it will be better for any tourists coming here to think twice before they drive on the roads here.

I would prefer to take the bus instead , at least you have a better chance to survive in an accident....

If you're not being ironic which I suspect you aren't, you need to check out the safety record of a typical Thai bus company.

The safety record is maybe not great , but in an accident like this you will have a better chance than in a car.

I always pick one of the seats back of the bus. No guarantees but I feel safer.

[oldsailor35]

Condolences to family and friends.

It really is high time that ALL drivers fleeing the scene following ANY accident, regardless of death, damage or injury should be sought and a prison sentence automatically imposed along with any other penalties they may incur as a result of the accident.

Yeah Nick quite correct , the penalty you mention should be automatic ,same as drinking and driving in the UK ,hardly a day goes by that we read of "accidents" on Thailand,s roads ,the laws are only as good as the police who are paid to enforce them , for Instance as no doubt you are well aware the so called one way system near to Prakonchai Market, its a complete and utter joke!.

Do they have cars in Prakchon Chai Colin ? Buffalo's i am sure but cars ?

[personchester]

'Takua Thung District Police are now hunting the driver, who fled the scene.'

what a shock, that never happens

The Fish Transport Firm will obviously disclose the "drivers" name to the police, and they will no doubt find him in due course, the rest is up to the law.

[oldsailor35]

Condolences to family and friends.

It really is high time that ALL drivers fleeing the scene following ANY accident, regardless of death, damage or injury should be sought and a prison sentence automatically imposed along with any other penalties they may incur as a result of the accident.

Time for Thai law to allow the owners of these vehicles to be held accountable. I am in now way condoning the actions of the driver but these guys on meagre salaries are under undue pressure to meet unrealistic time-lines. If goods are not delivered on time they don't get paid. To meet these deadlines the exceed speed-limits, drive carelessly often consuming red bull or drugs to keep themselves awake. A recipe for disaster.

Can the Swedish families pursue a 'civil case' in Thai courts????

Of course they can. They need a very good lawyer and a lot of money for him, I'm talking maybe 500,000 THB. Two years down the track of numerous court hearings involving the attendance of the families they will hear lots of lies and excuses from the defendant and the judge telling them that the defendant has no money. Maybe they can get up to 50,000 THB per victim from the Public Liability insurance though. That of course providing there is any left after involvement of the local agents/lawyers.

Did'nt they have travel insurance ?

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

[goodguy]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

[transam]

As I said before, ANY farang coming here for hols, DRIVE your OWN car as you have been taught the fundamental stuff to be safe (ish) Thais have not.

[housepainter]

And tomorrow there will be another one ........................ and another one ........................... and yet another one.

It just goes on and on.

Why?

No driving test, no law enforcement.

The place is lethal.

An absolute waste of life, tragically young and all compounded by the thai driver who run away. Like children. Flee from responsibility. What a response. There is no explanation for it other than when faced with responsibility Thais run. It wasn't as if this was Sweden and the Thai man would be badly treated in response.

This is Thailand.

Tragic but to be expected.

This road carnage never ends. All of us witness appalling driving on Thai roads to the degree where we see it as a norm. We do not expect standards of the West to apply here. But we see beggars belief.

You can do whatever you want without interference from anyone; including the law. The sight of wrong way against the traffic incidents is numerous. The over laden trucks as well as motorcycles is legendary.

There are a million laws and yet none are ever enforced.

Basket case country.

It is Thursday. Next week we'll have moved on to the next road carnage.

Very sad, dear dear, never again, something must be done etc etc: spare me. Thais don't care enough.

You are mad to think you can enjoy normal holiday pass times in a morally bereft, backward country.

Life is cheap and foreign life is worthless.

Remember that.

Next.

[ajarnmarc]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

[slim]

No doubt the driver will be caught, fined, and released to kill again.

He'll absolve himself of blame and go to temple and maybe put a 100 baht note in the collection box like a good Buddhist.

So which Thai driver was responsible for the accident?

The truck or the dead taxi driver?

We have no information in the above article.

No doubt the driver will be caught, fined, and released to kill again.

He'll absolve himself of blame and go to temple and maybe put a 100 baht note in the collection box like a good Buddhist.

So which Thai driver was responsible for the accident?

The truck or the dead taxi driver?

We have no information in the above article.

Which Thai driver was responsible? ...........Hmmmmmmmmmmm - let me think - the Thai who fled the scene possibly?

[walkertalker]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

WHAT ?

[z12]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

It is a divided road with 2 lanes on each side, 2 going north, 2 going south, the only overtaking would be going thsame direction as it is a bit difficult to cross the divide into the opposite 2 lanes to overtake anybody. It appears the truck, for what ever reason or cause, crossed the divide and came into the north bound traffick. Maybe he had equipment failure, a heart attack, lost control, what ever. But that is what it appears to be. They have not reported if the truck driver was thai or something else, they may know from the trucks owner, but they have not said that I know of.

