A Foreigner and 5 five other passengers trapped inside bus after crash

[Bpuumike]

Things are certainly not improving on the Roads and Rails of LOS, figures compiled by the World Health Org. in 2010, showed Thailand at 38.1 reported road deaths per 100.000 inhabitants, With the USA at 10.4. Australia at 6.6. France at 6.4. Germany at 4.7 Sweden at 3.0 and the UK at 2.75.

Much room for improvement, especially in the passenger transport areas.

Ofcourse those numbers are an important indicator, but a more correct way to measure it would be fatalities/travelled kilometers.

And with the very high number of buses on Thailands roads at any given time, I am not so sure, that Thailand is much worse than any other country.

Tried to look for statistics, but couldn't find any for buses only.

Sure there is a lot of not roadworthy buses on the road here, a few high/drunk drivers, but my gut feeling is, if you measured travelled km's and accident rate, Thailand is not doing so badly!

I am only talking buses here!

My thoughts completely. Look at the PM departures and AM arrivals at Mo Chit alone. An amazing amount of bus traffic.

[Foggy Bottom]

Klaus Peter Buhrig. How many nationalities could it possibly be?

Middle name Peter? Might be Israeli?

[boomerangutang]

What sort of penalty is there for the transport company owner/operator? Does he just repair/replace the bus, get another driver, and resume the biz? If there was a fine for the operator of the biz, then perhaps that person would take more concern for the type of drivers he hires, and be concerned about driving hours and what the driver ingests. All concerned should take a look at how various additives affect driving.

>>> Alcohol makes a driver sloppy, slow reactions, reduced coordination, impaired vision.

>>> Speed/meth (ya ba) and/or several caffeine drinks might make a driver a bit more alert, until there are too many hours in a row - then it's a mental crash which could lead to a road crash.

>>> Too much MSG can make a person irritable as well as bring on a headache. Perhaps a small thing, but could exacerbate other factors. An irritable driver is more likely to drive irrationally/aggressively.

[brimacthai]

Yeah but the foreigner was only the passenger... just pay the typical 1K Baht (because you were in the accident) and continue your journey.

[Gummigalgen]

A foreigner trapped inside a bus, along with five other passengers...

Dude...

Alien from other planet (Europe)

[hanno]

If you look at the statics of road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles, Thailand is actually quite far down and only a little above world average. Ahead of Laos and the Philippines though admittedly behind Vietnam (I suspect better than here in Cambodia too, but there are no statistics).

[sirchai]

Klaus Peter Buhrig. How many nationalities could it possibly be?

So many possibilities.

Guess not too many. German, Austrian, or Swiss. Hope they'll do their best. Now comes the second scary part. Staying at a scary hospital. Wish all involved a fully and speedy recovery.-

[yooper2001]

Thailand 29,000 road deaths and they are #6 in the world and I truly believe they want to be #1 (oh well at least it was not a blown out tire excuse)

[laurentbkk]

well it seems its getting harder and harder to find safety on roads here ... when its not the bus its the train etc ...... At least the plane is safe ...for now !

[Porthmadog]

when is enough enough, every day we get a report a bus or van is in an accident.

why cant the government get to grips with real problems; than still haggle about the old prime minister.

peoples lives are worth more than a criminal

[jeffcool]

I'd like to add that the bus driver might have also been undertrained in bus driving. There are safe ways of averting sudden obstacles without flipping a bus over. If it flipped it might have been going too fast and reducing reaction times.

Let me give a farang scooter driving analogy: By looking at the amount of farangs injured in scooter accidents and crashes, one might think scooter driving is inherently dangerous. The truth however is that the farangs don't know what the fuc_k they are doing and have never been on a motorcycle before or own a license or know how to operate one safely for that matter. Locking the front brakes in a sand covered turn seem especially popular.

Back on topic: I think the issue is the low standard for obtaining driver's licenses for various vehicles that are the culprit for the many accidents. There are safe ways of operating a vehicle in any country where you can reduce the risk to extreme outside factors and mitigate the rest of them. One way of being safe when approaching intersections where you risk being crosscut is obviously to slow down.

An other way to be safe would be to pass an exam to get your driving license.... Thai or farang....

[Munger]

If you look at the statics of road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles, Thailand is actually quite far down and only a little above world average. Ahead of Laos and the Philippines though admittedly behind Vietnam (I suspect better than here in Cambodia too, but there are no statistics).

