Two Dead In Phuket-Bangkok Bus Crash

[tingtongfarang]

Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones?

Many of the buses here are 'homemade'. They are NOT manufactured to any sort of engineering or safety standard.

These is a very interesting documentary (British, I think) that was made fairly recently on this. Sorry, I don't have a link.

[NongKhaiKid]

I rode up on my bike from Phuket to Ranong last week.

I had at least 6 close calls from morons pulling into my lane and flashing their headlights to claim right of way.

No doubt the moron driving the white toyota did exactly the same thing.

And no doubt the bus was travelling at warp speed as they do on that stretch of road.

Sigh..........

Right of way has a funny, and dangerous, application here and there's an element of face depending on the vehicles involved.

Recently i was walking up my soi towards the main road, it's not the widest and there are no pavements so I walked left foot on a grass verge and right on the road. I heard a car horn from behind but ignored it, it was repeated in a continuous fashion and when I turned around there was a Thai driver waving at me to get out of his way, I ignored him so he was forced to pull out ever so slightly to pass and there was no on coming traffic. As he passed, I can only say if looks could kill. I still don't know if he was having a laugh, could only drive in a straight line or decided a foreigner had no right being ahead of him on a Thai road. No matter what very childish but stopped laughing when my GF pointed out if he was really worked up I was lucky he didn't hit me as it would have been my fault anyway

Oh yes, almost Dead Man Walking and I'm not trying to be funny.

[DekDaeng]

Seems to me the article said it was the car driver making the wrong choices and getting the bus caught up in it all; hence this is about poor driving skills and poor decisions and not at all about buses. It could have been anything. Her number was up and she was going to hit something, whether it be a bus or a tree or what have you. This woman driver more than likely took one too many chances prior. I'll wager this wasn't the first one that she tried, but it certainly is her last one, eh? I simply cannot muster the decency anymore to say RIP when I read about idiots like this. She was no different than a person with a loaded gun, and she is now guilty of killing more people than most gun owners ever do.

I wonder if she learned to drive just driving around to get the hang of it. i say this because I was once given a lift home by a colleague who asked me to excuse her driving as she was only learning which turned out to mean her dad had shown her basics then let her use his car unsupervised so she could practise.

Pet hate is high beamers - come up behind you & burn your retinas out. Have been known to get out at traffic lights & ask driver behind to put lights down - often as not it is a young f profusely apologising 'mai me, mai me' - as in 'my car (recent Jap) doesn't have' (low beam). ;-(

Amazed by the number of LPG tanker accidents in BKK - abt 1 a year - if these blow, second only to Nagasaki. Would solve the problem of Bangkok & sea level rise! No Bangkok!

Number for land transport department / taxi hotline is 1584 - they may help if you find yourself in a yaba driven bus minibus, but no English spoke -

[FarangTalk]

The above video is required watching.

Almost 14,000 dead on the roads last year (remember Thailand only counts those dead at the scene and not those that die up to 30 days after the accident as in most other countries).

[gemini81]

what do you expect ? we have seen those accidents every day for the last 30 years (well for some of us at least) nothing ever changed , nothing will , its a reality. You can have double amount of deads on roads NO government will ever do anything about it, or they would have done something a long time ago . The only thing we can say is RIP to all victims.

All you can do is drive defensively, slowly, and applying what you learned with better driver's education abroad than what they locals are provided.

[culicine]

I find it terrifying how cars, trucks, vans, and buses here just crumple into nothing like a coke can when they have an accident. Witnessed a lot of nasty accidents in my home country and never seen so many vehicles crumple so easily. Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones? I even see these crumpled messes on new cars from name brand makers. The bus makers just make them without a plan and no safety at all, this much I know, but cars and trucks should not rip apart like they do.

Shows you how terribly fast they are travelling upon impact.

With NO crumple zones ALL of the occupants of that car would be dead and the full force of the impact is absorbed by their bodies. Edited April 29, 2013 by culicine

[Just1Voice]

Some on here will definitely call me crazy, but what the heck, I've been called a lot worse.

