My wife called and she said she passed a horrible accident between a large tour bus and a van,,,

Past the underpass towards Pimuk 4... she says news is already up at CM108m, but i am having trouble accessing that site.

Traffic was blocked in both directions

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcm108%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DA6P%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official&rurl=translate.google.co.th&sl=th&u=http://www.cm108.com/bbb/index.php/topic/1643-%25E0%25B8%259B%25E0%25B8%25A3%25E0%25B8%25B0%25E0%25B8%25A1%25E0%25B8%25A7%25E0%25B8%25A5%25E0%25B8%25A0%25E0%25B8%25B2%25E0%25B8%259E%25E0%25B8%25AD%25E0%25B8%25B8%25E0%25B8%259A%25E0%25B8%25B1%25E0%25B8%2595%25E0%25B8%25B4%25E0%25B9%2580%25E0%25B8%25AB%25E0%25B8%2595%25E0%25B8%25B8%25E0%25B8%25AB%25E0%25B8%25A1%25E0%25B8%25B9%25E0%25B9%2588-%25E0%25B8%25A3%25E0%25B8%2596%25E0%25B8%259A%25E0%25B8%25B1/&usg=ALkJrhi0c1xE71Z2pFJcr2QrNGmCBxV6SA

Hope everyone survives. Here is a great PR photo for the bus company and TAT.

Edit: Ignore this, a link has already been provided to these photos.

More photos here:

http://www.cm108.com/bbb/index.php/topic/1643-ประมวลภาพอุบัติเหตุหมู่-รถบั/

^ That's a great news pic.

Overall it looks everyone got out of it pretty well.

^ That's a great news pic.

Overall it looks everyone got out of it pretty well.

Chinese are impressed..

Looking at the side of the van, it's a miracle there were no serious injuries...

Amazing that the larger bus flipped over on it's side yet the minibus is upright. Suspect the larger bus must have been going very fast.

A bus, speeding, whatever next! Actually, a bus and a commuter van, only needed a cement truck to also be involved and all the bad guys would be represented.

Brake failure?

Brain failure more likely.

^ That's a great news pic.

Overall it looks everyone got out of it pretty well.

How do you figure that? Can't see all the passengers.

A bus, speeding, whatever next! Actually, a bus and a commuter van, only needed a cement truck to also be involved and all the bad guys would be represented.

And a little uncle from Lamphun in a Mazda Familia, causing the accident but somehow making it through unharmed.

Anyway it's possible the bus flipped though contact with the divider in the middle after (or before) hitting the van and swerving.

Speed is always a factor. Whether excessive, over the speed limit (whatever that is) or not, it still comes down to one or all vehicles going too fast.

Even if the vehicles are barely moving, if one or both cannot stop in time to prevent an accident, someone's going too fast. Something tells me

that they were in a bit of a hurry, as usual.

My 1st guess is that the bus driver had a micro-sleep, hit the median strip, and the carnage followed.

My 2nd guess is that the van tried to split a gap that was too narrow at high speed.

Chances are that long distances, lack of sleep, and maybe illegal substances may be involved in this accident.

From The Nation:

30 injured in Chiang Mai crash

January 29, 2014 4:58 pm

Thirty people were injured when a tour bus collided with a van Wednesday in Chiang Mai's San Sai district.

The accident occurred at noon when the bus, carrying 24 Chinese tourists, emerged from the Mae Khao Intersection tunnel and crashed into a van carrying four European passengers on a nearby ring road.

Police found the wrecked and overturned bus and the wrecked van in the middle of road. The injured had already been sent to hospital.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/30-injured-in-Chiang-Mai-crash-30225501.html

And from Global Times a bit more:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/840133.shtml

I nearly ended up in a smash with one of the big VIP buses decided to just throw his weight around and come right across 3 lanes of traffic as he was joining the traffic from a slip road.

These bus drivers and van drivers should be regulated with advance driving exams taken etc.

Idiots the lot of them.

May the people caught up in this recover quickly.

It never ceases to amaze me how these things happen when there is:

-Perfect visibility

-Perfect road conditions

-Flat terrain

Total lack of :

-Any kind of road discipline

-Any law enforcement of traffic rules, apart from set checkpoints

-Any kind of forward looking beyond the end of the bonnet (hood)

-Any anticipation of what other road users may be about to do

Probably quite a few more

A bus, speeding, whatever next! Actually, a bus and a commuter van, only needed a cement truck to also be involved and all the bad guys would be represented.

No tuk-tuk?

Hope everyone survives. Here is a great PR photo for the bus company and TAT.

that sure is a strange look from the girl at the rear,maybe its her girlfriend hugging the other girl!

At present i am on Koh Chang island,any that have been there will know the road are narrow, steep and winding,most of the driving here has been quite good except for the minivans,what is it with these guys,they have to go at breakneck speed,they have to overtake whatever is in front regardless of it being a blind bend or hill crest,there is a point on the south of the west coast where there is a vicious switchback bend, a large sign informs southbound vehicles to stop and wait for vehicles coming up the hill to traverse the bend first,so i pull over and check,yes a car is coming the other way,so i stop,the minivan behind me pulls out,overtakes me and shoots down around the bend almost forcing the other vehicle of the road into the ditch,he himself had to get so close to the edge he nearly went over,if he had i reckon it would have rolled off the section of road below this and off down the hill into the sea,but as he pulled around me i noticed plenty of garlands hanging from the mirror so what could go wrong,the selfishness of Thai drivers,and especially these mini vans amazes me.