Phuket Tour Buses: Two Hurt In Yet Another Crash

[webfact]

Phuket tour buses: Two hurt in yet another crash

Phuket Gazette

The bus finally came to rest when it hit a townhouse at the end of the small soi, located just off one of Phuket's most dangerous intersections.

A view of the junction of Phra Barami Road and Pisit Gorani Road at the base of Patong Hill, where many serious tour bus accidents have occurred over the years.

PHUKET: -- Another Phuket tour bus, this time carrying a group of Chinese tourists, crashed at the base of Patong Hill last night, injuring two people and causing extensive property damage.

The single deck bus was carrying about 18 tourists when its braking system failed coming down Phra Barami Road, near Suwankiriwong Temple, at about 7pm.

The bus continued straight along Pisit Gorani Rd and then, unable to negotiate the sharp corner there, continued down a side soi where It damaged part of the MP Hotel, a pickup truck, utility poles and a motorbike before plowing into a townhouse and finally coming to rest.

One female Chinese passenger on the bus was sent to Patong Hospital for evaluation after exhibiting signs of shock.

The only other injury was to 26-year-old motorbike driver New Datewan, who suffered a minor laceration to his right leg. He was treated at Patong Hospital as an out-patient.

Sorn Sarasit, a 43-year-old security guard at the MP Hotel who witnessed the accident, said the bus came down the hill very fast, making it impossible to negotiate the curve.

The driver, identified only as "Udom", fled the scene after the accident, a common practice in Phuket.

Police will likely contact his employers at Trans Pleasure Co Ltd, which ran the bus with the name “Classic Tour” on it, a reliable source said. The coach also had the name Somchai Intrawong painted in Thai on it.

An insurance agent gave a rough assessment of the damage, putting it at about 200,000 baht.

The Chinese tourists were put into vans at about 9pm and sent to Phuket Airport in order to catch their return flight home, which was scheduled for 3 am today.

The crash was the latest in a series of similar accidents that have recently occurred in the same area, some of them fatal and most attributed to "brake failure".

For dramatic CCTV images of the accident that show how a quick-thinking and brave Thai lady saves a toddler from being run over by the bus:

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle12251.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-02-09

[monty1412]

Police will likely contact his employer.............

Yes and the sun will come up in the morning too.... great journalism again....

If brakes fail then why feel the scene....

Video is pretty graphic he was moving very fast ..

Udom may not be doing allot of bus trips in future.. then again with Phuket BiB he could just as likely be back on road tomorrow.

[laurentbkk]

And the driver again fled the scene .... WOW what a courage Thai drivers have ..... impossible to face their responsabilities .... maybe he didnt even have a driving license . Will we have that kind of news everyday ? It seems truck , car or buses accident are a daily practise in Phuket..... that comfort me in the idea to AVOID phuket more and more .

[LivinginKata]

Exceptional video clip. Not often you catch an accident 'live' on camera.

[chiang mai]

And the driver again fled the scene .... WOW what a courage Thai drivers have ..... impossible to face their responsabilities .... maybe he didnt even have a driving license . Will we have that kind of news everyday ? It seems truck , car or buses accident are a daily practise in Phuket..... that comfort me in the idea to AVOID phuket more and more .

I don't think you understand: drivers here flee the scene of accidents because they fear/risk the mob mentality of relatives/friends of people who have been hurt/killed, the thinking is that it's better to turn yourself in at a police station later and have to say I agree. I have witnessed two accidents where people have turned on the driver of one of the vehicles and it was very ugly..

[LadyinRed]

scary video! That bus really was going too fast to negotiate that curve - luckily no one was hurt or killed!

[Scott]

Chaing Mai, I have to agree with you. The mob mentality is very brutal. I don't condone fleeing the scene, but I also witnessed a pickup filled with people that hit a car. The guys in the pickup beat the poor car driver half to death.

The accident was caused completely by the pickup, by the way.

[Valentine]

He was going too fast because he had no brakes. Mechanical failure on heavy vehicles plying our roads is all far too common, often with tragic consequences. Lucky there were no serious casualties as within a second or two the bus would have wiped out a motorbike or pickup.

