Thailand's bus operators risk passenger safety for profits: expert

[cekipa]

The truck jumped the lane and caused the head on collision, not the bus. So, why focusing the article about bus safety and not about concrete blocks to be implemented to avoid the same fate in case of future drivers falling asleep ?

[phetpeter]

It is not the point to fit speed limiters, has most travel at a reasonable speed except when taking people from one county to another in convoy with so-called police escort, hogging the fast lane! It is height vs weight on chassis not designed correctly. The weight is compensated by adding extra wheels, but the centre of gravity isn't worked out so the bus will tip or lose control, should the overweigh top start to sway too much. Most drivers know this and this is why most drive slowly, lack of sleep, a misjudgement of speed, and poor braking will lead to accidents. In the case of the latest accident, prob. travelling in the fast lane, plus the above problems would not allow the driver to take dastic action, a bit like travel in a boat, the wallowing action of steering and poor braking. And lets not forget the Saraburi nightmare truck driver, of which there are many, didn't help and did cause the fatal actions in the first place.

Edited July 26, 2013 by phetpeter

[rkidlad]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

Union Carbide?

Philip Morris?

Nestle?

James Hardy?

Joe Bloggs?

My parents?

Neighbours?

Any external factor?

[minikev]

Does anyone license the gas conversions which seem to explode often? Are they fitted / modified by tradesmen that have learned how to seal etc. I have removed gas conversions from vehicles with bad wiring leaking, gas and lines running very close to hot exhausts.Basically ticking time bombs. Perhaps the government should take a look at training people to do that job correctly while they are at it.

[theblether]

I was on one of these double deckers yesterday, the step height from the top deck is ridiculous and dangerous. I counted 52 people on the top deck, in an emergency you would be seriously struggling to get out quickly. You could be sure that panic would cause a fall and or stampede.

What's the chances of the police pulling over all these buses and putting them off the road? None.

Even if the police pulled them over, a hundred baht would change hands and off you go.

Yup no one is taking responsibility, everyone is just filling their boots up.

[prakhonchai nick]

The UK has Health & Safety Inspectors. They can enforce compliance with rules and regulations on the spot.

Thailand would be well advised to start their own H&S Inspectorate in the interests of their people.

[goltec]

Come on guys,,,,

They are doing the best they can to make it safer...

"Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt is encouraging private operators to install Global Positioning System devices on their buses".

That was exactly the first thing I thought that they should do after I heared about those crashes...

You know what, why don't they install that stuff in every kind of vehicle! problem solved.

Sure everything will just be fine and safe after that has been done...........

[moe666]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

This is the same mentality that most businesses have. If not for the regulations that many western countries have and that are enforced you would see the same stuff going on in the states, England, France and you name it.

A case to point this out, the fertilizer plant that exploded in Texas on any given day had excess amounts of dangerous fertilizer stored there and this seemed to be common practice there. Businesses want to make money no matter where they are located they could careless for the safety and well being of there customers unless the government that oversees them make rules and reegulations to ensure it citizens safety and well being

[Thai at Heart]

The UK has Health & Safety Inspectors. They can enforce compliance with rules and regulations on the spot.

Thailand would be well advised to start their own H&S Inspectorate in the interests of their people.

They would become overnight billionaires.

Just think every year how many accidents there are at theme parks alone in Thailand, that would normally result in damages of millions elsewhere in the world. That is just one tiny industry. If an H&S inspector started on the transport industry, it would result in BILLIONS of baht having to be paid to get the trucks, buses, cars and taxis up to scratch.

Would do wonders for the traffic congestion though. Half the buses in Bangkok would be off the road in a minute, and a huge amount of taxis also. The BTS might get a little crowded though.

[jambodave]

Ah Ah! Thai buses! They are a joke, like Thai police.

Look at buses in Malaysia. You will see a big difference: No super-high double deck shitty buses with poor interior and cramped seats but standard single deck with normal seats.

HEY THAILAND! Look at your more developed neighbors and copy them! (edit: copy with same quality or better...)

Edit2: And hire good drivers! Not childish ones who like to race with other bus drivers.

There are no good drives in Thailand.In the U.K. it can take up to 7 days to get a licence for a bus(coach).The first question you are asked when taking the test in U.K. is "What is a drivers first priority?" The answer is " The safety and comfort of you passengers"

[scotbeve]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

Union Carbide?

Philip Morris?

Nestle?

James Hardy?

Illuminati, elitists, the 1%, etc......

