Kata hill crash

[hansgruber]

Again, brakes failed and I watched it roll down the embankment.

Deaths caused by another over loaded truck with construction supplies.

Rip to those in the cab.

[Old Croc]

You wouldn't want to be sitting on the dunny in that house watching the truck coming at you!

[hansgruber]

Traffic is banked up down to Green man. Stay away from the hill. Electric works blocking one lane and now this accident opposite. Avoid it.

[hansgruber]

The more I think about it the more I realise this driver chose to try and stop against the guard railing opposed to rolling back onto bikes and cars travelling behind the slow moving truck.

I've never seen something like this eventuate right in front of me before.

[steelepulse]

Coming from Kata towards Chalong on the sharp left hand turn?

[HeavyDrinker]

I understand the coppers are too busy shaking down "foreigners" instead of checking brakes and road worthiness of vehicles...

[KarenBravo]

I understand the coppers are too busy shaking down "foreigners" instead of checking brakes and road worthiness of vehicles...

Not the cops job. Trouble is all these independent surveyors that certify all vehicles for tax. No vehicle ever fails.

[hansgruber]

Coming from Kata towards Chalong on the sharp left hand turn?

Going the other way. Up the hill toward Kata. Just before momtri villa caru. I think the house is abandoned.

[PST]

Another one today approx. 15.20 opposite the Hilton on Patak Road,Thai male lying motionless at the side of the road,several cars and motorbikes seemed to be involved.

PST.

[NamKangMan]

It looks a bad accident, but can you confirm there were deaths, or this is just your assumption?

[hansgruber]

It looks a bad accident, but can you confirm there were deaths, or this is just your assumption?

Assumption as I seen the cab is squashed into a house after tumbling 40 metres.

[steelepulse]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

[KarenBravo]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

That requires knowledge and possibly driver training.

[hansgruber]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

Yes. Exactly.

He made a choice. Either roll back into the traffic of bikes and cars or use the guard rail to slow the momentum. Guard rail gave out.

[nedkellylives]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

Cannot put a truck in first gear while going backwards, amergency brake probably not working

[NamKangMan]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

That requires knowledge and possibly driver training.

So does knowing just how much load a vehicle can haul - safely.

[LivinginKata]

So this lorry was going up the hill towards Kata, couldn't make it and rolled back, correct? Wonder why he didn't kill the engine and apply the emergency brake while putting the truck in first gear?

That requires knowledge and possibly driver training.

Exactly. How many times does this happen on the Kathu - Patong Hill. I see it all the time on the hill out of Kata, bus tries to get up in hill in the wrong gear (too far up the box), no thought to engage a crawler gear in advance of the hill, engine stalls, driver panics, poorly maintained brakes don't hold, bus goes backward down hill.

[TaoNow]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

[LivinginKata]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

I must disagree - it is a routine event. Plenty of documented news reports, plus what I see with my own eyes.

[nedkellylives]

Accdents happen all the time in Phuket with poorly maintained buses and trucks because of

unqualified drivers and poorly maintained overloaded vehicles, any one who has not seen this

must be drving around with there eyes closed

[madmitch]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

A while ago a water truck went through the railings pretty close to the location of this accident. Add the well-documented Patong hill "brake failures" and a couple of incidents on the Karon and Kamala Hill and I'd say that while not exactly routine, accidents of this nature are much more common in Phuket and Thailand than in most other places.

[NamKangMan]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

I must disagree - it is a routine event. Plenty of documented news reports, plus what I see with my own eyes.

+ 1.

There will be another one next week.

[Shot]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

In the past 3 months, I have seen 3 dead people in the street between Kamala and Patong. One of them had most of his brains spattered all over the road, the other two motionless on the side of the road. Can't count how many non-lethal accidents I have seen in same period.

IT IS ROUTINE.

[IrishIvan]

I have lost count of how many accidents I have been involved in or seen . I agree its routine

Edited December 19, 2013 by IrishIvan

[merijn]

Whatever happened the poor guy is probable dead and maybe some wife / kids lost their husband / father.

[SuzieQ]

During three years (2009-11) of weekly biking from Phuket town to Kata and Patong I never witnessed an accident like that which is described in this post. Day or night.

Just saying... it is not a routine event

A while ago a water truck went through the railings pretty close to the location of this accident. Add the well-documented Patong hill "brake failures" and a couple of incidents on the Karon and Kamala Hill and I'd say that while not exactly routine, accidents of this nature are much more common in Phuket and Thailand than in most other places.

Even though deadly accidents seem to be routine on the island, I agree with TaoNow here. The water truck that went through the railing near the boxing stadium was four years ago. There was a bus with Chinese tourists in the same spot two years ago, though. Been driving over that hill for 12 years now, and in that time, there were three water trucks and a bus crash, as far as I know. Since the road was widened a few years back, there have been less problems.

The driver of a large truck containing tiles, which crashed on Patong hill a few years back, said that people should not drive to close behind heavy trucks going uphill, but leave a lot of space. When the truck does not make it (which should not happen with regular maintenance), they are able to back down, or stop, and do not have to resort to the awful option of crashing it in a ditch (or all the way down the hill) for the safety of everyone behind. But I often see people less than a meter behind a big truck, and then breaking hard when the truck has to change gears and slows dramatically.

And while I'm talking about stupidity: All those people parking along the road, while halfway downhill and just before the corner.... just to cross the road on foot, have a little look and a picture for Facebook. How stupid was that. A line of cars until the Green Man, just because of Thai accident tourists... even the local songteaw driver parked his bus to cross the road and have a peek.

[LivinginKata]

Whatever happened the poor guy is probable dead and maybe some wife / kids lost their husband / father.

Thai newspaper reporting that the driver survived. He claimed that he thought he had the speed momemtum to get up the hill without changing to a lower gear. He was wrong, tried to change down, truck rolled back, much as posted earlier in the topic.

[IrishIvan]

Whatever happened the poor guy is probable dead and maybe some wife / kids lost their husband / father.

Thai newspaper reporting that the driver survived. He claimed that he thought he had the speed momemtum to get up the hill without changing to a lower gear. He was wrong, tried to change down, truck rolled back, much as posted earlier in the topic.

I bet thats a mistake he wont make again. He had good sense not to wipe out the people behind him

[eezergood]

I drove past just after, trying to get through the picture takers & was sure the driver was dead

[hansgruber]

That's crazy luck to survive that fall into a house. The cab was crumbled.

That guy will be kissing his amulet today.