Van crash in Sa Kaeo kills two, injures nine tourists

[somchaismith]

Did the guy on the bicycle die too?

[sin]

well for this case is obviously the fault of the truck driver which they have no discipline on the road as the size of their vehicle allow them to get unharm.. i driving quite often for long distance trip & really this truck driver just cut to the right lane just bcoz the truck in front are moving slow.

many of the times that will jam up the whole second lane.

of course the van driver are speeding as usual that's why he could not even react in time.i have personally experience last week quite similiar as this.during my visa run to laos . the difference are my van driver were able to steer away to avoid a head collision.the best part are he is driving at about 140 km/hr & was raining heavily. the whole trip supposing to be 12 hour but he took 8 hour to reach the destination.

[flyingdoc]

This time it does not appear to be the van driver's fault.

One of the other contributing factors at night , when so many of the accidents happen, is the 'soft light' policy adopted in Thailand.

In Europe most people driving without adequate headlights could easily end up being prosecuted. It is frankly dangerous, and bright lighting should now be made compulsory. Is this a non-confrontational dim lighting policy gone mad?

[mickyboy]

the thai sreets very very danger !!!

never a words spoken so true pattaya phuket hell holes and some places bangkok let alone the palaces i not been to

[ikan]

the thai sreets very very danger !!!

never a words spoken so true pattaya phuket hell holes and some places bangkok let alone the palaces i not been to

go to Baghdad or Damascus, you will be safer there

[Bpuumike]

Not wanting to defend the van drivers but has no one read the first post!!!

If a truck suddenly veers across the road into your lane just in front of you then there's not much any one can do about it.

I know it's usually the van drivers fault but don't hang this one out to dry when it obviously wasn't.

HL

Don't think anyone (not you HL) read the first post carefully either.

It was the idiot Farang/Somchai turning into the gas station who started the train of events.

I was reminded only yesterday, fortunately safe but stirred up,the family too, how hard it is to get out of that kind of 'squeeze'

[Bpuumike]

the thai sreets very very danger !!!

never a words spoken so true pattaya phuket hell holes and some places bangkok let alone the palaces i not been to

go to Baghdad or Damascus, you will be safer there

Hmm? Not sure, but Kurdistan most definitely, walking the streets too!

[Bpuumike]

can feel a 'if you don't like the place,don't go/go home' vibe surfacing....boring.

Why do you post comment?

[Larry001]

Thailand is a joke now.

[chooka]

what to say , one more time, the very bad driving habit and lack in knowledge of Thai drivers cost the life of innocent people . I just wonder some time if the government is aware of those accidents as nothing ever change. Time to act ... or at least inform the tourists about the danger of Thai roads and Thai drivers.

The crash killed the driver and a 54-year-old Taiwanese tourist.

Apparently no Thais involved in this one.

[Yunla]

When getting a Taxi in Bangkok, I always pick the oldest driver available. If he has survived 40~ years on these roads, you know he is a Survivor. And has probably got reflexes like a flying Ninja Master.

[slipperylobster]

Hiring Vans here is no different than paying for your own bullet at an execution. Putting everybody at risk in the hopes of squeezing out one more trip for the day. Heavy financial penalties and criminal chargers for negligence (if the driver should survive) might deter these clowns from taking chances.

[connda]

I remember some clown of a driver who drove a minivan from CM to Mae Sai for a visa run. On the way back to CM, the driver would look in the reaview mirror and say, "I think my driving scare you mai?" and then laugh "Ha ha ha ha ha."

Yeah, his driving scared the crap out of me.

Now that I live here, the only way I travel is in my own car, on my own bike, locally with a Thai friend with a Tuk Tuk who I trust (he doesn't drive like an idiot), or by air. I now stay away from buses, minivans, and derailment prone trains.

[connda]

I've been watching these sickening accounts of slaughter on thai roads for years now. If thai authorities choose to do nothing then you can only think that the death of a dangerous driver prevents them from repeating this behaviour( a bit like natural selection as per Darwin's theory However the death and injury to their innocent victims is a different matter

I got pulled over by the BIB today and fined a couple of hundred baht for not having my new tax sticker stuck to the lower left corner of my window. Dang new tax tag was still in the glove compartment. I'm sure the BIB was saving lives left and right at that highway road block.

To bad they don't pay as much attention toward reckless driving and excessive speeding. But it's much more comfortable sitting under a roadside sala enjoying the cool breeze coming off the rice fields, issuing tickets for missing stickers, unworn seatbeats, and the like while chatting it up with those unlucky enough to get ticketed.

[JO1973]

The driving here is remarkably bad, even by developing world standards. There seems to be this hyper-aggressive 'me first' mentality seen in the vast majority of drivers which is a shocking juxtaposition to Thailand's 'Land of Smiles' tag line. Even just driving to 7-11 you have to deal with people purposely cutting you off, riding your tail in a residential area, to overt threatening -- my girlfriend told me of an experience she had when a male (I'll refrain from using 'man') pulled a box cutter on her because she would not move out of his way fast enough.

What should be considered is a special licence for tourist bus drivers and a test that qualifies them as a safe operator. Not that it would make anyone else a better driver, but it would at least be an extra bit of training and piece of mind for tourists.