[LivinginKata]

And the driver again fled the scene .... WOW what a courage Thai drivers have ..... impossible to face their responsabilities .... maybe he didnt even have a driving license . Will we have that kind of news everyday ? It seems truck , car or buses accident are a daily practise in Phuket..... that comfort me in the idea to AVOID phuket more and more .

I don't think you understand: drivers here flee the scene of accidents because they fear/risk the mob mentality of relatives/friends of people who have been hurt/killed, the thinking is that it's better to turn yourself in at a police station later and have to say I agree. I have witnessed two accidents where people have turned on the driver of one of the vehicles and it was very ugly..

Many many years ago I sat my driving test in Indonesia. One of the written questions asked about procedure in event of an accident. The 'correct' answer was to leave the accident and report at the nearest police station. And why, for your own safety. A very sobering thought...

[mrdome]

Someone could have easily gotten killed in this. Very lucky escapes for several people.

[blackthorn2005]

"The driver, identified only as "Udom", fled the scene after the accident, a common practice in Phuket." How unusual!

Brakes failed on a public vehicle? Also unusual! Even stranger as the government stated they had recently inspected all these vehicles in Phuket.

[JulesMad]

Procedure for farang involved in accident:

- do NOT stop!

- proceed to next police station

- report accident

- (maybe) go back to accident scene (WITH police!)

This advice was given to me by the police...

It goes without saying that farang IS guilty (even if not guilty...). Police will have to paid.

[stevenl]

Procedure for farang involved in accident:

- do NOT stop!

- proceed to next police station

- report accident

- (maybe) go back to accident scene (WITH police!)

This advice was given to me by the police...

It goes without saying that farang IS guilty (even if not guilty...). Police will have to paid.

You started of so well, until you wrote the last line.

[Commentor]

This bus driver should be caught and put in jail. Why de Fart is he driving at such speed near a bend? Crazy fellow !!

[chiang mai]

This bus driver should be caught and put in jail. Why de Fart is he driving at such speed near a bend? Crazy fellow !!

Did you not read the artcile, the brakes failed going down the hill!!!

[Tanaka]

This bus driver should be caught and put in jail. Why de Fart is he driving at such speed near a bend? Crazy fellow !!

The steep downhill descent leading down to this curve might have something to do with the speed. And that the bus lost its braking power. If you read the article.

[4evermaat]

He was going too fast because he had no brakes. Mechanical failure on heavy vehicles plying our roads is all far too common, often with tragic consequences. Lucky there were no serious casualties as within a second or two the bus would have wiped out a motorbike or pickup.

And the driver again fled the scene .... WOW what a courage Thai drivers have ..... impossible to face their responsabilities .... maybe he didnt even have a driving license . Will we have that kind of news everyday ? It seems truck , car or buses accident are a daily practise in Phuket..... that comfort me in the idea to AVOID phuket more and more .

I don't think you understand: drivers here flee the scene of accidents because they fear/risk the mob mentality of relatives/friends of people who have been hurt/killed, the thinking is that it's better to turn yourself in at a police station later and have to say I agree. I have witnessed two accidents where people have turned on the driver of one of the vehicles and it was very ugly..

Many many years ago I sat my driving test in Indonesia. One of the written questions asked about procedure in event of an accident. The 'correct' answer was to leave the accident and report at the nearest police station. And why, for your own safety. A very sobering thought...

Very sobering indeed. The damage was minimal considering what could have easily been a 10 motobike/car/street vendor pileup bloodbath. Looked like there was nothing really in front of the path of the bus; best that a building took the blow.

I have witnessed twice brakes/engine fail on patong hill. No runaway situation, but the truck was either stuck or forced to roll back slowly. A friend was relaying an account of a runaway situation on the hill during packed rush hour that took out several motorbikes in one swoop.

In usa, there are "runaway ramps" and even mandatory stops at the tops of certain hills for trucks to check their brakes. Your truck is supposed to be set in a lower gear BEFORE proceeding downhill. if it was in correct gear, unlikely that brakes would fail completely and transmission failed. Bus speed suggested high gear, neutral gear, or serious mechanical failure.

Then again, there are rollovers daily in the states on flat, level land. Just cleanup and keep going.

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.