For the past 4+ years I've been taking "road trips" to different cities here in northern Thailand, and I've been doing it on "big bikes". I've been riding bikes since I was 10, and even did some racing for a couple of years, so I'm very comfortable on a bike and know how to handle them. Most of the time I'm in the right hand lane running 130+, and my own personal "rule" is - Keep others behind me. Yeah, ok, so I'm crazy. On mountain roads with lots of curves, naturally I drop the speed, and stay to my left as much as possible to try and avoid the inevitable idiot from the other direction who wants to pass someone on a blind curve. I've had a few close calls with those. I check my mirrors every 5-6 SECONDS to make sure nothing like a silver minivan is coming up my backside like a F1 racer, and for those, I definitely move to the left as far as I can to let them pass. When there is traffic in front of me, I automatically look for "escape routes" should there be an incident in front of me, and never drive within 40 feet of a car in front of me unless I am going to pass it. And I wll NOT get on a bike without a helmet, and that means even if I'm just going to the 7/11 less than a kilometer from my house on highway 121. And when I take my trips, I wear a HJC full helmet, fiberglass upperbody racing suit under a padded jacket, jeans and good shoes.

My preferences for a bike over a car are because: a) It's a hell of a lot more fun, even at the age of 64 and, With a bike you actually have more manouverability to avoid accidents than you do in a car. Off the track, where accidents are all part of racing, the only accident I've had was about 5 months ago when I was in the motorbike lane with a passenger on the back - only the 3rd time I've done that here - and a large truck I was edging past suddenly hit his breaks and made a left hand turn, leaving me the options of hitting him at 60kph, or going into the ditch. I chose the ditch. Few scratches on the bike, one broken mirror, but both me and passenger were fine. GOOD helmets and padded protective jackets helped.

I've lost count of the number of accidents I've seen on my trips involving every type of vehicle in Thailand. I can't count the number of times I've seen one vehicle pull out to pass 4-5 others on a 2 lane road, flashing their lights for oncoming traffic to get out of their way. Two years ago I saw 3 young boys crammed on a Fino in my rearview. Laughing, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, no helmts of course. I was doing 75, just keeping up with the flow, and they flew by me. Less than a mile ahead I saw them again. All 3 dead, with bike crushed under a large truck. Two nights ago my wife comes home from visiting friend. Tells me that while she's there, friend gets a phone call. Friends 15 yr old niece, along with two others, were having a party at the parents house of one of the friends. Decided they needed more beer. 3 of them hop on a bike to go to 7. 2 died almost instantly less than 200 yards from the driveway, 3rd died the next day at the hospital.

When children are killed in motorbike accidents, the parents always want to blame the driver of the car or truck that killed them. They never, ever think of blaming themselves for letting an underaged child drive, or for never teaching their children about the safety of wearing a helmet. According to the Travel Brochures and websites, Thailand is a "Buddhist" country. In Buddhism, all life is sacred. In Thailand, life is meaningless. "Mai pen rai" is the national attitude.

The laws in Thailand don't need to be changed, they have as many as most countries, but they need to be ENFORCED. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening in my lifetime. So the carnage, the useless deaths, and the lack of responsibility will continue.

Someone once told me "You drive like Thai!" I told him, "No! Thai drive fast and STUPID! I drive fast but SMART and Careful!"

Crazy? Maybe.

[gemini81]

I find it terrifying how cars, trucks, vans, and buses here just crumple into nothing like a coke can when they have an accident. Witnessed a lot of nasty accidents in my home country and never seen so many vehicles crumple so easily. Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones? I even see these crumpled messes on new cars from name brand makers. The bus makers just make them without a plan and no safety at all, this much I know, but cars and trucks should not rip apart like they do.

Shows you how terribly fast they are travelling upon impact.

With NO crumple zones ALL of the occupants of that car would be dead and the full force of the impact is absorbed by their bodies.

Wish HUM V's were more affordable, that's about what you need in your own defense to stand a chance.

[Nisa]

I find it terrifying how cars, trucks, vans, and buses here just crumple into nothing like a coke can when they have an accident. Witnessed a lot of nasty accidents in my home country and never seen so many vehicles crumple so easily. Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones? I even see these crumpled messes on new cars from name brand makers. The bus makers just make them without a plan and no safety at all, this much I know, but cars and trucks should not rip apart like they do.