Edited February 2, 2012 by z12

[personchester]

Thailand roads are not safe.

I repeat for the white people looking to visit here - Thailand roads are not safe.

Every single road in the Kingdom is crazy dangerous. I risk my life driving my car 15 minutes to Macro. At least 10 speeding pickup trucks, buses, or 10-wheelers fly past me on every trip (at 130-150km+).

Thailand roads are not safe.

Agreed! I spent the last 2 years behind the wheel while living outside of Bangkok and I eventually lost count of the near death experiences I narrowly escaped. Most of the time it was the commercial vehicles (buses, trucks, and vans) I had to watch out for as the majority of the drivers operate their vehicles like they were in Formula One.

Not F1.drivers, they are efficiently and fantastically in control of their cars, the main road accidents here in Thailand are caused by drivers that are either drunk, have a hang-over, dosing off, speaking on their mobile phone, or watching their dashboard TV. etc etc ... ...

Some drivers drive too fast, others to slow, those that drive slow are often too slow, and also driving slow in the fast lanes, as a result drivers behind them are getting in a bad temper, so they have to over-take them, often during continuous on-coming opposing traffic on the other lane, and that is the danger of deadly frontal accidents.

Generally speaking the majority of Thai drivers have no highway code knowledge at all, and drive their cars like bikes in farm villages, traffic-wise, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[dsprtliving]

Thailand roads are not safe.

I repeat for the white people looking to visit here - Thailand roads are not safe.

Every single road in the Kingdom is crazy dangerous. I risk my life driving my car 15 minutes to Macro. At least 10 speeding pickup trucks, buses, or 10-wheelers fly past me on every trip (at 130-150km+).

Thailand roads are not safe.

Agreed! I spent the last 2 years behind the wheel while living outside of Bangkok and I eventually lost count of the near death experiences I narrowly escaped. Most of the time it was the commercial vehicles (buses, trucks, and vans) I had to watch out for as the majority of the drivers operate their vehicles like they were in Formula One.

Not F1.drivers, they are efficiently and fantastically in control of their cars, the main road accidents here in Thailand are caused by drivers that are either drunk, have a hang-over, dosing off, speaking on their mobile phone, or watching their dashboard TV. etc etc ... ...

Some drivers drive too fast, others to slow, those that drive slow are often too slow, and also driving slow in the fast lanes, as a result drivers behind them are getting in a bad temper, so they have to over-take them, often during continuous on-coming opposing traffic on the other lane, and that is the danger of deadly frontal accidents.

Generally speaking the majority of Thai drivers have no highway code knowledge at all, and drive their cars like bikes in farm villages, traffic-wise, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Agree 100%...I actually think the comparison to Pod racing in Star Wars is way more accurate.

[Colin Yai]

Condolences to family and friends.

It really is high time that ALL drivers fleeing the scene following ANY accident, regardless of death, damage or injury should be sought and a prison sentence automatically imposed along with any other penalties they may incur as a result of the accident.

Yeah Nick quite correct , the penalty you mention should be automatic ,same as drinking and driving in the UK ,hardly a day goes by that we read of "accidents" on Thailand,s roads ,the laws are only as good as the police who are paid to enforce them , for Instance as no doubt you are well aware the so called one way system near to Prakonchai Market, its a complete and utter joke!.

Do they have cars in Prakchon Chai Colin ? Buffalo's i am sure but cars ?

I always did like a keen sense of humour , as I have one too, yeah they have just about heard of the wheel there in darkest Prakon , It ain't such a bad old place ya know,Coffee corner near the bus station sells good food too, but getting there in the rush hour is often a nightmare due to complete lack of lane discipline and seen a few pile ups ,thankfully nothing as bad as what happened to these poor young souls in Phuket ,what can any one really say apart from "predictable" what a terrible waste of young lives,So sad ,so sad.

[Yeppe]

In Thailand there are crazy penalties (especially for farangs) when traffic accidents happens. So better escape. Here in Scandinavia proplem comes only if you escape. Here you don´t need to pay million Bahts so that´s why we don´t need to escape....But when Farangs cause accident that farang is doomed to life time + have to pay millions....If Thai causes taht he gets a lot less penalty - fair as usually. These kind of accidents keep happening all the time due to their Kamikaze driving style sad but true.

[transam]

Condolences to family and friends.

It really is high time that ALL drivers fleeing the scene following ANY accident, regardless of death, damage or injury should be sought and a prison sentence automatically imposed along with any other penalties they may incur as a result of the accident.

