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

[soi41]

Sad indeed. But also sad to see all the barstool-judges around here. You don't know what happened, but you are all ready to put the blame on the truckdriver. What about an unexperienced Swedish driver, new driverslicence, rental car and driving (for a Swede) on the wrong side of the road ?? OR

a Thai driver in the Swedes car, trying to impress the young ladies ??

[newermonkey]

A tragic loss of life.

FYI. I live in a small village on the coast south of Pattaya, every day seafood truck drivers drive like absolute maniacks down our small soy on thair way to supply the several seafood restaurants near the beach. The soy is also near to several schools so quite a lot of kids walking and playing in the soy, this does not however slow the trucks as they drive "flat-out" to deliver the produce.

I have also encountered these maniac fish truck drivers on the sukhumvit road in the area when driving to work.

The police of course are useless regarding this subject and it would no doubt bring me much greif and would end up being a target if I were to report them.

[geriatrickid]

Heartbreaking. Reading the ages is painful. My heart goes out to their parents, family and friends.I hate these threads.

[stevenl]

kbb thats not true, most are hidden.

This week ive seen 4 dead/severly injured motorbike vs car accident

none reported in thai newspaper/english newspaper

in fact 2 days ago was just in front of my house next to a massive speedbump. guy for sure lost a leg if not worse

Not reported does not mean hidden, they will show up in the statistics.

Agree with you though, to me it looks like after a period of declining number of casualties this year so far it seems to be on the rise again.

RIP to the victims of this accident.

Edited February 2, 2012 by stevenl

[meatboy]

Another tragedy, more griefstricken families thousands of miles away. Could have happened in any country but so sad anyway.

R.I.P. and condolences to all the families and friends.

just about to buy a car after 28years but what i am reading every day scares the sh-t out of me,untill drivers and the co's that employ them when the driver doe's a runner are given life sentences nothing will change.and yes it could have happened in any country but do the drivers flee the scene.for all us expats what our families must think back home why we are living here is behond me.r.i.p.

[ja99]

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..condolences to all families of the victims here. I was thinking of riding across to Samui from Phuket, however these incidents put me off. Far safer to fly.

[softgeorge]

"The driver of the fish transport truck fled the scene after the accident"

Seems to be the standard practice in Thailand if you are involved in a serious motor vehicle collision. Hit the frog and toad as fast as possible and let the injured and dying fend for themselves. lay low for a couple of days until things cool down, get a couple of baht for the victims families to pay them off and all is forgotten.

Personally these type of people make me sick.

My condolences to the families.

[josephinebloggs]

"...Police are now hunting the driver, who fled the scene."

It seems this is true in the majority of tragic motorway accidents. And 99% of the time the driver is found, usually within a few hours. Why do they do it? It's a mystery to me.

1 ) Because they don't like taking responsibilty for their actions

2 ) It could invariably involve paying some form of compensation.

Edited February 2, 2012 by josephinebloggs

[meatboy]

Sad indeed. But also sad to see all the barstool-judges around here. You don't know what happened, but you are all ready to put the blame on the truckdriver. What about an unexperienced Swedish driver, new driverslicence, rental car and driving (for a Swede) on the wrong side of the road ?? OR

a Thai driver in the Swedes car, trying to impress the young ladies ??

you need to read the report,thai driver and a rented car.

[GeorgeO]

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.

No doubt if he does turm himself in, it will only be after all traces of alcohol or yabba have left his system.

[Soupdragon]

"...Police are now hunting the driver, who fled the scene."

It seems this is true in the majority of tragic motorway accidents. And 99% of the time the driver is found, usually within a few hours. Why do they do it? It's a mystery to me.

1 ) Because they don't like taking responsibilty for their actions

2 ) It could invariably involve paying some form of compensation.

They also fear the immediate reprisals of witnesses who may take things into their own hands and beat them up.

[catmac]

Sad indeed. But also sad to see all the barstool-judges around here. You don't know what happened, but you are all ready to put the blame on the truckdriver. What about an unexperienced Swedish driver, new driverslicence, rental car and driving (for a Swede) on the wrong side of the road ?? OR

a Thai driver in the Swedes car, trying to impress the young ladies ??