[drdoom6996]

So the moral is, if you build a buss that is unsafe, overload it, don't maintain it properly, and have it driven by untrained drivers.......<deleted> happens.

Seems to me that you are correct. But add the GPS so they can blame someone afterwards. And do the drivers actually know how high the bus is and how low the bridges are that the bus must past under?

[seajae]

I was almost cleaned up by one of these busses on Tuesday on my ranong visa run. I came over a hill and a double decker was passing about 10 cars over double lines coming towards me, he flashed his lights at me but I was at the extreme left of the road driving through the roadside trees to get away from him already. The bloody idiot kept coming and swung hard to his left to just miss me and the bus almost rolled over, we would have been squashed. These busses are a menace and the drivers are totally inept at driving, trouble is the companies pay those in charge too much money for them to do anything about it other than offer this typical "we will fix it" crap.l

[3SoiDogNight]

Now you see why many Thais chose to drive their own car. It's much safer than riding these buses.

Last week I saw one of these buses with a busted suspension on one side. The bus was leaning to the right at about a 75 degree angle. It was speeding along full of passengers on the Chaeng Wattana tollway at about 100 km/h.

I had to speed up to pass it just because it looked like it was about to tip over.

[koto]

Aloha

The few times, "I had" to travel by van or bus, I have found the seat-belts are, either wrapped around the seat in such a way, or not there, it becomes almost or impossible,

to undo and wear, It should be mandatory, all passengers wear their seat-belts, many deaths have been because of, un-belted passengers, of course speed, wreck-less,

immature driving, texting,talking, following to close, one hand driving, (if had a flat) could jerk steering wheel into oncoming or off the road, hung-over, not enough sleep or

a big lack of driving experience...

I ride shotgun in vans or I don't ride at all, I need to keep an eye on speedometer and driver, yes a locked, unbreakable, speed governor or a loud buzzer if exceeding the speed,

Camera on the driver might also make a difference for the better, can't get any worse!!!

[deecee10]

"Substandard materials" are in fact the standard materials in Thailand.

[SICHONSTEVE]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

Just about every Thai in a government position.

Exactly, No different to Yingluck using her disastrous populist policies that are fast ruining Thailand, solely to hold on to her support base.

Is this really in the best interests of the people??

[allalong]

Nobody seems to have highlighted that it was deemed far more important the buses have GPS tracking to trace them in the "inevitable" accident than improving safety and enforcing regulations.Twas ever thus in LOS

[hellodolly]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

They picked it up from the western countries. The only difference is the laws were changed in the western countries and the bus companies had to obey them. Payoffs got them no where. They can change their laws here but there will be no enforcement..

It would be nice if one could check and see if the various companies were living up to good standards. I am very sure their are a few out there. Also put the drivers through a rigorous driving course. That also would make a big difference. Get the government involved. We know they don't enforce traffic laws but make the BIB start doing it on the buses as their are many lives involved in each accident.

The last buss accident was not the fault of the bus. But there are valid arguments that can be put forth as to the safety of the bus after the accident in relationship to getting out of it. Never know if they would have made a difference or not. But they could still make it easier in future cases.

[Thai at Heart]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

They picked it up from the western countries. The only difference is the laws were changed in the western countries and the bus companies had to obey them. Payoffs got them no where. They can change their laws here but there will be no enforcement..

It would be nice if one could check and see if the various companies were living up to good standards. I am very sure their are a few out there. Also put the drivers through a rigorous driving course. That also would make a big difference. Get the government involved. We know they don't enforce traffic laws but make the BIB start doing it on the buses as their are many lives involved in each accident.

The last buss accident was not the fault of the bus. But there are valid arguments that can be put forth as to the safety of the bus after the accident in relationship to getting out of it. Never know if they would have made a difference or not. But they could still make it easier in future cases.

The percentage in compliance is probably very low. Just look at the amount of overly-high tour buses there are around. I have always wondered why they appeared disproportionate in their design. Well now we know. They are death traps. Great.

[hellodolly]

The truck jumped the lane and caused the head on collision, not the bus. So, why focusing the article about bus safety and not about concrete blocks to be implemented to avoid the same fate in case of future drivers falling asleep ?

and miss a golden opportunity to bash.

Not gonna happen on Thai Visa

[wanderluster]

can you imagine.... money over safety!!!! in thailand!!! absolutely shocking

[MobileContent]

I was on one of these double deckers yesterday, the step height from the top deck is ridiculous and dangerous. I counted 52 people on the top deck, in an emergency you would be seriously struggling to get out quickly. You could be sure that panic would cause a fall and or stampede.

