Five Killed, 49 Injured When Bus Falls Into Ravine In Phitsanulok

[Lee4Life]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

One also has to wonder...how would the passengers know the brakes were not working properly?

Brakes that are dragging or overheating often smoke badly...sometimes the smoke even enters the passenger area, even if the smoke doesn't get inside the vehicle when this happens there usually is a very strong burning smell. Failing brakes can also make lots of bad noises, which can be very evident to passengers sitting near the axle areas. If the brakes are not given a rest to cool down, or repaired, then they will get so hot that they will "fade" or just break apart and fail completely.

[jucel]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

One also has to wonder...how would the passengers know the brakes were not working properly?

Brakes that are dragging or overheating often smoke badly...sometimes the smoke even enters the passenger area, even if the smoke doesn't get inside the vehicle when this happens there usually is a very strong burning smell. Failing brakes can also make lots of bad noises, which can be very evident to passengers sitting near the axle areas. If the brakes are not given a rest to cool down, or repaired, then they will get so hot that they will "fade" or just break apart and fail completely.

The scariest things about your comments are 1) the driver failed to recognise the warning signs or 2) recognised the warning signs but was too worried about his job/boss/maintaining schedule, that he chose to overlook it! 3) didn't give a SH1T.

[how241]

+1

[jucel]

I've come to the conclusion that Thai people don't think that accidents happen to them, or that they hurt! I see people everyday, overtaking on motorbikes doing 60kmph with no helmet on & t-short/shorts. When I see them I automatically think, that's going to come keen if they come off that. Abrasive roads & soft skin don't really go together.

[WhizBang]

The scariest things about your comments are 1) the driver failed to recognise the warning signs or 2) recognised the warning signs but was too worried about his job/boss/maintaining schedule, that he chose to overlook it! 3) didn't give a SH1T.

#3 gets my vote.

[BrianCR]

HalibutJones, on 08 Apr 2013 - 12:02, said:

lucky2103, on 08 Apr 2013 - 11:48, said:

Just saw the news on TV3. [/size]

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.[/size]

Was this before or after he fled the scene? Not that we know if he did, of course, and it's pure speculation and Thai bashing on my part, with no basis whatsoever for the accusation, but let's, for some bizarre reason, assume he fled the scene ... ...

Why don't we for some bizarre reason, assume he NEVER fled the scene ... ...

[thomash]

This sad and unfortunate toll on life and limbs will be dwarfed by the yearly carnage of Songkran

just around the corner, a yearly homage to the gods of alcohol reckless driving and stupidity.

Yes unfortunately true it's actually a Buddhist holiday that is now so far from its orgin hardly anyone knows what the holiday is really about and has just evolved into an insane water fight.

[watcharacters]

Will this ever stop?

And please: spare me the "it happens everywhere"- bs!

In 40 years back home, I haven't read about as many fatal bus- accidents as I have here in the last 3 months.

It IS about how a country enforces laws, how it values education and safety etc.

RIP the victims

.

I checked and Swami says in about 58 years there'll start to be a change in Thailand.

Until then it's recommended we don't hold our collective breath.

Many will die in the mean time.

[NongKhaiKid]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

But if the bus couldn't stop would it be a case of " Geronimo " ?

[laislica]

RT @191Thailand: KomChadLuek reporting a 7-y-o boy among the 5 dead in the bus crash in Phitsanulok. They say 2 males & 3 females. All Thai.

What's the difference whether they are Thai or another nation? They are people that came to a tragic end.

I agree but have you seen the standard BBC news about a tragedy like this, or a plane crash abroad?

They give the number of injured or dead and say x No. of British (or not). It always made me angry.

RIP the dead and may the injured recover as soon as possible with no long lasting problems.

[NongKhaiKid]

I did the overnight bus trip, Bangkok to Chiang Mai late last year, and never again will I place my life in the hands of an local bus driver. For the cost of an airfare you'd have to be crazy

to do it. I did it to see the country, albeit at night, but for the adventure of passing through villages etc, but, seen one villiage, seen the all. Our driver was all over the road, and it didnt really help matters that most of the time, he spent looking out the side windows and boy, did he like Tick Tacs. I hope thats what they were anyway. If you value your lives, plain and simple. Dont do a bus trip in dear Thailand. Its just not worth it.

Sot on Jumping Jack, I have done the Udon - CM bus trip by day and night. Now I fly as in the words of Monsieur Alfonse on "Allo "Allo " I 'ave a dicky ticker ", well i didn't until the bus trip

[thomash]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

One also has to wonder...how would the passengers know the brakes were not working properly?