Thailand 29,000 road deaths and they are #6 in the world and I truly believe they want to be #1 (oh well at least it was not a blown out tire excuse)

[cup-O-coffee]

I am noticing a pattern here that seems to continue unabated. It is typically Thai in its method of regaling us with events and occurances. I notice that articles revolving around vehicular incidents always take the backwards approach, and get the headline describing the circumstances rather than the causes.

Why not intelligently make the headline read the root cause and have the article support the before, during and after of that root cause?

"Unlicensed motorbike driver drives head on into traffic, killing herself and occupants of the car she hit"

"Drunk minivan driver goes off road, killing all passengers. Flees the Scene"

"Truck Driver impaired with cocaine runs red light and kills 14 students in his path"

"Poll shows that majority of Thai drivers are not skilled enough to operate under the simplest of emergency road conditions"

"Undercover reporter reveals that Licensing agencies are licensing people without condusting proper training and skill tests"

"Thailand number one in the world on crackdowns and HUBS, yet undercover report shows nothing ever gets accomplished"

(Place yours here...)

Oh yeah. I forgot. We wouldn't want to put to much push towards the truth now, would we? Avoidance. FACE. Respect for whatever and all that bollacks.

[brimacthai]

I travel NCA between Surin and Bkk regularly. One thing I like is that they change drivers 1/2 way through the trip.

Problem now is that they have to change the buses 1/2 way through the trip.

Sorry not sure I follow that... unless NCA have changed their policy since last weekend they only change drivers... mind you I was asleep so they could have moved me as well!

[ginjag]

I travel NCA between Surin and Bkk regularly. One thing I like is that they change drivers 1/2 way through the trip.

Problem now is that they have to change the buses 1/2 way through the trip.

Sorry not sure I follow that... unless NCA have changed their policy since last weekend they only change drivers... mind you I was asleep so they could have moved me as well!

I meant that jokingly ( sorry) because of the amount of coach crashes halfway through the trip. (replacement coach)

[ableguy]

Again? Road safety in Thailand is far below international standards. Dangerous to travel in this country. TAT should force better safety standards (not only on the road, in train travel also). Nearly every week derailments.

dream on bro, nobody gives a shi.....,tp

[minikev]

If someone in the transport mafia used his nog he could set up a SAFE bus company. Name it SAFE Travel or something similar. He could charge 20% more for a ticket, he could use the extra 20% to have regular brake checks, new tyres and even pay a bonus to the driver for proving he drove safely with the on board camera in the drivers compartment.

I admit the other bus drivers would target them for a while but they may quickly learn that people will pay a little more for their own safety.

[Globeman]

Again? Road safety in Thailand is far below international standards. Dangerous to travel in this country. TAT should force better safety standards (not only on the road, in train travel also). Nearly every week derailments.

How would the TAT, which is basically a marketing department of the govt for tourism, force better road and rail safety?

By lobbying their own government for better transport standards to go with their claim to be a first class tourist destination.

You think they don't express their concerns already? Or should they publicly embarrass the government that sets their budget and appoints them to their jobs? Things are the way they are mostly because of vested interests - that is why the government (or the police that they can't really control) does nothing about this stuff. Some marketing paper pusher at the TAT knows that the only thing they can change by complaining is their standing at the TAT.

[Jim walker]

Once again

[transam]

If someone in the transport mafia used his nog he could set up a SAFE bus company. Name it SAFE Travel or something similar. He could charge 20% more for a ticket, he could use the extra 20% to have regular brake checks, new tyres and even pay a bonus to the driver for proving he drove safely with the on board camera in the drivers compartment.

I admit the other bus drivers would target them for a while but they may quickly learn that people will pay a little more for their own safety.

One problem with your idea. You will not change the mindset of Thai drivers, regardless what they are driving, even with incentives, nor get local folk to pay more for a bus ride .

[Rimmer]

A post all in caps has been removed

[oldsailor35]

Just forget about the condition of the bloody roads.

The drivers are all self taught here, usually from a very young age, and really have no idea of defensive driving. They just get in and give it a go. I seriously doubt if any of them have had any constructive training whatsoever.

Edited November 7, 2013 by oldsailor35

[oldsailor35]

I wonder if the driver was handicapped in some way, he didn't flee the scene like most of his compatriots. The company was also woefully slow in painting over their logo ala Thai airways.

Read it again, the driver was one of those trapped inside..............he could'nt run away, hence the nasty truck turning against him...................That should do the trick !

[hon123]

Those number are scary