I am not sure if these incidents are common but it does appear to me that a disproportionate number of fatalities involving pick-up truck accidents involve migrant workers. However, the ultimate culprit is yaba and alcohol. Such a tragic incident.

The ultimate culprit is stupidity and arrogance.

These road accident deaths will continue until the Thai government enacts laws to prevent it, which is very unlikely.

The laws exist, for whatever reason they are very rarely enforced.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And laws that are not enforced are just suggestions to this bunch as the police are the worst. And the politician are......................................!

... representing the electorate very well I would say.

Feel very sad for those poor refugees here to work for menial pay as it is better than what is available in their home countries. Tough working and living conditions then die for nothing except the drivers stupidity.

The big mistake the driver made was not filling the pickup with 40 politicians instead.

“I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself”

― Winston Churchill

When it comes to deaths per 100,000 vehicles, Thailand is not even close:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

Why blame the government for this sort of tragedy?

The laws which could minimize accidents like this already exist. The solution lies in the strict and unconditional enforcement of these laws by the police, followed by prosecution of all offenders by an impartial judicial system.

Most governments rarely do their own job well, so how can they be held accountable for not making the police and the courts do theirs? The Thai government hasn't got that authority.

The blame, ultimately, lies primarily with the people who break the laws. But then, who hasn't broken at least one traffic law here? If you're caught, a few banknotes can magically make the problem go away.

Bribery itself is where corruption starts, not solely with those who accept the bribes. Tragic deaths like these are just more of the many unfortunate, but preventable by-products of Thai-ness in action.

RIP to the victims.

It's hard to make a decent living in Thailand. Twice I've had taxi drivers fall asleep on me at traffic lights. Probably working a double shift.

Terribly horrific and sad. Terrible traffic accidents happen in every country, however due to Thailand's lack of enforcement of traffic laws and the employment of undereducated, underpaid and under-equipped law enforcement officers these multiple fatality accidents happen far too often. I was surprised when I took the test to get a driving test that they actually have traffic laws in this country that are similar to other far safer (road wise) countries.

16 people in a pickup truck?

+5 survivors makes 21 !

Sadly typical here though. The BIB will stop you for 200 Baht for no helmet, but it appears that 21 in a truck is operfectly acceptable. You see it every day, pickups, songtels, buses overloaded..................4 on a motorcycle! Nothing is done about it. Noone really cares.

A little warning..
Many years ago I was in Buri Ram at my girls village and she said to me 'You take me swimming?' I said 'ok'.. I had a Toyota truck I rented in BKK.. we got in and right away I felt the truck rocking as a mob of kids ranging from 6 yr olds to 18 yr olds climbed into the back.. 'Oh my Buddha' I said 'the whole frikken village is coming!' "I should not be doing this sweetheart!' I was angry I felt I had been tricked but she begged me.. 'mai pen rai.. not so far teerak'.. So there I was driving a truck with about 8 - 10 kids in the back along some country roads near Buri Ram.. I remember thinking about what could happen if I had an accident.. and what would happen to me.. Jeez it scares me now when I think about it.. at the time it felt like I got tricked into it but to my girl and the kids it was just a fun outing.. I'm sure no one had any bad intentions.. but yes I was very stupid to go along with it.. as it happened we had a nice day out but if that happened to me now I would refuse to take them even though that would have made all the village kids think I was kee neow (mean) and no doubt my girl would have been super disappointed AND lost face.. it's still not even close to being worth it !!

PS was going to attach a photo but not sure how to...

16 dead, 5 injured. So it was the driver with 20 passengers. Nothing un-usual. RIP to the poor victims of the drunken driver.

I wonder if this would qualify for a "Guinness book world record??

16 people in a pickup truck?

Yes it's very possible as shown here.

And it might make one particular idiot (a farang) to reflect on his words written in a post 36 - 48 (same subject) hours ago saying it was OK and an acceptable form of transportation.

Yes it is in a banana country like here where no one gives a shyt about safety.

Most blaming people in the pickup when the obvious problem is a driver taking drugs and drinking at the same time as driving.

Statistically if you count the massive numbers of people being transported in pickups daily I think the numbers are probably not that bad. Most pickups especially lotmai drive slowly and carefully in my experience. Tens of thousands factory workers ride to work this way day after day year after year almost without incident. Why blame the method when its a drunk drugged driver who is driving.

People doing the best they can to support themselves and live a decent life shouldn't be criticized and blamed for a few idiots.

These road accident deaths will continue until the Thai government enacts laws to prevent it, which is very unlikely.

Let's see. Illegal narcotics. Drinking while driving. Speeding. 24 people in a pick up, most of them standing. Illegal immigrants. Did I miss any? That's plenty of law breaking to be going on with. When I go up country I see plenty of highway police and road blocks. It's not laws they're short of, it's law enforcement.

Impressively mangled wreckage, by the way.

maybe they should install 5 CCTV cameras in all pickups

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/672891-thai-govt-wants-to-install-5-cctv-cameras-in-in-all-inter-provincial-buses/?utm_source=newsletter-20131007-1344&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

If the driver lived he would be given a suspended sentence even though his drugs and alcohol killed all the passengers. Then he would be promoted to supervisor. Just ask the poor Chinese girl in Phuket. What in gods name is a drugged out man drunk driving all those poor souls in a pickup truck?