If Thais were complaining about something like that then it had to be really bad and obvious as Thais will rarely complain.

[BrianCR]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

One also has to wonder...how would the passengers know the brakes were not working properly?

That's what I was thinking.

Brakes can squeal, make a grinding sound, smell as if burning - i guess any of these would give you an idea something was wrong?

[webfact]

Five dead, 53 hurt in Thai bus cliff plunge

BANGKOK, April 8, 2013 (AFP) - Five people died, including a seven-month-old baby and a Belgian woman, and 53 were injured when a Thai tour bus plummeted off a hillside in northern Thailand after its brakes failed, police said Monday.

Passengers said the coach had swerved several times on winding mountain roads, before it ploughed through a fence and down a steep ravine, according to local police in Phitsanulok province 380 kilometres (235 miles) from Bangkok.

"Five people were killed -- two men and three women, including one woman from Belgium -- and a seven-month-old baby boy," district police captain Sane Promrut told AFP on by telephone.

He said the bus, which was travelling from northeastern Udonthani province to the main northern city of Chiang Mai, plunged about 20 metres (66 feet) in the early morning crash.

Police said the dead Belgian woman was in her early twenties.

Hospital staff said the mother of the baby boy was in a critical condition, with internal bleeding, while the child's father had suffered broken legs in the accident.

A 30-year-old Belgian man and a Japanese man were also among the injured.

"The bus had problems with its brakes and was speeding before it crashed over the cliff," Sane said, adding that passengers had smelled burning and the driver, who is also in a critical condition, had stopped to try and fix the problem before the crash.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-04-08

[NongKhaiKid]

I should qualify my last post that recently I took a VIP coach from Khon Kaen to Bkk and was pleasantly surprised. The coach seemed quite new, was clean and well appointed. Believe it or not i actually thought the driver was going too slow but we were on time however he sat in the offside lane most of the time forcing overtaking on the nearside and that unnerves me especially as i was seated in a nearside seat.

[Locationthailand]

I hope this is NO 1th of April joke. But accidents have many causes here;

- bad drivers, no driving skills

- drunk or using other stuff

- animals

- bad roads

- weather

- wrong signs

- bad maintenance

- perhaps a wasp in the cabin, who knows

It seems to be impossible to fight this all. Be careful, that's what I think.

Perhaps but more logically this is so damned easy to fix.

1. Govern the motors, (electronically)

2. Introduce log books for drivers - 12 hours at the wheel maximum being 5 + 5 + 2 with half hour breaks in between and 12 hours out of the vehicle completely

3. Speed over distance (average speed) to see if the governing has been interfered with (use of tachographs is common in the west)

4. Passenger service vehicles should be road tested every 90 days and certified roadworthy

5. Maintenance logs mandatory by operators/owners, submitted with vehicle testing

6. Driver education

7. Driver selection based on experience, age and prior clean record

8. Driver medical assessment prior to contracted

9. Urine tests weekly (this one would be easy but a lot of protests to be sure)

You can blame the roads all you like - speed and driver inability mixed with mechanically faulty buses - a recipe for road carnage.

[laislica]

As I have said many times, until hey go after the owner of the company for hiring idiots, Then they will keep employing them.

We are the adults and when the life of a child is taken it is truly a sad thing.

I believe no one is innocent in this matter, and that includes the owners, the leasing companies who lend out their buses to the owners, the drivers, the mechanics, the passengers and all else. It's their country, remember?

The owners do not seem to care about the others on my list.

The leasing companies as well.

The drivers and mechanics as well.

And the passengers who continually patronize these people when things are not as they should be.

It happens because they all (all) let it happen.

The reasons are purely speculative and opinionated since no one keeps statistics, and if anyone did, then no one could trust them anyhow since they brag all the time about how acceptable it is to flat out lie.

It's the only transport that many people, including some farang can afford.

How else can they travel?

Especially at high seasons when the fares rise.

A family wanting to visit other family members when they only have a motorcy have very few options.

Edited April 8, 2013 by metisdead
30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[Scully]

I did the overnight bus trip, Bangkok to Chiang Mai late last year, and never again will I place my life in the hands of an local bus driver. For the cost of an airfare you'd have to be crazy

to do it. I did it to see the country, albeit at night, but for the adventure of passing through villages etc, but, seen one villiage, seen the all. Our driver was all over the road, and it didnt really help matters that most of the time, he spent looking out the side windows and boy, did he like Tick Tacs. I hope thats what they were anyway. If you value your lives, plain and simple. Dont do a bus trip in dear Thailand. Its just not worth it.

