Bus Drivers Reported As Reckless By Passengers To Be Fined

[monty1412]

Last week i barely survived going downhill with an old Thai bus down the Kao Koh mountains...

A friend of mine experienced the same awhile back.

It's crazy and reckless and something needs to be done about it before more people get hurt.

dancealot, more people are being hurt !!!! and nothing is being done but piecemeal statements. If you want to do something about it then don't take the bus.. the only way anyone will change anything here is if it involves pecuniary loss to the operators of these buses. Phuket mini bus drivers get paid based on number of trips.. tell me how that is an incentive to drive carefully.. road transports dont keep logs and drive way over recommended hours usually sustained by major doses of additives of one form or another..

Yes its crazy and reckless but in a land where the baht is worth more than the value of life how else but hurting the back pocket are you going to drive behavioural reform .....

True story.. at a PTT several weeks ago in Tak I noticed a mini bus with about 6 passengers pull in and one of the tyres was shedding its skin... not sure if it was a retread or not... I showed the driver, he shrugged and looked at me like I was a bloody nuisance.... and then promptly drove away 5 minutes later with full load of passengers.. I left after them and passed then on the highway and they were doing 110km/h easy... said a silent prayer for those folks on board as i passed them...

So if your really keen on having something done about it then use those services.. sad I know but it is the way it is

[mancub]

Love to see all the positive comments from the TV experts! It might be small but at least it's something and a start in the right direction!

But....you see, as always....it's only words, rhetoric....it doesn't actually happen, hence the negativity .All these "starts " don't actually start ! They turn out to be false starts .

[technologybytes]

"The department will call in the drivers in question for interrogation, and then fine them"

No, they will not!

[drdoom6996]

Better get a Bus Driving School opened with a teacher that actually know haw to drive a bus. There will not be as many buys drivers tomorrow if this happens.

[blazes]

Last week i barely survived going downhill with an old Thai bus down the Kao Koh mountains...

A friend of mine experienced the same awhile back.

It's crazy and reckless and something needs to be done about it before more people get hurt.

Yes, been there, done that. The bus crawls up one side of the mountain at 2 mph, and then hurtles down the other side at 500 mph, in the middle of the road. God alone knows what would have happened if a big truck or another bus were coming in the opposite direction. The first and last bus I ever have travelled on in Thailand.

[HarryMilton]

Whilst I am all for passengers reporting reckless driving I fail to see how a driver can be prosecuted and fined merely on a passengers say so, a court will never accept heresay.

Absolutely. Unless the LTD has the authority to impose fines?

[HarryMilton]

Last week i barely survived going downhill with an old Thai bus down the Kao Koh mountains...

A friend of mine experienced the same awhile back.

It's crazy and reckless and something needs to be done about it before more people get hurt.

What do you mean, "I barely survived...", where you injured? Badly? Sorry to hear that.

[HarryMilton]

I am worried.

No bus accident today ?

You want one?

[HarryMilton]

Last week i barely survived going downhill with an old Thai bus down the Kao Koh mountains...

A friend of mine experienced the same awhile back.

It's crazy and reckless and something needs to be done about it before more people get hurt.

Yes, been there, done that. The bus crawls up one side of the mountain at 2 mph, and then hurtles down the other side at 500 mph, in the middle of the road. God alone knows what would have happened if a big truck or another bus were coming in the opposite direction. The first and last bus I ever have travelled on in Thailand.

Good to read a post with no exaggeration in it again. Presumably a big truck or another bus didn't come in the opposite direction.

What was the point of posting this?

[Asiantravel]

Whilst I am all for passengers reporting reckless driving I fail to see how a driver can be prosecuted and fined merely on a passengers say so, a court will never accept heresay.

But what if passengers could be educated to surreptitiously record the events on their mobiles? Then those videos should be splashed all over youtube as a counter-attack against the “ Amazing Thailand “ advertising campaign until the authorities finally get the message.

[Robby nz]

So anyone with a hate against a bus driver now has a way of getting at them.

Will no proof be required?

I travel on buses all the time and in 7 years have only been on one that I could say was being driven recklessly and that was on the hilly bit of road from Chum Phon to Ranong.