Shows you how terribly fast they are travelling upon impact.

Cars tend to look worse in crashes now than they used to because they absorb more of the impact outside of the passenger compartment. This is what "crumple zones" do but if you are not wearing a safety belt you still are going to be screwed.

[anon210]

So another needless bus crash, but then are we really surprised, this seems to be a weekly event if not more frequent and no party has or it seems will address this so easily rectified problem that appears to have it's root cause in greed and corruption and none or very little driver training or skills.

Bring in a proper driving test. especially for HGVs and PSVs ensure a regular check on all vehicles including a yearly MOT.

Oh bugger, why am I saying what we all know should be done but never will.

Last Thursday I was visiting a friend in Mae Sot who is dying of cancer and on the road from Tak there was a bus completely smashed up at the side of the road with personal belongings strewn all over the place, obviously happened within a few days with one small police sign stating there was an accident about 200 yards ahead but I have not seen any reports of it anywhere unless I missed them. I also counted 6 broken down lorries on that mountain road and have frequently seen lorries/buses taking the escape route and a couple of weeks earlier a lorry went over the side of the road taking large power cables and poles with it.

Anyone knowing this mountainous road would appreciate just how dangerous it can be driving or as in my case riding it.

Yeah I know that road and the dangers thereof. I had everything: from trucks breathing down my neck to crazy drivers overtaking in blind curves.... and have also seen how those hairpin curves make it easy to slip out if you drive too fast.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[chainarong]

It's all been said,never let it be said it hasn't, driver training, road rules,learning subjects, right from kindergarten age up, just shows there is along way to go and we ain't gonna get there for at least another three generations if we start today.

[TechnikaIII]

Road rules are in place, but effective policing is not. And will
never be until they get a decent wage. One the wages are in place, with
retraining courses, and a draconian penal system to make arrests worthwhile.
things could turn around. A very severe punishment regime for traffic offences, and a Chinese style bullet in the back of the neck for corrupt officials, including crooked cops, would improve the safety enormously.
The funding for all of this could be kick started if Thaksin were made to empty his piggy bank, and return his ill gotten gains.

A tall order? Yep. That is why I take trains where ever possible.

It's just a bad situation we have to live with, and keep out of danger as much as possible.

[TechnikaIII]

I did my 90 day visa run to Ranong from Surat Thani last thursday, the amount of visa run buses flying past me was incredible. The road in to Ranong has lots of blind curves/hills but the usual idiots were still overtaking on double lines/blind curves/hills, they are just simply impatient and believe it is their tight to pass where ever they like and everyone has to stop for them. I had 3 near accidents, one was some idiot that pulled out onto the road in front of me(only a 100 metres or so from me) from the opposite side curb (I was doing 80 k) then stopped so he could talk to the person on the side of the road, he was on a blind corner, I had to stand on the brakes and nearly ran up his bum and he still kept talking, ignorant. Another was a new twin cab that pulled out over double lines coming towards me to pass a slower car, trouble was it was where the road was very narrow, he flashed his lights and expected me to drive into the bush, I just stopped as far over as I could get, luckily the driver swerved back in and missed me. The same thing happened closer to Surat Thani when I was going over a bridge and a car coming from the opposite direction pulled over to my side to over take and just flashed their lights at me, by that stage I was pretty pissed at all the idiots so I stayed where I was and made them pull back in, these drivers are asking to die so I have no regard for them at all, until they acvtually make people PASS a drivers test and learn the rules we will continue to see multiple deaths here, they are ignorant ***### once they get behind a wheel.

Yep .. like my first ex gf, flying along at 150kmp. I asked her if she knew how to handle an emergency, such as a blow out? .. even at 60 kmp? "My car good" She said. (deep sigh ... Yeah, stupid, ignorant ***###.) But I have written about here before.

[kimamey]

Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones?

Many of the buses here are 'homemade'. They are NOT manufactured to any sort of engineering or safety standard.

These is a very interesting documentary (British, I think) that was made fairly recently on this. Sorry, I don't have a link.

I'm sure I saw something on here just recently about buses being built higher than the regulations allow. Must be difficult for the police to find those I would imagine. Yes that is sarcasm.

