Phuket Poll: Better driver training best way to stop Patong Hill carnage

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Poll: Better driver training best way to stop Patong Hill carnage
Phuket Gazette -

Training tour bus drivers will make them safer and put an end to the killing spree on Phuket’s notorious Patong Hill, says Phuket Gazette online poll. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: More than half of the respondents to a Phuket Gazette poll said that better training for tour bus drivers was the best way to stop the carnage on Patong Hill.

Two people crushed to death by a runaway bus in December sent officials scrambling for ideas on how to prevent more needless deaths on the notorious slope .

In response, the Gazette asked our readers: “What is the best way to prevent further deadly bus accidents on Patong Hill?”

More than 1,100 people took part in the poll, with 53.3% of respondents choosing “better training for drivers” as their top choice.

Second favorite was the option to build the long-awaited Patong Tunnel , garnering 19.7% of the votes cast.

The option to “Change legal standards for bus brakes in Thailand to ensure full redundancy” scored 11.8% of the votes, with enforcing a ban on all large vehicles from using the Patong Hill road close behind with 9.6%.

Allowing buses to use the hill road only to exit Patong scored a meager 4.3%, while lowest on the list of respondents’ preferences was to enforce a ban on all buses from other provinces from using the hill, as they are unfamiliar with it (1.3%).

To check the full poll results, click here.

Have an idea for a poll? Contact us with your suggestions at [email protected]

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-Poll-Better-driver-training-best-to/27972#ad-image-0

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-03-30

[toonsai]

"Better driver training"!?!?! To be better, it should already exist...

Problems to be solved, in an ideal World:

1) Proper driving test and license

2) Systematic alcohol and drug test for buses drivers

3) Regular mandatory maintenance for buses

4) Mandatory seat belts for passengers

5) Proper working hours for drivers

6) Adequate standard for bus modifications

7) Police doing their job and effectively making sure Public Safety is a priority; not only filling their pocket.

Why Thailand does not learn from developed countries who have decades of experiences and improvements? Of course it might eventually increase the cost of transportation in Thailand.

At the moment NONE of the above 7 points exist in Thailand = CARNAGE on the road.

[espinoza]

Better driving training only for the drivers that plan to drive over the hill ? If they started train any driver in HOR (hub of roadkills) it would be much better. I have never met any Thai capable of moving a vehicle from a to b safe.

It is impossible for Thais looking further than 2 meters in front of the vehicle. They behave like monkeys in the traffic.

[robertthebruce]

This carnage is not only unique to ''Phuket'' its all over ''Thailand'', the Government should be doing something about this..

But i wont hold my breath, thats for sure

[jpeg]

Better driving training only for the drivers that plan to drive over the hill ? If they started train any driver in HOR (hub of roadkills) it would be much better. I have never met any Thai capable of moving a vehicle from a to b safe.

It is impossible for Thais looking further than 2 meters in front of the vehicle. They behave like monkeys in the traffic.

The driving test on Phuket is really quite stringent. The test in Phang Nga for instance, isn't. But the difference in the driving mentality - me first/bat out of hell and devil take the hindmost, together with lack of traffic law enforcement(and that includes farang)is why people will continue to die at an alarming rate of knots on Phuket's roads.

Yes driving in Thailand is bad everywhere, but there's something about the environment on Phuket in particular makes it far more deadly. Concomitant with rapid over development perhaps?

Edited March 30, 2014 by jpeg

[chooka]

They actually had to take a poll to determine if better driver training was required? I thought it was very plain to see that the drivers are incompetent. Training should have always been mandatory before they got behind the wheel.

[hutchings1963]

Better training its got to be laugh just look next time you see a bike comeing out of a road if they are turning left they dont even look right,just why there isnt more deaths in really dont know,no helmets rideing with flip flops on its a joke,just go to any school here at 3.30 in the afternoon see how many underage kids have bikes,you dont have to worry they havent got licences so if your in a accident it will your fault not theres.

[belg]

i bet if they asked the taxi & tuk tuk maffia, they asked for a ban of busses and only taxis and tuk tuk's should be allowed... the only accident then, will be in your wallet with a steep decline

[yourauntbob]

"Better driver training"!?!?! To be better, it should already exist...

Problems to be solved, in an ideal World:

1) Proper driving test and license

2) Systematic alcohol and drug test for buses drivers

3) Regular mandatory maintenance for buses

4) Mandatory seat belts for passengers

5) Proper working hours for drivers

6) Adequate standard for bus modifications

7) Police doing their job and effectively making sure Public Safety is a priority; not only filling their pocket.

Why Thailand does not learn from developed countries who have decades of experiences and improvements? Of course it might eventually increase the cost of transportation in Thailand.