Yeah Nick quite correct , the penalty you mention should be automatic ,same as drinking and driving in the UK ,hardly a day goes by that we read of "accidents" on Thailand,s roads ,the laws are only as good as the police who are paid to enforce them , for Instance as no doubt you are well aware the so called one way system near to Prakonchai Market, its a complete and utter joke!.

Do they have cars in Prakchon Chai Colin ? Buffalo's i am sure but cars ?

I always did like a keen sense of humour , as I have one too, yeah they have just about heard of the wheel there in darkest Prakon , It ain't such a bad old place ya know,Coffee corner near the bus station sells good food too, but getting there in the rush hour is often a nightmare due to complete lack of lane discipline and seen a few pile ups ,thankfully nothing as bad as what happened to these poor young souls in Phuket ,what can any one really say apart from "predictable" what a terrible waste of young lives,So sad ,so sad.

BUT, it makes all farang wonder WHY Thais have NO respect for their or others lives. Thought about it a lot and have no conclusion.

[goodguy]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

WHAT ?

Yeah, what the heck do you mean?

[prakhonchai nick]

The driver who fled the scene was an employee of the refrigerated truck company. They must know who he was, and must initially be held responsible. Was there insurance on the vehicle?

If he had no driving licence, then the employers share the giuilt and fesponsibility for the accident.

As said earlier, anyone fleeing the scene of any accident should automatically suffer severe punishment, even if there are no injuries. It is a crime in itself.

[wolf5370]

sincerest condolences to the families of the victims.

but yet another senseless tradgedy caused by irresponsible driving. so commonplace in Thailand that it's hardly news anymore.

"the driver fled the scene". nothing new about that. that's standard practice. Where I'm from that would result in two things: 1) Carges of vehicular manslaughter. 2) Fleeing the scene of an accident involving death. The driver WOULD be found and, and most likely spend a minimum of 20 years in prison.

But TIT where "responsibility" is unheard of, and even if the driver feels "remorse" and turns himself in, very little will happen to him.

You might think that where you are from justice would be served and nobody flees because the people are so responsible but I think you'll find that life isn't so perfect. My personal experience of hit and run goes like this:

Crossing the well lit city centre road late one night with my 21 year old female friend

Speeding car blows a red light and hits us both dead centre.

Driver stops the car looks back then flees the scene. Friend scratches the plate number on a curbstone before car leaves.

Police inform that they have located driver who had been drinking. Police say that Forensic experts have sufficient evidence to charge driver with causing death by reckless driving as driver was DUI at the time of accident. Such a charge normally results in jail time they say

24 hours later friend is taken off life support and dies. I am a lucky survivor but injuries result in 6 months of work, 1 year of physiotherapy and no more sports ever!

End result. DUI and "causing death" charges against driver are dropped. He is charged with driving without due care and attention and failing to stop and report an accident gets 6 points on his license and walks out of court laughing ( no kidding).

Where did all this take place? Thailand? No Philppines? No. UK? Yes How did the driver manage to get off? His father had a good connection to the Police Chief in the area where the accident occured. The connection was that they were both Freemasons. There is no corruption in UK ha! Just join the FM and your new friends will take care of you. There is plenty of incentive to flee an accident if you are drunk. If you refuse a breath or blood test you are automatically convicted of DUI but if you flee you get off with a couple of points and a fine. I have to rely on Karma for my justice!!

when driving in India I recall that the police recommended not stopping at road accidents involving pedestrians in rural areas to avoid on the spot lynch mobs. They recommend driving to the next town and reporting to the police station

Sorry I don't believe this - unless it was 30+ years ago or something. It is not the police who decide to prosecute in the UK it is the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service). With evidence it would be extremely difficult for a police office, whatever rank, to quosh it. The arresting officer would simply say no and go ahead with the charges - especially so if s/he was in another police region/service. If it got as far as blood tests and forensic investigation, there would be records that are indelible, so a senior officer would be chancing his career by trying to get someone off. The only way this could happen is if the evidence was not as you say, or was corrupted, and thus inadmissable. However, the DUI would still result in an immediate year ban - not just 6 points - unless the police officer had sway over judiciary too (which I doubt even more).

The UK is not Thailand, there are swings and balances that protect against such things. The process is completely computerised and in several places with their own independant staff (Police systems, court systems, CPS systems, etc). Once the police officer filed his/her report, then it is not a case (like in the 70's) of calling in a favour and having the paperwork lost - reports on the network can not be deleted, but only archived (after they have been officially closed). I have experience of the police systems in the UK.