[lee b]

Last time i went on a bus in Thailand i was traveling from chiang mai to udon thani. I could of done with a pair of adult pampers at the time ! The driver was a physcho !

[oldsailor35]

I find it terrifying how cars, trucks, vans, and buses here just crumple into nothing like a coke can when they have an accident. Witnessed a lot of nasty accidents in my home country and never seen so many vehicles crumple so easily. Do car makers not have any safety features / reinforcements in cars and no crumple zones? I even see these crumpled messes on new cars from name brand makers. The bus makers just make them without a plan and no safety at all, this much I know, but cars and trucks should not rip apart like they do.

Well i have to agree with this regarding busses which are just "tacked" together any old how with no safety considerations. However i am not so sure about cars. During Song Kran whilst sitting at traffic lights behind another car, in my 5 mth old Toyota Vios a large 4x4 truck ploughed into the back of me forcing me into the car in front, All my boot area was crushed but the rear windscreen remained intact, the front was badly damaged, but it did not cave into the engine and i was able to drive it. Actually i thought this proves an old mates saying "Its Toyota tough". Although they are made of lighter metal than in bygone days, i am sure that they are now more crash proof. The damage to my Vios is costing Bht140.000 and the Thai driver who hit me just drove off ! Police are not interested because i have insurance ?

Edited April 29, 2013 by oldsailor35

[oldsailor35]

cause of accident surely to be "faulty brakes'

And the driver hit the tree because he "did'nt know the road"

[oldsailor35]

RIP again

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

...and again...

Seems to me the article said it was the car driver making the wrong choices and getting the bus caught up in it all; hence this is about poor driving skills and poor decisions and not at all about buses. It could have been anything. Her number was up and she was going to hit something, whether it be a bus or a tree or what have you. This woman driver more than likely took one too many chances prior. I'll wager this wasn't the first one that she tried, but it certainly is her last one, eh? I simply cannot muster the decency anymore to say RIP when I read about idiots like this. She was no different than a person with a loaded gun, and she is now guilty of killing more people than most gun owners ever do.

I wonder if she learned to drive just driving around to get the hang of it. i say this because I was once given a lift home by a colleague who asked me to excuse her driving as she was only learning which turned out to mean her dad had shown her basics then let her use his car unsupervised so she could practise.

I think that this is the 4th bus crash in 3 weeks.

[oldsailor35]

So another needless bus crash, but then are we really surprised, this seems to be a weekly event if not more frequent and no party has or it seems will address this so easily rectified problem that appears to have it's root cause in greed and corruption and none or very little driver training or skills.

Bring in a proper driving test. especially for HGVs and PSVs ensure a regular check on all vehicles including a yearly MOT.

Oh bugger, why am I saying what we all know should be done but never will.

Last Thursday I was visiting a friend in Mae Sot who is dying of cancer and on the road from Tak there was a bus completely smashed up at the side of the road with personal belongings strewn all over the place, obviously happened within a few days with one small police sign stating there was an accident about 200 yards ahead but I have not seen any reports of it anywhere unless I missed them. I also counted 6 broken down lorries on that mountain road and have frequently seen lorries/buses taking the escape route and a couple of weeks earlier a lorry went over the side of the road taking large power cables and poles with it.

Anyone knowing this mountainous road would appreciate just how dangerous it can be driving or as in my case riding it.

So make that 5 bush crashes in 3 weeks !

[oldsailor35]

there is a responsibility on the passengers too. i have sat on many buses going far too fast and the passengers sit there like lemmings as if they have no power to do anything. when actually all the passengers can go to the driver and demand he stop, and take the keys if necessary.

i was on a visa run where the van driver was dicing with death every ten minutes. everyone else in the van was terrified but said nothing. i asked if the driver could stop as I felt sick. i went round to the driver's side, opened the door, confiscated the keys and rang the visa run company. there was an international incident on the side of the road for ten minutes but the visa run company spoke to their employee and although he was furious he drove at a steady 100 kms an hour taking no risks until i got out. apparently he then sped up and everyone sat terrified in the bus for another half hour. people have to take a stand. it's uncomfortable and maybe upsets people but these crashes are too frequent. you can't do much about another car coming head on agreed - but if the bus was going slower it would have more room for manoevre.

