Woman Dies, Kids Hurt In Triple Pileup: Chiang Mai

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Woman dies, kids hurt in triple pileup

By Ekkapong Praditpong

The Nation

Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI: -- A kindergarten school van and a Pajero car collided, prompting a passing tour bus to swerve out of the way and crash into a roadside concrete fence in Chiang Mai's Mae Rim district yesterday, resulting in one death and 26 injuries.

Following the accident report at 8.30am, police and rescue workers went to the Ban Muang Pha to find the wrecked van from Waidarun Pattana School in the middle of road with 10 children aged 2-5 crying inside. They took the children to hospital. Several slightly injured Korean tourists in the bus were also taken to hospital while the body of an elderly woman, Wandee Mansawaeng, was found in the car's passenger front seat.

Initial police investigations found the van suddenly emerged from a soi and cut in front of the car, heading towards Mae Taeng district, and they collided violently. The passing tour bus swerved to avoid them and crashed into the concrete fence.

The scene is reported to be notoriously accident-prone as the stretch is known among locals as the "100-corpse" curve. They have been calling for the building of a road island to reduce accident risk.

-- The Nation 2012-02-07

[meatboy]

its not long ago i highlighted the danger to school children on these school buses,looks like another nutter driving.[see how safe are your kids]gen.topics

[alant]

"Initial police investigations found the van suddenly emerged from a soi and cut in front of the car, heading towards Mae Taeng district, and they collided violently. The passing tour bus swerved to avoid them and crashed into the concrete fence." never heard of that before... no wonder it is a notorious road stretch

[virtualtraveller]

Sounds about right, a vehicle pulling out into the traffic without warning or letting approaching vehicles pass. How often do you see this, 'well if I can get my car out in front of yours then everything will be fine and I have right of way, you must slow down'.

[steve187]

R.I.P another fatal accident involving a minibus.

[funcat]

Here are some more photos...http://www.cm108.com/bbb/index.php?/topic/48779-aoioenuoaeuoeeaue-ac-14-aoa-uoa-1-aoa-oeaaeaoaeoacnoe/

This is a very bad section of #107 and I drive through it quite often....always at the maximum driving alert,since anything can happened there...and yes,I go much slower than usual.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Scott
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[Hooters]

"Initial police investigations found the van suddenly emerged from a soi and cut in front of the car, heading towards Mae Taeng district, and they collided violently. The passing tour bus swerved to avoid them and crashed into the concrete fence." never heard of that before... no wonder it is a notorious road stretch

I see this strange phenomenon daily as bikes and Tuk tuks pull into sukhumvit in BKK. There is very little eye contact and a large assumption that the person who actually has the right of way will slow down.

[nikster]

Here are some more photos...http://www.cm108.com/bbb/index.php?/topic/48779-aoioenuoaeuoeeaue-ac-14-aoa-uoa-1-aoa-oeaaeaoaeoacnoe/

This is a very bad section of #107 and I drive through it quite often....always at the maximum driving alert,since anything can happened there...and yes,I go much slower than usual.

Where is that exactly? Is that the area past the samoeng intersection? Two curves and then a market? That always seems dangerous to me as there's some sois, cars stopping (on the highway), people running across the road, etc.... out I didn't see a concrete barrier there such as this bus hit...

Edited February 7, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[funcat]

Here are some more photos...http://www.cm108.com/bbb/index.php?/topic/48779-aoioenuoaeuoeeaue-ac-14-aoa-uoa-1-aoa-oeaaeaoaeoacnoe/

This is a very bad section of #107 and I drive true is quite often....always at the maximum driving alert,since anything can happened there...and yes,I go much slower than usual.

Where is that exactly? Is that the area past the samoeng intersection? Two curves and then a market? That always seems dangerous to me as there's some sois, cars stopping (on the highway), people running across the road, etc.... out I didn't see a concrete barrier there such as this bus hit...

Yes,that's the place and they do call it the "100-corpse" curve for the reason...two sois join the highway right at the one curve and the Homemart,with its warehouse across the street,at the other...+ the very busy Thai market...very deadly combination!

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Mitsubishi, by the way, must also be real proud of their decision to offer their fancy SUV in the Thai market equipped with a single driver's side airbag, and nothing on the passenger side. One of the pictures on cm108 shows that quite clearly.

But hey, that leaves budget for shiny bits of plastic all round and cool wheel rims.

And I'm happy to drive my own kid to school every day, even though it means leaving the house at 7:45am every morning.

[funcat]

Mitsubishi, by the way, must also be real proud of their decision to offer their fancy SUV in the Thai market equipped with a single driver's side airbag, and nothing on the passenger side. One of the pictures on cm108 shows that quite clearly.

But hey, that leaves budget for shiny bits of plastic all round and cool wheel rims.

And I'm happy to drive my own kid to school every day, even though it means leaving the house at 7:45am every morning.

You got a point here,but they do have seat belts...I always(!!) have to remind everybody in the car to fasten the seat belts,as this is not that obvious here...

...and unfortunately this is the route that my kids go to school in the mini bus...

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Mitsubishi, by the way, must also be real proud of their decision to offer their fancy SUV in the Thai market equipped with a single driver's side airbag, and nothing on the passenger side. One of the pictures on cm108 shows that quite clearly.

But hey, that leaves budget for shiny bits of plastic all round and cool wheel rims.

And I'm happy to drive my own kid to school every day, even though it means leaving the house at 7:45am every morning.

You got a point here,but they do have seat belts...I always(!!) have to remind everybody in the car to fasten the seat belts,as this is not that obvious here...

...and unfortunately this is the route that my kids go to school in the mini bus...

Would you consider driving them yourself, or team up one or two parents living in the same area (who are responsible drivers) and take turns driving kids to school?

[funcat]

Mitsubishi, by the way, must also be real proud of their decision to offer their fancy SUV in the Thai market equipped with a single driver's side airbag, and nothing on the passenger side. One of the pictures on cm108 shows that quite clearly.

But hey, that leaves budget for shiny bits of plastic all round and cool wheel rims.

And I'm happy to drive my own kid to school every day, even though it means leaving the house at 7:45am every morning.

You got a point here,but they do have seat belts...I always(!!) have to remind everybody in the car to fasten the seat belts,as this is not that obvious here...

...and unfortunately this is the route that my kids go to school in the mini bus...

Would you consider driving them yourself, or team up one or two parents living in the same area (who are responsible drivers) and take turns driving kids to school?

I wished...altogether we have 4 kids in 3 different schools...that will be a full time job

...but back to the topic,I went past the site today and still can't figure it out how this all happened...for sure the guy driving those kids should be blamed and his nuts cut off...one can actually see the traffic approaching on both sides,you just have to be patient and wait for the right moment...and not trying to cut in front of the big bus!!...or use the alternate route out (and yes,there is another soi,just a little longer to drive)...

[MESmith]

Heading north up hwy 11, superhighway, south of the city, this afternoon to pick my son up from school, it was business as usual - "Wacky Races" as folk attempt to gain one place in the outside lane & arrive at their destination a few seconds earlier. IMHO, it wont change until our kid's generation grows up....