Tourists should be careful to take tour buses that have 100% farang travelers. This would be one solid way to assure more professional, regulated drivers, as well as vehicle safety, law enforcement, and highway routing, scheduling, and safety. It won't eliminate these accidents, but it might help cut down on farang deaths as the result of Thai negligence. The operators and drivers are apt to be more safety oriented if the bus only carries foreigners.

First of all, what on earth makes you think they would be more careful with foreigners? Is that just a guess, or do you have any reference or evidence to back up that claim? My guess is the driver has no clue nor any care of who sits behind him!

Secondly, even if you are right about the above, then unless you are checking each passenger, and you make sure you are buying the very last available ticket, how exactly are you (as a foreigner) supposed to ensure there is only foreigners on the bus?

Many European or US American tour- operators simply demand higher safety- standards.

And most of them even follow up on them.

That means 2 drivers in a bus, driving- breaks for the drivers of vans, safety- belts etc.

In fact, the chances to get better trained, better rested drivers and safer vehicles, if you travel with a company that deals a lot with "farang" are clearly higher.

Yes, and I believe NakonChai Air (NCA) is probably the best that can be had. Run like an airline, fewer passengers, roll attendant, seat belts and seats that go way back for sleeping (depending on the class of service purchased, I suppose). Rolled with them a few times and would bet they have an excellent safety record (by Thai standards, of course). Can anyone confirm this? My GF was badly bruised when her VIP bus ended up on its side in a gully coming from Sisaket. She'll go only NCA now, even though it's more expensive.:

http://www.nakhonchaiair.com/index.php

NCA seems to be the best functioning and safest way to travel by bus here. All buses have two drivers. Never heard of a bigger accident.

Tourists should be careful to take tour buses that have 100% farang travelers. This would be one solid way to assure more professional, regulated drivers, as well as vehicle safety, law enforcement, and highway routing, scheduling, and safety. It won't eliminate these accidents, but it might help cut down on farang deaths as the result of Thai negligence. The operators and drivers are apt to be more safety oriented if the bus only carries foreigners.

First of all, what on earth makes you think they would be more careful with foreigners? Is that just a guess, or do you have any reference or evidence to back up that claim? My guess is the driver has no clue nor any care of who sits behind him!

Secondly, even if you are right about the above, then unless you are checking each passenger, and you make sure you are buying the very last available ticket, how exactly are you (as a foreigner) supposed to ensure there is only foreigners on the bus?

Good points. The tour operators use the cheapest prices they can get. Would an Egyptian qualify as a farang?

A friend of mine would not ride a bus until he had checked the tires for wear.

Just another statistic.

We are all just a statistic in Thailand ................................................................................

Nakorn Chai Khon Song (NCK) also use GPS speed limiting and stress the fact they have a crew change on their Loei - Rayong route (13 hours).