Poipet - Bangkok bus drivers

[alangc]

I travel between the Cambodian Poipet border and Bangkok regulary usually driving myself but occasionally by mini bus. On my last three trips I have have had the bad luck to be driven by a guy who was obviously under the influence of something - weather booze or drugs of some kind who could tell without a blood test!! On the latest trip the driver went into uncontrolled fits of giggles, chatted to himself and kept asking passengers where they wanted to be dropped off time after time while turning his head to look to the rear. Most disconcerting especially as he did this while overtaking!! You can always tell when the driver is not quite with it as they are incapable of keeping the gas pedal steady. The last trip took 6 hours as the driver was unable to concentrate. One wonders that the Thai authorities dont do something like introducing ad hoc drug tests for bus drivers especially given the recent spate of serious accidents involving group transport vehicles. In my mind the priorities are wrong where the authorities are so concerned with implimenting testing for proposed ed visas but seem little concerned with improving the safety of bus transport!!

[craigt3365]

There is supposedly a hotline that the government is running. Not sure if it's any good or if anything is ever done, but I'd for sure call with the van number, plate number, day and time. I'd also call the number on the van and complain. We did that a few weeks ago and they were actually polite and thanked us for the call. Not sure if anything happened, but at least we did something when the nut job cut us off by passing on the left at high speed...with a van full of passengers.

As an avid follower of the news here, I'll never ride in a mini bus again.

http://www.thaigov.go.th/en/news-2/item/84131-id84131.html

[Tomtomtom69]

6 hours? If he was driving like a madman it should have only taken like 3 hours or even less. After all, Rong Kleua Market, next to the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border is a mere 240km from central Bangkok, so if he took 6 hours his average speed would have been a ridiculously low 40km/h. However, falling asleep at the wheel can be just as dangerous as speeding. And the single lane road through rubber plantations between Phanom Sarakham and Sa Kaew (which is currently being upgraded to dual carriageway) don't help matters as lots of blind overtaking, speeding and other dangerous driving maneuvers result in many accidents, including head on collisions on that road.

Did you catch a minivan from the Victory Monument? Those guys take just 3 hours to get to the border - some drive a bit too fast but seriously, without traffic averaging 80km/h you're not really going too fast as that's a reasonable speed. Coming back almost always takes around 4 hours or a bit more though, mainly because the drivers enter Bangkok on the surface roads, dropping off passengers in such places as Rama 9 road, rather than using the expressway.

However, generally I drive to the border too - the last time I didn't was before I had purchased my new car and only used rental cars to get around but since you can't bring a Thai car across to Cambodia at that border (even if you own the vehicle), it's probably better to switch to the international bus from Mo Chit if you want to visit somewhere further inside Cambodia as those guys are much more sane with their driving (whether it's the Cambodian or Thai bus being used, depending on the day you travel). Or if you're only going for 2-3 days, self-drive, park at the border then switch to a taxi on the Cambodian side.

[ldnguy]

One wonders why passengers don't report these incidents to the police. One also wonder why they stay on the bus/van in these circumstances.