At the moment NONE of the above 7 points exist in Thailand = CARNAGE on the road.

sprinkle in some accountability and the above list would solve most of the driving issues across the country.

[Halion]

Don't just stop with buses. Apply this new found wisdom over all forms of transportation both public and private. pass the legislation and then get the RTP to enforce the regulations rather than just sitting around on their ass waiting to "rush to the scene of an accident"

[paymaster]

If they start training now it should be safe to negotiate Patong Hill in 10 to 15 years, Oh wait. Perhaps in the meantime they could institute some immediate steps like more signs, more strict policing policies, safety ramps.etc etc.

[wilcopops]

Driver training? yes certainly - stop the carnage? NOT A CHANCE! - so long as the authorities think they can tackle single issues they are on a hiding to nothing.

[wilcopops]

The fact that this was a poll shows how little the respondents know about road safety.

[janpharma]

Is there a training at all? I don't think so...when I went for my drivers license a few years ago I saw people arriving in their own pik-up's (not having a license) who came for the 7th time and didn't pass the test....and drove back home. Thai roads are full of idiots who don't know how and where to drive, who stay on the right track of the road at 40 KM's / hour speed. They just don't know, don't understand and make same as they conduct a (Kwai) buffalo. I'm sorry to say so...but this is true...

[eXplosief]

Better driving training only for the drivers that plan to drive over the hill ? If they started train any driver in HOR (hub of roadkills) it would be much better. I have never met any Thai capable of moving a vehicle from a to b safe.

It is impossible for Thais looking further than 2 meters in front of the vehicle. They behave like monkeys in the traffic.

Go to Khao Khitchakut National Park during the time people go climb the mountain to follow Buddhas footsteps. Inside the park people are brought up halfway the mountain with cars. Only special trained drivers are allowed there and they drive there with skills i haven't seen much in any other driver around the world.

[mogo51]

Better driving training only for the drivers that plan to drive over the hill ? If they started train any driver in HOR (hub of roadkills) it would be much better. I have never met any Thai capable of moving a vehicle from a to b safe.

It is impossible for Thais looking further than 2 meters in front of the vehicle. They behave like monkeys in the traffic.

I ask the question 'what training'. Any westerner who has a Thai license (I do) and have had to undergo a driving test (I did) notwithstanding 40 plus years driving experience knows why. Watching these Thais passing tests and barely able to start the car, reverse park, brake, drive between objects etc. will quickly understand why there is such carnage on their roads.

Without a doubt they are the worst drivers I have ever encountered, followed closely by the Chinese.

[Cylon]

I think that you would need an IQ test prior to driver training.

[Usual Suspect]

A couple of years back my step-son went to the test-centre for his motorcycle licence..I was bored hanging around for him so went round the back of the building & sat down to watch young men taking the test for a wagon & 'drag' (trailer)...well it was the same test as for a car almost!

These youths never went out on the road, & the only skilled task they had to perform was to back the truck/trailer combo between some poles, & even then the kid jumped out of the cab once he was in-line & 'locked' the drawbar-pivot on the trailer so the whole unit had to go back straight.

Now these kids were over the moon when 20mins later they were doing a lap-of-honor', blowing their air-horns & yes you've guessed it..then barreling out onto the main road <deleted>!

I'm pretty much sure that the standard of training & the 'test' will at the moment be the same for tour-buses.

As a footnote, all these accidents all seem to be deemed as a fault with the vehicle's brakes..mmm?

Well for a start I've never heard an exhaust-brake being used hear..so that means the driver is riding the brakes all the way on these hills.

Air-leaks could be common-place..?

Also please remember that test-station vehicle exaniners & as corrupt as anyone else..so a fistful 0 dollars & the bus has another year's ticket!

[Jonmarleesco]

A killing spree? Someone is getting overly dramatic. No one, as far as I understand, is running around Phuket, murdering people at random; hence it's prudent to avoid using such phrases, especially when in ignorance of what they actually mean.

Training these drivers is not even half the job. If the training isn't rigorously tested; if the drivers don't fully understand, forget, or ignore whatever they have learnt; if the penalties remain at the current level; if the police, as is all too often the case, fail to enforce the law; then all the training in the world will be for naught.

And what is redundancy in the context: “Change legal standards for bus brakes in Thailand to ensure full redundancy ...”?

[Jonmarleesco]

Two questions, and an observation: I have never seen an L plate on a car here, ever. Just what formal training is there for any driver? And does the 'test' even involve driving on a public road, never mind on a highway or motorway?

And what difference would it make, I wonder, if whistle blowing guards, and motorcycle drivers, were banned from guiding cars into parking spaces, leaving drivers to fend for themselves, and putting anything from a basic Ford or Mazda to daddy's top-of-the-range Ferrari at risk of damage?