April 8, 201411 yr I drive this road several times a week, saw the overturned truck yesterday. This '100 death' section has been undergoing roadworks for months. They are resurfacing with concrete slabs a bit at a time using steel rail shuttering. These works are presently taking up a large portion of the road width. The available road is squeezed into one lane with a negative camber on the wrong side (if you are descending as the I'll fated truck). There are plenty of warning signs before the highly dangerous bit, but the actual traffic management arrangements (virtually non existent) through the roadworks and the poor temporary driving surfaces that are strewn with loose gravel, grit and potholes must have been a contributory factor. It is far too easy to loose it here especially with a bit of a top heavy load and even with fully functioning brakes. I can sympathise with the driver, he was given a pig of a job, in a pig of a truck on a pig of a road.
April 8, 201411 yr ask the lawyer, yesterday, on TV: is it illegal to transport people in the back of truck/pickup. yes it is illegal... http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/717059-children-in-back-of-truck/?utm_source=newsletter-20140408-1509&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news thai lawyer... yeah yeah blah blah.... and the weather was fine!
April 9, 201411 yr ask the lawyer, yesterday, on TV: is it illegal to transport people in the back of truck/pickup. yes it is illegal... Here's the link. It is not illegal http://newsletter.thaivisa.com/sendy/l/By3imToH5bY7Z475z7632blQ/hNXnKKJJjfzT6gDFnoEX892g/wEDuJmSn2LVcndPYToR1gA
April 9, 201411 yr I drive this road several times a week, saw the overturned truck yesterday. This '100 death' section has been undergoing roadworks for months. They are resurfacing with concrete slabs a bit at a time using steel rail shuttering. These works are presently taking up a large portion of the road width. The available road is squeezed into one lane with a negative camber on the wrong side (if you are descending as the I'll fated truck). There are plenty of warning signs before the highly dangerous bit, but the actual traffic management arrangements (virtually non existent) through the roadworks and the poor temporary driving surfaces that are strewn with loose gravel, grit and potholes must have been a contributory factor. It is far too easy to loose it here especially with a bit of a top heavy load and even with fully functioning brakes. I can sympathise with the driver, he was given a pig of a job, in a pig of a truck on a pig of a road. Negative camber ??? plenty of warning signs ??? poor temporary driving surface???? It is far too easy to loose it with a top heavy load ??? These factors are not good-------------- IF A YOUNG CHILD IS DRIVING. You said he was given a pig of a job ????? you can sympathize with the driver???? A well trained driver knowing the road drives according to the conditions. A well trained driver NOT knowing the road would drive even more cautiously . If it was a pig of a truck and was not really roadworthy, he should not take it on the road, plus NEVER have people on TOP. Sorry---but I have no sympathy with the driver at all, and would add to your list-----HE was a pig of a driver.
April 9, 201411 yr I drive this road several times a week, saw the overturned truck yesterday. This '100 death' section has been undergoing roadworks for months. They are resurfacing with concrete slabs a bit at a time using steel rail shuttering. These works are presently taking up a large portion of the road width. The available road is squeezed into one lane with a negative camber on the wrong side (if you are descending as the I'll fated truck). There are plenty of warning signs before the highly dangerous bit, but the actual traffic management arrangements (virtually non existent) through the roadworks and the poor temporary driving surfaces that are strewn with loose gravel, grit and potholes must have been a contributory factor. It is far too easy to loose it here especially with a bit of a top heavy load and even with fully functioning brakes. I can sympathise with the driver, he was given a pig of a job, in a pig of a truck on a pig of a road. It's the road from Phu Rua to Wang Saphun 3002-2140? cuts out about 15k's instead of going through Loei. Hardly a good road to be taking a 10 wheeler down.
April 9, 201411 yr The main Phu Rhua Loei road is also a hairy mountain descent in poor state of repair, not much to choose between then. Several accidents on it last week too. Jinjag- he was following orders, driving a vehicle owned, altered and maintained by others. For all you know he was driving cautiously and the truck simply couldn't handle the conditions presented regardless of his speed or gear selection. By electing to slam the barrier early before the tight bend around the cliff he may well have saved lives, he could be a hero. Neither you or I will ever know for certain. My point is that the slap hazard way traffic is handled through roadworks adds to the danger, this applies throughout Thailand or hadn't you noticed?
April 9, 201411 yr This may sound like a very insentative post,but why do we bother commenting on these accidents.The badger cull in the UK gets more attention from the public than this.
April 12, 201411 yr <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script> Brake fluid boils. You should do a little more research before posting. Air breaks have the same trouble but there is no break fluid to boil. maybe you should do a little researching, try air assisted hydraulic brakes, some countries use them, ,japan uses them, truck could have been jap import or just a very old truck right. And most trucks and busses even very old ones have an engine stop break. some sort of a kill switch. but guessing this was malfunctioning too or just tottally unknown to the driver. Then again a warned man should count for a 100 in this case..... but hey they are thai...
April 15, 201411 yr I,ve done close to 100k k's around LOS and have extensive heavy vehicle experience back home and i'm not sure if ever heard the noise of an activated exhaust brake....It's quite loud and a very distinguishable noise. Not sure if they don't have them fitted on heavy vehicles here (can't imagine why not) or whether no one uses it?
April 28, 201411 yr Just re-jigging this post, better late than never. A current investigation in Aust. to a triple road fatality, this is a typical investigation to any road death and shows the depth of investigation as to the cause and fault. Can you ever imagine this level of investigation in Thailand -- seems brake failure is the standard cause / finding. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/28/17/14/truckie-had-potentially-fatal-dose-of-methadone-before-killing-three
April 28, 201411 yr I have never known a country that has so many road accidents as Thailand … will they ever learn ? India
April 30, 201411 yr Its 3rd world mentality, blame the politicians, yes the truck was probably old, the driver just doing as told, for fear of losing his job. 60 years ago, the western world grew up, and started to change such practices. Yes Thai is slow, but hey, you expats don,t complain how cheap it is, improve all the safety requirements overnight, you would all go back to your home country cos prices spiral to pay for all. RIP 12 humans. Sent from my GT-P5110 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app
April 21, 201510 yr One year on it's probably worth reporting that the killer hairpin where this,and many deaths, have occurred has been bypassed with a new,much less steep, safer road cut beside it now.
April 21, 201510 yr @Coaster11, well that good news, there is progress in this country no matter how slow or inept it seems sometimes.
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