But cars and utes, I see the smashed up remains outside the local cop shop every day.

[Thai at Heart]

Last week i barely survived going downhill with an old Thai bus down the Kao Koh mountains...

A friend of mine experienced the same awhile back.

It's crazy and reckless and something needs to be done about it before more people get hurt.

Yes, been there, done that. The bus crawls up one side of the mountain at 2 mph, and then hurtles down the other side at 500 mph, in the middle of the road. God alone knows what would have happened if a big truck or another bus were coming in the opposite direction. The first and last bus I ever have travelled on in Thailand.

Good to read a post with no exaggeration in it again. Presumably a big truck or another bus didn't come in the opposite direction.

What was the point of posting this?

Aside from the numerous trucks that run off that stretch of road due to brake failure, I have seen both head on smashes and many very near misses on that stretch.

It is a very bad road with a lot of HGV traffic.

[TackyToo]

Remember the moron bus driver who stopped and told complaining passengers to leave his bus if they don’t
like his driving just to crash the bus in the next curve a few minutes later?

In wake of a fine for these hell drivers we can soon expect a lot of foreign hitchhikers on the road shoulders with all their luggage. Let’s be nice and give ‘em a lift!

[Cuban]

The department will call in the drivers in question for interrogation, and then fine them.

Great, disgruntled drivers back on the road seek to recoup the fine from where?:

[jpinx]

I've never dialled 1584, but if I do - is there a quick option for English language? I'd hate to keep the grumpy taxi driver waiting while I report him

[Fgis]

I am worried.

No bus accident today ?

Oh ! I have been waiting this time ! Usually it is right in my mailbox when I wake up :-)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/633284-eight-injured-as-phuket-bus-overturns-in-krabi/

[monty1412]

I am worried.

No bus accident today ?

You want one?

Want one or not we just got one in Krabi, usual plot, old bus, poor service, reckless driver bus overturns.. thankfully no lives lost... Thailand the Hub of Rolling Buses

[yourauntbob]

Whilst I am all for passengers reporting reckless driving I fail to see how a driver can be prosecuted and fined merely on a passengers say so, a court will never accept heresay.

Agree, there must be a process which follows proper laws and appropriate investigation and is seen by all as balanced and fair.

Thailand already has very serious problems with lack of respect for the law and unbalanced application of laws and unbalanced application of punishments.

What we don't need is more kangaroo courts.

90% of the countries across the world have developed systems / laws / processes which have seriously reigned in bad drivers, etc.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel, what a pity the Thai authorities can't / won't get their heads out of the sand and take a look at what works and what doesn't work in other countries and adapt to the Thai scenario.

Agree with both posts above, something needs to be done and baby steps are better than backtracking. Now it would be nice for them to do something Thai students love to do and copy societies that have a better track record.

[TechnikaIII]

"Bus stop? Or in other words, middle lanes of a 6 lane road"

Yeah .. for Heaven's sake wow .. On Friday, with girlfriend in a van from Chonburi, on it's way to Mochit bus station, stopped at an intersection with the exit to Victory Monument where I need to be, .. I mean .. WHAT??!! I was supposed to climb over the barrier, and just deal with the speeding traffic pouring out to Victory, which I couldn't even see from where I was dumped. A couple of Thais getting off there, took it in their stride, and my gf, who stayed on to continue to Mochit, just said "Yes .. go out" ... What the ...

Edited April 16, 2013 by TechnikaIII

[tingtongfarang]

I feel so relieved by this announcement and hope its as successful as the plan to report all van drivers who traveled over 80kmh.

[spidermike007]

This is a great program. Thailand, for some reason, has one of the lowest levels of accountability I have ever seen. So, any way to make the culprits accountable, has to be a positive step. Some of these drivers are positively insane, or lacking skill, or judgment. They should not be on the road. I wish they would figure out a way to make the mini van drivers accountable too. The vans should have phone numbers or identification markers on them. They cause tremendous amounts of death and injury in Samui alone. Nationwide, it is hard to imagine how many accidents are caused by the careless, daredevil mini van drivers.

Mike Macarelli

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app