I was on a Bangkok to Chiang Mai last night, couldn't get a government bus due to songkran. Luckily for me I wasn't heading all the way up to chiang mai. The government run buses swap drivers after 8 hours of driving with a break in between, the bus last night had one driver do 11 hours with 10 minutes break to refuel. It wouldn't suprise me if he did the whole route.

Tachographs are not hard or expensive for these firms but no government has the balls to enforce it.

[axact]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

One has to wonder why anyone who suspected the brakes were faulty stayed on the bus? I for one would have asked to get off as soon as I was aware.

How do you know 50 didn't get off when they knew brakes were a problem, 99 on a local Thai bus not inconceiveable

[laislica]

I hope this is NO 1th of April joke. But accidents have many causes here;

- bad drivers, no driving skills

- drunk or using other stuff

- animals

- bad roads

- weather

- wrong signs

- bad maintenance

- perhaps a wasp in the cabin, who knows

It seems to be impossible to fight this all. Be careful, that's what I think.

Perhaps but more logically this is so damned easy to fix.

1. Govern the motors, (electronically)

2. Introduce log books for drivers - 12 hours at the wheel maximum being 5 + 5 + 2 with half hour breaks in between and 12 hours out of the vehicle completely

3. Speed over distance (average speed) to see if the governing has been interfered with (use of tachographs is common in the west)

4. Passenger service vehicles should be road tested every 90 days and certified roadworthy

5. Maintenance logs mandatory by operators/owners, submitted with vehicle testing

6. Driver education

7. Driver selection based on experience, age and prior clean record

8. Driver medical assessment prior to contracted

9. Urine tests weekly (this one would be easy but a lot of protests to be sure)

You can blame the roads all you like - speed and driver inability mixed with mechanically faulty buses - a recipe for road carnage.

But please make the urine tests random and move it to No.1 on the list.

Also expand it to include random breath tests.

Pay a roving third party inspector who gets a bonus for every driver who fails.

BTW extend this to all professional drivers Bus/Lorry/Taxi/Ambulance/Policemen etc.

It would be easy and inexpensive to implement but I have no idea if the law would allow it.

If it doesn't then make a law that does accept it.

The problem with this is that many drivers may fail and then there could be a problem finding replacement drivers who fulfil the requirements.

Note that in many factories in the UK, the workers are subjected to random drugs/alcohol testing.

We live in the time of the internet so it would be so easy to create a database of unfit drivers, including photos, maybe even fingerprints. This would ensure that a banned driver would find it very hard to get driver employment in the future.

Welcome to the Nanny State - Sorry but what else could be done to stop the rot?

[Asiantravel]

I hope this is NO 1th of April joke. But accidents have many causes here;

- bad drivers, no driving skills

- drunk or using other stuff

- animals

- bad roads

- weather

- wrong signs

- bad maintenance

- perhaps a wasp in the cabin, who knows

It seems to be impossible to fight this all. Be careful, that's what I think.

Perhaps but more logically this is so damned easy to fix.

1. Govern the motors, (electronically)

2. Introduce log books for drivers - 12 hours at the wheel maximum being 5 + 5 + 2 with half hour breaks in between and 12 hours out of the vehicle completely

3. Speed over distance (average speed) to see if the governing has been interfered with (use of tachographs is common in the west)

4. Passenger service vehicles should be road tested every 90 days and certified roadworthy

5. Maintenance logs mandatory by operators/owners, submitted with vehicle testing

6. Driver education

7. Driver selection based on experience, age and prior clean record

8. Driver medical assessment prior to contracted

9. Urine tests weekly (this one would be easy but a lot of protests to be sure)

You can blame the roads all you like - speed and driver inability mixed with mechanically faulty buses - a recipe for road carnage.

I just looked at your list and I believe you would find all these things are already being done by this company which is the only bus company I would ever go on in Thailand because when you have two drivers on board there is much less chance of an accident through driver fatigue.

http://www.nca.co.th/index.php

[HarryMilton]

Just saw the news on TV3.

It was reported that passengers informed the driver that the brakes appear not to work properly - the driver choose not to look into the matter and kept on driving.

Was this before or after he fled the scene? Not that we know if he did, of course, and it's pure speculation and Thai bashing on my part, with no basis whatsoever for the accusation, but let's, for some bizarre reason, assume he fled the scene ... ...

Why should we assume that?...