Well done, Sir. I was waiting for the first poster to try to shift the blame onto the victims, even if you have to fabricate the evidence to suggest that the car might have been driven by one of the Swedes!

[chanx9]

just come back from phuket..now reading this this story..

RIP..

Peace, Prayers and Blessings

[MrBrad]

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

what a shock, that never happens

Just another chicken-shit professional driver. We have yet to read a report where the driver remained on the scene even though he wasn't dead. Disgraceful and cowardly.

[katabeachbum]

kbb thats not true, most are hidden.

This week ive seen 4 dead/severly injured motorbike vs car accident

none reported in thai newspaper/english newspaper

in fact 2 days ago was just in front of my house next to a massive speedbump. guy for sure lost a leg if not worse

there are two sets of stats on road casualties

Vachira Morge

Police

they are very similar

agree most are not in media, but according to above stats, road casualties are 1/3 of what they where 10 years ago

[katabeachbum]

Another tragedy, more griefstricken families thousands of miles away. Could have happened in any country but so sad anyway.

R.I.P. and condolences to all the families and friends.

just about to buy a car after 28years but what i am reading every day scares the sh-t out of me,untill drivers and the co's that employ them when the driver doe's a runner are given life sentences nothing will change.and yes it could have happened in any country but do the drivers flee the scene.for all us expats what our families must think back home why we are living here is behond me.r.i.p.

I love to live here, I love to drive here, and I have been driving +480.000km on Th roads, ad the miles as passenger

[parmo1]

Sorry for these people in this tragedy.

Thailand is a third world country, you cannot expect it to have the same standards as in the west

[StasD]

RIP. I was hit here by truck, i was fully in blood, the driver of track ran away no any excuses.

[stevenl]

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

what a shock, that never happens

Just another chicken-shit professional driver. We have yet to read a report where the driver remained on the scene even though he wasn't dead. Disgraceful and cowardly.

Than you'd better read more. Fleeing happens often, but just as often they stay on the scene, just read the reports. Not if they're high on something though, what I would guess is the case here.

[katabeachbum]

Sad indeed. But also sad to see all the barstool-judges around here. You don't know what happened, but you are all ready to put the blame on the truckdriver. What about an unexperienced Swedish driver, new driverslicence, rental car and driving (for a Swede) on the wrong side of the road ?? OR

a Thai driver in the Swedes car, trying to impress the young ladies ??

you need to read the report,thai driver and a rented car.

rented car?

its an illegal taxi, also called black taxi, they paid 5000 baht to be taken to Chumporn, by a driver from Isarn 1300km away

Judging by photos car is like 5 years old, and as an illegal black taxi it has never been inspected for road safety, while legal taxis are inspected every 6 months. In addition, as these drivers are operating illegally anyway, anyone seen his drivers licence?

[Rionoir]

It was a rental car with a driver, not a taxi... what exactly are you implying in your post? I don't think I even want to know...

Anyway, why is everyone focusing only on penalties for killing someone here... if this country actual had/enforced any road rules, maybe they could prevent these types of things from happening so frequently. Has anyone ever seen someone get pulled over for passing unsafely? Speeding? Jesus it's as if every lane of highway is treated as 2 lanes of highway automatically - semi truck coming? No problem, there's actually 3 lanes here, just ignore the lines, they're wrong. And it's the busses and "professional" drivers that are the worst offenders. I stopped taking the minivan to the border - the driver was ridiculously careless... I wouldn't be surprised if he and 13 other people are dead by now. Good lord, I was behind a CEMENT TRUCK going through the hills in Koh Samui once and was scared for the lives of the people driving the rental car in front of him... he was driving as if he was on a motorcycle. He must've been 2 feet off of their tail, and his brakes sounded as if they would fail at any moment. If police would actually see these things and write out some tickets for some serious cash (and I don't mean fine them 100 baht under the table and look the other way *puke*), maybe, just maybe, some of these people would think twice before risking everyone else's lives so they can maybe get in one extra trip in the day.