There is no "vehicular manslaughter" anymore, and there is no "causing death by reckless driving as driver was DUI", there is "causing death by driving when under the influence of alcohol or drugs" which (since 2004) carries a maximum of 14 years imprisonment. This has been under review since 2010, however, to lower the limit of units per 100ml of blood (almost halving it to 50mg from 80mg) and increase police powers and repeat offender penalties.

My father had a friend in the UK that was run down by a police car. The police car mounted the kerb and hit a pedestrian railing and crushed the guy underneath it. He died on his way to hospital. The next morning the railing had been replaced by the council (fastest job ever) and the police driver had tried to say that he had been staggering drunk in the road. It was investigated and paperwork was found and the officer was fired from his job. He had not been drunk, just misshandled a corner whilst reacting to a call - he was fired for the attempt to cover it up. The police paid out almost a millioj pounds in damages - the biggest payout by the police ever at the time - this was back in 1978 - before networked computers were in police use, but paperwork was still found and an investigation was still carried out. The big payout was due to the fact that it could not have been the lowly copper that got the council to speed fix the railing, it must have come from someone higher up - that person was never, to my knowledge, found, but the police was ordered to pay regardless. Incidently my dad's friend left a 5 year old son and a young wife behind.

[Dap]

So young, so tragic. RIP

[animatic]

Sounds like a typical over pass overtake, where the thai just assumed the other car would get out of the way.

Happens all the time in Koh Samui, and it's a daily scare if you don't keep your eye on the road,

and move out of the way quickly. Since thai's hate to face responsibilty for their mistakes, it's not to surprising that the driver fled. All the passanger were young and had a whole life ahead of them, it really is a shame for their families, and if this was a local thai accident, all hell would break loose for their loss.

Very sad indeed for the tourist.

Sorry, what do you mean by "over pass overtake"?

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

It is a divided road with 2 lanes on each side, 2 going north, 2 going south, the only overtaking would be going thsame direction as it is a bit difficult to cross the divide into the opposite 2 lanes to overtake anybody. It appears the truck, for what ever reason or cause, crossed the divide and came into the north bound traffick. Maybe he had equipment failure, a heart attack, lost control, what ever. But that is what it appears to be. They have not reported if the truck driver was thai or something else, they may know from the trucks owner, but they have not said that I know of.

You can see from the pictures this was a two lane road.

Truck pretty clearly was overtaking another car,

came into the other lane to pass and took out the car.

Probably because the Thai car driver looked away for

just that split second too long to get out of the way in time.

[moskito]

I see its big headline news in the Scandinavian newspapers today .

I think it will be better for any tourists coming here to think twice before they drive on the roads here.

I would prefer to take the bus instead , at least you have a better chance to survive in an accident....

yeah, sure, the bus. We all know how safe busses and much safer mini busses in Thailand are. A good public transportsystem should

solve most of the problems....but there is a thing called Tuk Tuk and Masters of all wheels Mafia in front of it.... WHY Phuket doesnt have

a train connection to Suratani for example??? From Surat its easy to go to Bangkok or to the South...not so fast as a plane but at least

safer as EVERY Bus and wheeltransportation in LoS

[12DrinkMore]

How is it the Thai drivers almost always live and are able to flee, while most everyone else in the accident dies? That honestly is incredible.

Could it be because they are drunk? I do know many drunk drivers live because they are more relaxed and limber which sometimes allows them to survive such crashes. That would also make sense as to why they flee, to sober up.

What a rubbish post.

One Thai driver dies in this accident, so 50% of the Thai drivers involved lost their lives.

Maybe you are suggesting that we should all be totally pissed before even getting into or onto our vehicles in order to increase out survival chances?

[OccamsRazor]

You can see from the pictures this was a two lane road.

What I see is a road with a grass divider between two lanes each way. Look at the larger image and you can see a car stopped on the upper road next to the grass. Which means the truck either by mechanical failure, sleep, or whatever came across the median into the other traffic lanes. Other members have also stated that to be the case. Click to enlarge image.

Edited February 2, 2012 by OccamsRazor

[TAWP]

What would have been the outcome if the truck driver had been a Swedish farang and the car passengers Thai.

There wouldn't have been an accident then. Or the driver would have stayed around.

[12DrinkMore]

Which Thai driver was responsible? ...........Hmmmmmmmmmmm - let me think - the Thai who fled the scene possibly?

Neither you nor I know the answer to that.

Innocent until proven guilty is the rule, the other Thai driver was in no position to flee the scene.

[TAWP]

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

Can anyone translate this English teachers post?

[12DrinkMore]

Another car trying to pass are a car going slower,

or safely due to the conditions. That is over pass overtake.

Can anyone translate this English teachers post?

Sorry, but that bunch of English words has not been constructed in a way that makes sense to me.

Pity about the students, eh?