Fatal car accident at The Mall Bang Kapi ruled an accident

[Suffinator]

A poor woman dies and the only thing most of you can do is make sarcastic remarks and indeed make fun of the situation.

I've been very fortunate in my life as I've traveled the world. I've met expats from all walks of life but my stay in Thailand subjected me to some of the most vile expat misfits on the planet.

You really ought to be ashamed of yourselves but I strongly suspect most are never sober long enough to put together a coherent thought let alone consider the tragic loss of life.

[strapper1]

I agree it was totally plausible. This is one case where I agree with the investigators. There was a case here in san diego where the floormat on a toyota did something similar, and an entire family was killed in the resulting rollover and fire.

I always take out the floormat on the drivers side. I have had floormats kind of wad up and get in the way of the gas pedal or brake. Potentially a very dangerous hazardous situation.

[seajae]

The obvious missing factor not mentioned in the report is the lack of competence and naivety of the driver. Once again if driver training had been mandatory and this particular point covered, then this and many other accidents could have been avoided, but sadly, not ALL accidents. You can't fix STUPID.

Some people here can't resist a chance to knock Thailand and Thai people. I agree that Thailand needs better driver training, but can you tell me one country in the world that has a driving manual warning or driving test question about water bottles or the like? The real problem here is not the poor woman (or her reflexes for the other insensitive posters who want to make a joke about it), but the terrible building standards that allow car park crash barriers that aren't strong enough.

yes its the buildings fault, the fact that a great deal of thais dont have a drivers licence, those that do either "paid" to pass, were never required to drive in traffic(or outside a fenced of area), have no idea of the road rules and no driving ability at all, let alone reflexes, prefer to chat on their mobiles when they should be driving or looking in the mirror ro make sure they dont have any zits/hair is out of place. They try to race in front of oncoming traffic/trains then when they are hit claim they didnt see them but yes the building caused her to hit the accelerator and smash through the safety rail without trying to stop or swerve away...........

[MaxYakov]

The obvious missing factor not mentioned in the report is the lack of competence and naivety of the driver. Once again if driver training had been mandatory and this particular point covered, then this and many other accidents could have been avoided, but sadly, not ALL accidents. You can't fix STUPID.

Also, I suppose the vehicle had a factory defect where the transmission did not have a "Neutral" either.

[JeremyBowskill]

So a car fell 3 stories and somehow the bottle didn't move from behind the break pedal? Where as this may well be the cause of the accident, I do doubt a bottle would stay still from a crash like that.

The forensic police are probably in a better position than you to determine whether the bottle could have been jammed under the brake pedal by the kind of force that someone desperately trying to stop her car from launching off the building.

This is true, also in a better position to blame it on the first thing that pops into their head to avoid too much work. Up to you which 1 you choose to believe.

[Eddy B]

I remember 25+ years ago in England when a similar thing happened on a bus taking school kids on a trip and a can of pop/soda had fallen out of a kids bag and rolled all the way to the front of the bus under the drivers break pedal. It caused and accident with a few deaths and a lot of injuries. Since then the drivers area was sealed so this could not happen again. But it only takes something as simple as a bottle/shoe/floor guard to get jammed under the break to cause this kind of accident. RIP to the lady and I hope that this information is added to the new driver training lessons here in Thailand.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Eddy B

[Commerce]

I'd certainly like to know how a water bottle, which was not that big if it fitted underneath the brake pedal, had the mass to exert force onto the accelerator. That does not make sense. It takes quite a few Newtons to depress the accelerator pedal, and no way would a small water bottle have enough mass to act in such a way. In addition, if one were to hit the brake pedal hard, as in an accident, I believe the pressure from a foot would simply split/burst/empty, or whatever, the water from a small plastic bottle. The account does not add up.

[Gonsalviz]

Interesting that an accident should be ruled as an accident.

[Phatcharanan]

Nasty nasty bottle, you block the breaks.. Nasty nasty bottle you dare to make police lose face,....

Are you normal or just pissed?

[alfalfa19]

I agree it was totally plausible. This is one case where I agree with the investigators. There was a case here in san diego where the floormat on a toyota did something similar, and an entire family was killed in the resulting rollover and fire.

I always take out the floormat on the drivers side. I have had floormats kind of wad up and get in the way of the gas pedal or brake. Potentially a very dangerous hazardous situation.

Indeed. The driver side floormat for my honda accord now resides in the trunk, ever since that tragic accident.