When will people in this country realize what a joke it is and start to take action, instead of defending it and fooling themselves into thinking that this is how it is "everywhere"?

[mortenaa]

just about to buy a car after 28years but what i am reading every day scares the sh-t out of me,untill drivers and the co's that employ them when the driver doe's a runner are given life sentences nothing will change.and yes it could have happened in any country but do the drivers flee the scene.for all us expats what our families must think back home why we are living here is behond me.r.i.p.

There are several thousand traffic deaths in every country every year (except less dense countries like Norway, Sweden etc). I have been driving here for 5 years now, without a scratch. But it does challenge you as a driver more than back home. That means eyes on the road all the time!

RIP..

[Estrada]

From the pics it look like the truck was on driving on the wrong side... very sad...

Try looking at the photo correctly. Thailand drives on the left. The photo clearly shows that the truck was driving on the correct side of the road when it skidded during the collision. It looks more like the Swede's car was overtaking in the opposite direction and the fish lorry driver had to take evasive action to avoid a full on collision.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Estrada

[ratcatcher]

"The driver of the fish transport truck fled the scene after the accident"

Seems to be the standard practice in Thailand if you are involved in a serious motor vehicle collision. Hit the frog and toad as fast as possible and let the injured and dying fend for themselves. lay low for a couple of days until things cool down, get a couple of baht for the victims families to pay them off and all is forgotten.

Personally these type of people make me sick.

My condolences to the families.

Tragically, the driver who fled the scene did not run over three old ladies selling som tam and gai yang at the side of the road.

He wiped out five lives and four of them were young Swedish citizens. I expect there to be lawsuits, but how far they get even with the embassy's assistance is anybody's guess.

Certainly the seafood shipper who owned the truck must bear some responsibility for the employees actions. Maybe they even had insurance, now there's a possibility.

[translatorium]

Sad story. Some Thai roads are dangerous third world country places, mainly because of drivers and vehicles. Remote heavy transport routes can be very dangerous. Try driving safely within city limits with limited traffic or never assume the guy will get out of the road, drive in a good vehicle and don't assume people will stay anywhere within speed limits and choose the correct lane at any or no expense, have a fully working car/truck etc. It's not a place to bargain with security, even though it can seem cheap. But as money comes into Thailand, they can afford to weed out all the old usafe trucks that drive too fast with safer ones. It used to be worse, and it will get better.

[katabeachbum]

It was a rental car with a driver, not a taxi... what exactly are you implying in your post? I don't think I even want to know...

according to the place they stayed at in Patong they where offered a minivan at 6.000 baht, but chose this private car at 5.000 baht. Driver has been ID based on his ID card, not his DL.

a rentalcar would have a rentalagreement, and would cost 1500 baht

Not implying anything, trying to gather some facts to find how to avoid accidents as these

[katabeachbum]

From the pics it look like the truck was on driving on the wrong side... very sad...

Try looking at the photo correctly. Thailand drives on the left. The photo clearly shows that the truck was driving on the correct side of the road when it skidded during the collision. It looks more like the Swede's car was overtaking in the opposite direction and the fish lorry driver had to take evasive action to avoid a full on collision.

Its a dual lane road, each direction separated by a lawn

[stevenl]

It was a rental car with a driver, not a taxi...

Thanks for the definition of a taxi, a rented car with a driver.

[softgeorge]

looking at the pics it appears that the front end suspension and steering has come away from the truck. Not a very common occurance in these types of accidents unless there was a combination of speed and an unroadworthy vehicle. No before people jump on me I am not a mechanic or claim to be, but I have attended and investigated my share of vehicle collisions. I am sure that the BIB will have thier specialist mechanics conduct a full and thorough mechanical inspection of both vehicles and thier major collision experts will determine what speed each vehicle was doing at the time prior to and on impact.

[bprinceuk]

such another tragic loss of another five young lifes, R.I.P and condolences to the 5 families and friends