Did you forget to type the last part of your post or just have nothing rational to say?

[Asiantravel]

If someone started collecting statistics of accidents and deaths by bus company, people could start choosing the safest company to go with. Could even make the bus companies invest a bit in safety.

, people could start choosing the safest company to go with.

There ain't one.

An utterly bigoted, ignorant and factually incorrect remark!

[lee b]

Been on this route many times, with diffrent bus companies. The bus drivers have to remember that they are not driving F1 cars, and stop hitting sharp bends at 200MPH ! So dangerous

[Baloo22]

I used Green Bus twice last year. Once, round trip Chiang Mai <--> Mae Sai and later a round trip Chiang Mai <--> Chiang Rai. IMO the driver on both trips drove in a reasonable manner. I have never used NakonchaiAir bus company but have heard good reports from others on their service. Long trips such as Bangkok <--> Chiang Mai, I either fly or take the overnight sleeper train. IMO, both are preferable than taking a either a bus or one of the "suicide vans".

[JetsetBkk]

How many people will be using these same buses to go home for Songkran this week?

RIP to those killed in this 'accident'.

Sick of typing 'RIP' on Thaivisa.

[Marulaz]

28,000 deaths on the Thai road yearly...

6th most dangerous country in the world, according to WHO, confirmed by the Ministry of Interior...

Just take one city like Chanthaburi, every year, and erase it from the map. with its whole population.Every year...

This is what we are talking about.

But the police keeps picking tea money instead of enhancing the road safety.

With the benediction of an ex-police captain, now acting as a national buffon...

[HarryMilton]

Five dead, 53 hurt in Thai bus cliff plunge

BANGKOK, April 8, 2013 (AFP) - Five people died, including a seven-month-old baby and a Belgian woman, and 53 were injured when a Thai tour bus plummeted off a hillside in northern Thailand after its brakes failed, police said Monday.

Passengers said the coach had swerved several times on winding mountain roads, before it ploughed through a fence and down a steep ravine, according to local police in Phitsanulok province 380 kilometres (235 miles) from Bangkok.

"Five people were killed -- two men and three women, including one woman from Belgium -- and a seven-month-old baby boy," district police captain Sane Promrut told AFP on by telephone.

He said the bus, which was travelling from northeastern Udonthani province to the main northern city of Chiang Mai, plunged about 20 metres (66 feet) in the early morning crash.

Police said the dead Belgian woman was in her early twenties.

Hospital staff said the mother of the baby boy was in a critical condition, with internal bleeding, while the child's father had suffered broken legs in the accident.

A 30-year-old Belgian man and a Japanese man were also among the injured.

"The bus had problems with its brakes and was speeding before it crashed over the cliff," Sane said, adding that passengers had smelled burning and the driver, who is also in a critical condition, had stopped to try and fix the problem before the crash.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-04-08

No doubt the speculation mongers, "flee the scene" critics and general Thai bashers will now be rushing to their keyboards to withdraw many comments denigrating the non-fleeing, critically injured driver who apparently did stop to try to address the problem with the bus before the accident.

As many have said here though don't hold your breath while they go off the radar.

[Mangkhut]

I hope this is NO 1th of April joke. But accidents have many causes here;

- bad drivers, no driving skills

- drunk or using other stuff

- animals

- bad roads

- weather

- wrong signs

- bad maintenance

- perhaps a wasp in the cabin, who knows

It seems to be impossible to fight this all. Be careful, that's what I think.

And it could be a lot of other reasons as well.

Traffic accidents happens in every country around the world and traffic accidents will never come down to none - nowhere. But the rate of accidents in Thailand seems very high and the number of fatalaties as well. I wish there could there be done something to reduce the number of accidents and fatalaties.

I have been taking the overnight bus between Chiang Mai and Udon several times and there are some really bad curves in a steep mountain area near Phitsanoluk. Its not difficult to understand that accidents happens there.

[blueshark]

This sucks. I have travelled on this bus route before for visa runs to Laos. The road is very windy and there are many sharp corners. Most drivers are good but the odd one or two are crazy. They drive so fast as they know the road very well. It would not surprise me if the bus over shot a turn or there wad a mechanical failure like we saw in the south recently.

I will say this.... Most foreign tourists do think that anyone that is killed is terrible. However from my experience life is very cheap in Thailand. If it doesn't affect a thai person individually another Thai loosing his or her life won't bother them that much. Sad but true anyone who thinks I'm bull shitting hasn't lived in Thailand long enough to see this sort of thing play out regularly.