Thais just don't care.

These road accident deaths will continue until the Thai government enacts laws to prevent it, which is very unlikely.

How will enacting more laws solve a enforcement problem.

21 people on a pick up truck?!

The mind boggles!

RIP

16 dead plus 8 survivors =24

I thought a law was passed a couple of years ago limiting the number of passengers in the back of pickups to 2 only

And it was a four door which limits cargo area.

The law!!!!

Drugs + alcohol + youth + no sleep = death.

RIP victims and condolences to families and friends.

Says it all mate........you have to feel sorry for them but trying to warn them is like watching paint dry...R.I.P.

16 people in a pickup truck?

No Lee.

If you follow the news, you would have known that there were 24 people on the pickup.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/672851-thailand-live-monday-7-oct-2013/#entry6897580

At least 16 people were killed in a car accident in Burirum Monday

BANGKOK: -- At least 16 people, most of them Lao nationals, on a pickup were killed when the vehicle slammed into a tree in Burirum province Monday morning.

The vehicle was carrying 24 passengers when the accident happened.

-- The Nation 2013-10-07

Makes you think! No matter our situation, with all our petty problems, at least we have to choice not to get on board an overloaded truck with a drunk/high driver, just to make a living.

So enjoy your life, probably not so bad, compared to lhe lives of many people in this country.

Fel sad for the families of the victims, not only have they lost a loved one, but probably also their main provider.

oh so true. what are we complaining about. makes you realize your luck again. Keep an eye on the roads no matter how safe you drive yourself. they can crash into you too any second of the day....... God rest their souls! what a tragedy.

This is quite common in undeveloped country like Thailand !!!

Sorry I don't think its common AT ALL!

It might not be unusual but it certainly is not common.

You think wrong ! , i see 20+ of these pass the family home everyday and i don't spend all my time looking at traffic , if i did the number would probably treble ,............what was yingluck saying about enforcing laws ??? . such a sad loss of life for nothing in return RIP

“I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself”

― Winston Churchill

When it comes to deaths per 100,000 vehicles, Thailand is not even close:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

so do you believe Churchill or wiki ?? ,........ we all know these numbers are doctored to make Thailand look a safer county .

16 people in a pickup truck?

Yes it's very possible as shown here.

And it might make one particular idiot (a farang) to reflect on his words written in a post 36 - 48 (same subject) hours ago saying it was OK and an acceptable form of transportation.

Yes it is in a banana country like here where no one gives a shyt about safety.

Most blaming people in the pickup when the obvious problem is a driver taking drugs and drinking at the same time as driving.

Statistically if you count the massive numbers of people being transported in pickups daily I think the numbers are probably not that bad. Most pickups especially lotmai drive slowly and carefully in my experience. Tens of thousands factory workers ride to work this way day after day year after year almost without incident. Why blame the method when its a drunk drugged driver who is driving.

People doing the best they can to support themselves and live a decent life shouldn't be criticized and blamed for a few idiots.

I disagree. They assume the driver was on drugs and drunk. Postmortem / Toxicology testing is not standard procedure in Thailand after an accident, unless specifically requested by the drivers family, so we may never really know the truth, from a scientific prospective, if he was actually under the influence of some substance abuse. In the meantime, a drunken drugged out driver, sounds better than having perhaps illegal workers killed in an overloaded pick up.

Its bad enough seeing families etc sitting in the back of pick up trucks, no seatbelts. But its even worse when there is no limit to the number of passengers. Where are the RTP when common sense is needed.

Posts containing overly derogatory and profane comments towards Thais have been removed as well as the replies.

deleted

That's what happens when you have a 3rd world country without laws that protect people. Construction workers are expendable because they work for the rich Thais. Nothing new in Thailand about poor people getting killed, if your government doesn't give a damn then your days are numbered.

my deepest reagrds.....sad sad sad....

Why were they not stopped at the many police checks everywhere enroute and told to belt up such a sad waste of life that could have been avoided, evertime I drive a few miles from BKK I am stopped for something and the something is usually between 200 Baht and 500 Baht, Thailand needs some real police to look after the roads in Thailand and police properly like real police.

This is quite common in undeveloped country like Thailand !!!

Sorry I don't think its common AT ALL!

It might not be unusual but it certainly is not common.

I guess you have not been in Thailand that long

Stupid road accidents that are preventable are the norm here

Over crowded pick up trucks are an every day thing

Crashes on the road with high death tolls are treat as mai pen rai

A Government that is useless and pathetic is a fact in Thailand

These road accident deaths will continue until the Thai government enacts laws to prevent it, which is very unlikely.

The laws exist, for whatever reason they are very rarely enforced.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I believe that laws are for the law abiding and only recognized by such. There will always be those that choose to live a lawless life regardless of how many statutes are enacted or speed signs erected. The best we can hope for is driver/safety education starting early on in school and a combination of public pressure and community policing.