What's the chances of the police pulling over all these buses and putting them off the road? None.

It would be great if you would mention the bus company

[hgma]

Thai logic is that laws exist to be broken.

The provincial courts are overloaded

Prisons overcrowded and police relaxed.

On the other hand, imagine the chaos when the law suddenly will be strictly enforced?

Then even the police will get overstressed.

As in all my comments on these sort of issues, there was loss of live involved.....Thai and/or foreigner is of no importance.

If we read between the lines there is no such things as Thai Rak Thai only Thai Rak Ngern.

Sad really!

[johncfarrow]

Hello just to add my comments.I am from a motor engineering background. I worked in the workshops of a large steelworks in the north of england and also with the Go Ahead group in Wallsend norrth east. The UK has strict laws on bus operators and other PSV vehicles. All of these vehicles have speed limiters and Tachograph recorders which record the drivers hours ,stops and speed over the journey.Drivers hours are regulated and heavy fines for both driver and operator are issued. The problem with Thailand is because the salaries are low they drive longer hours to get a decent wage. This would mean higher fares and wworking Thais who have 300baht per day wages would penalise their travel.If they increased the minumun wage then both the driver and the bus operator could employ more drivers and implement the UK system.Incidently I am not a rich falang and have travelled on many buses as I have lived in Thailand for almost 10 years. I have seen drivers good and badand always thank the good driver as I am getting off my destination.

[Thai at Heart]

We all know this. Big question is - where does this blatant disregard for people's safety and must make as much possible money at all costs mentality come from?

They picked it up from the western countries. The only difference is the laws were changed in the western countries and the bus companies had to obey them. Payoffs got them no where. They can change their laws here but there will be no enforcement..

It would be nice if one could check and see if the various companies were living up to good standards. I am very sure their are a few out there. Also put the drivers through a rigorous driving course. That also would make a big difference. Get the government involved. We know they don't enforce traffic laws but make the BIB start doing it on the buses as their are many lives involved in each accident.

The last buss accident was not the fault of the bus. But there are valid arguments that can be put forth as to the safety of the bus after the accident in relationship to getting out of it. Never know if they would have made a difference or not. But they could still make it easier in future cases.

Are you seriously saying that they learnt these attitudes from the west?

[GeorgeO]

So the moral is, if you build a buss that is unsafe, overload it, don't maintain it properly, and have it driven by untrained drivers.......<deleted> happens.

......and, you should be made to face the consequences.

Good on the guy for telling it like it is, but it's not as if we didn't already know how poor their safety record is...!

[Espinete]

"In the case of double-decker buses, the windows on the top deck have reinforced glass, which is difficult to break, making it tough for passengers to escape in case of an emergency, Assistant Professor Somprasong Sattayamallee said".

What a nonsense, not using reinforced glass would result in daily damage apart that it can not hold the stress of the body movements. Glass is a part of the structure / strength of a bus. Using normal glass is not possible. A bus should simply have enough emergency hammers.

Already in 1990 I have been driven buses in Spain with + 72 persons in a double decker (Van Hool, Setra, Neoplan) with 4.10 mter height. The chassis used in Thailand are often Volvo, Scania. No problem to hold more then 70 passengers.

It all comes to normal responsible driving, no speeding (100 km/h is the max.), good quality tyres (Michelin, Bridgestone) and no cheap Chinese makes or re-cuts until the yarns. Or a driver with a cell.phone glued to his ear doing + 100 km/h on a highway steering 1 handed in a curve.......that made me decide in February 2013 never to use a Thai bus anymore until safety mentality has been improved.

Driving a bus; always 2 (strong) hands on the steering wheel. A tyre burst on a front wheel can always happen.

[how241]

So they've licensed a few imported cars and that causes a huge stink, but hundreds of illegal buses is all good.

+1

[newermonkey]

Thais are coming from a history of lousy quality, they don't seem to know the difference as Northern Europeans do.

Such as:

LOUSY QUALITY; buses, driver competence, equipment, staff, etc..

Everything in Thailand seems to be lousy quality (except imported) food, homes cars, services, roads, electricity supply, staff, schools, etc, etc...

There seems to be a total lack of pride in doing anything well, this is from the culture and LOUSY schooling.

When Thailand embraces fission nuclear power I for one will consider leaving before the start button is pressed!!!