IN your dreams, no Thai bus, taxi or truck drive will lift his foot off the pedal, they just do not know how !

[jaztiles]

My first post. I was trying to imagine what will happen when Thailand will drive on the right, from the first of Jan, with the driver being kerbside??????? ;(

[oldsailor35]

there is a responsibility on the passengers too. i have sat on many buses going far too fast and the passengers sit there like lemmings as if they have no power to do anything. when actually all the passengers can go to the driver and demand he stop, and take the keys if necessary.

i was on a visa run where the van driver was dicing with death every ten minutes. everyone else in the van was terrified but said nothing. i asked if the driver could stop as I felt sick. i went round to the driver's side, opened the door, confiscated the keys and rang the visa run company. there was an international incident on the side of the road for ten minutes but the visa run company spoke to their employee and although he was furious he drove at a steady 100 kms an hour taking no risks until i got out. apparently he then sped up and everyone sat terrified in the bus for another half hour. people have to take a stand. it's uncomfortable and maybe upsets people but these crashes are too frequent. you can't do much about another car coming head on agreed - but if the bus was going slower it would have more room for manoevre.

I agree to an extent, I would not take the keys away but I would tell the driver to slow down (and have in the past). Calling the company and complaining can be effective some times and other times it falls on deaf ears. People do need to speak up more on these issues but sadly not many do. I simply dont ride in vans anymore, i dont see myself getting on a bus anytime soon either. trains and planes are safer, and safety is worth a few extra baht.

I agree and will never get into a bus again, next week i am doing a visa run to Malaysia..................By train.

[jaztiles]

What will happen when Thailand drives on the right with the driver being kerbside?????????????

[Just1Voice]

What will happen when Thailand drives on the right with the driver being kerbside?????????????

Not gonna happen.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. We're not going to get into another argument about crash/fatality statistics.

[BrianCR]

About 25 years ago my then company and I made a pilot TV video on road safety and named it "The Adventures of Billy Buffalo". Billy was a normal person until he sat in a car or on a motorcycle when he was depicted driving like a buffalo (including the head gear), the voice over told Billy to stop acting like a buffalo and show people how a driving maneuver should be carried out (without head gear). The slogan was "Save lives, don't drive like a buffalo! The pilot was turned down by every TV station on the grounds that it would offend people so, reading from that it must be okay to kill as long as you don't offend!

[gemini81]

My first post. I was trying to imagine what will happen when Thailand will drive on the right, from the first of Jan, with the driver being kerbside??????? ;(

They pretty much already do drive on the wrong side....in the span of ten minutes in BKK, I swerve around a dozen motorcycles driving head-on zig zagging in and out on the wrong side of the road.

[lookingeast]

there is a responsibility on the passengers too. i have sat on many buses going far too fast and the passengers sit there like lemmings as if they have no power to do anything. when actually all the passengers can go to the driver and demand he stop, and take the keys if necessary.

i was on a visa run where the van driver was dicing with death every ten minutes. everyone else in the van was terrified but said nothing. i asked if the driver could stop as I felt sick. i went round to the driver's side, opened the door, confiscated the keys and rang the visa run company. there was an international incident on the side of the road for ten minutes but the visa run company spoke to their employee and although he was furious he drove at a steady 100 kms an hour taking no risks until i got out. apparently he then sped up and everyone sat terrified in the bus for another half hour. people have to take a stand. it's uncomfortable and maybe upsets people but these crashes are too frequent. you can't do much about another car coming head on agreed - but if the bus was going slower it would have more room for manoevre.

I've made the same kind of protest but never gone so far as to grab the keys. All credit to you, but the loss of face for the driver could have had extremely bad consequences for your health & safety !

[Pattaya28]

The root of all this "lack of awareness" with Thai motor bike riders and car drivers is the lack of education / lack of stringent rules when passing the driving test.

But realistically, if they were taught the rights and wrongs of road safety, would this make any difference ?? I think not.

This is Thailand !!

[NomadJoe]

Part of the problem with bus deaths is that passengers don't use seat belts when provided. ...

I always look for seatbelts on big buses. I only recall seeing them once. In my experience, most minibuses don't have them.