One child dies, 25 injured in school bus crash in Chiang Rai

[Lite Beer]

One child dies, 25 injured in school bus crash in Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI: -- A 9-year-old student was killed and 25 students aged 4-11 years old were injured in a school bus crash in Mae Chan district of Chiang Rai province Friday.

The accident happened near an intersection at Ban Nonghor in Tambon Mae Chan of Mae Chan district.

About 45 primary education students and 15 teachers from Serm Ngarm school in Serm Ngarm district of Lampang were on an educational tour to Chiang Rai on a chartered bus from Chiang Mai.

But the bus developed brake failure when it arrived at the intersection on Phaholyothin road where other vehicles were stopping for green traffic light to go.

The driver, identified as Manas Mooneye said he could not stop his bus due to braking problem.

To avoid ramming at the waiting cars, he swerved to the right immediately causing the bus to flip and crash at a van on the opposite side.

25 students and the driver were injured, two seriously.

They were blaster hospitalized at Mae Chan hospital. One of the seriously injured girl identified as Wadikan Chuajedton succumbed to death from serious wounds.

The driver was detained for reckless driving, police said.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/one-kid-dies-25-injured-school-bus-crash-chiang-rai

-- Thai PBS 2014-12-27

[JOC]

RIP little one.

Sadly your dead could have been avoided with a simple maintenance of the bus.

[cup-O-coffee]

There are seat belts on these buses. The adult supervision should be charged with reckless endangerment.

There are maintenance schedules to perform on buses. The owners and mechanics should be charged with failure to maintain safety standards and allowing a dangerous vehicle to be on the road.

If it can be proven that the drivers of these buses are responsible for maintaining the mechanics of their vehicles, and that the driver could have known this would have happened, and somehow controlled the bus without any brakes, then I agree with the reckless driving charge. Otherwise... the police are about as stupid as charging a suicide victim with murder.

So much more to say, but too tired...

You simply cannot fix stupid...

My heartfelt sympathies to the wee one, for being unfortunate enough to be under the care of the ones she would have one day grown up to be just like; ...and that, too, is sad.

[FireMedic]

Anytime there is a bus accident, we can bet a kidney they always blame some sort of brake failure. The driver should sleep well tonight.

[Pattaya28]

And who is or will be made responsible ? No-one.

The government official responsible for transport should be held to task for all these coach / bus crashes for implementing "nothing".

[Briggsy]

The chances of it being a real brake failure must be around 1%. The chances of the driver going too fast in order to be able to brake in time, or other such dangerous driving, are far, far higher.

[jaltsc]

"But the bus developed brake failure..."

Translation: The bus company was too cheap to care how many kilometers were driven since the last time the brakes were inspected and replaced. Unfortunately, in Thailand, human lives come at a cheaper price than responsible and enforced vehicle safety regulations.

Another scenario...If the bus was approaching an intersection, it should not have been going fast enough to cause it to flip over, even if the brakes failed.

This looks like a total disregard for safety from top to bottom.

RIP to the victim whose death would have been prevented if anyone involved with the transportation industry gave a damn about lives more than they did about profits or getting to the destination as fast a possible so they could catch a cold beer and sleep for the rest of the day.

[Confuscious]

Guess the driver has never been shown that every vehicle has also a handbrake which shall be used as an emergency brake when needed.

And a REAL driver knows that you can slow a vehicle by shifting down the gears.

If the driver had to make a dangerous movement in order to avoid other vehicles in front of him, then his speed was too high and he should take the FULL responsability of his actions.

But TIT and I can imagine the driving test of the bus driver to get his driver license.

RIP little one.

You only had 4 days to go to see another year.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Confuscious

[clockman]

Until the slander, and libel laws are removed. And self examination of society. Nothing will ever change in this third world

[city]

Do what I do....Dont allow your children on any bus trips with the school and let the Thai parents know why you are stopping your child.

It would be interesting to find out who owns all these buses. I am sure, like the trains in the Uk, they will be leased out by 1 or 2 companies. Who are the big bosses of these companies.

Edited December 27, 2014 by city

[Johnnie99]

" ... developed brake failure when it arrived at the intersection ... "

Can I say "MY ASS"? Yes? Well, it's all MY ASS.

[kannot]

yeah no ones fault AS USUAL............brake failure my arse!

I havent visited every country in the world but the carnage here is way out there.

[kannot]

Do what I do....Dont allow your children on any bus trips with the school and let the Thai parents know why you are stopping your child.

It would be interesting to find out who owns all these buses. I am sure, like the trains in the Uk, they will be leased out by 1 or 2 companies. Who are the big bosses of these companies.

A Mr M Mouse and a Mr D Duck is likely

[Commerce]

I wonder if anybody has actually tallied the numbers of school trip bus crashes this year, and resulting number of student deaths? I dread to think of the tally.

[doublephil]

According to Thai language news - the hired coach approached the traffic lights much too fast and then swerved violently to avoid hitting other traffic. In doing so the driver completely lost control and the coach overturned on top of a local school mini bus that was taking children home from the loca school. The dead and seriously injured were in the mini bus - not in the coach which was from Lampang. The driver of the coach has been arrested for reckless driving. Our heartfelt sympathy for all those bereaved and injured.

[Thaiready]

All pedestion vehicles need to have Governor not to exceed 70 kmh. These idiot so-called drivers just love to drive like their going to a fire somewhere. Brake failure my Ass.

[pomchop]

Recently rode a bus from valpariso to Santiago chile....very modern bus and it had a light that flashed and made a loud beeping noise anytime the speed exceeded 90 KMH. Sure seemed to work as everytime the alarms went off the driver immediately slowed down.

So very very sad to hear of anyone, much less school kids, being killed because some ill trained driver was in a hurry and/or his company couldn't be bothered with maintenance checks and/or driver training.

[Loles]

Such a shame. A young innocent girl has to die reason of saving money on maintenance.

R I P little girl and reborn soon in another country.

[chrissables]

There are seat belts on these buses. The adult supervision should be charged with reckless endangerment.

There are maintenance schedules to perform on buses. The owners and mechanics should be charged with failure to maintain safety standards and allowing a dangerous vehicle to be on the road.

If it can be proven that the drivers of these buses are responsible for maintaining the mechanics of their vehicles, and that the driver could have known this would have happened, and somehow controlled the bus without any brakes, then I agree with the reckless driving charge. Otherwise... the police are about as stupid as charging a suicide victim with murder.

So much more to say, but too tired...

You simply cannot fix stupid...

My heartfelt sympathies to the wee one, for being unfortunate enough to be under the care of the ones she would have one day grown up to be just like; ...and that, too, is sad.

How do you know there were seat belts on the bus?

How do you know if there were belts were they were worn or not?

I agree with your sympathies, but this is not a first world country and does not have the checks and measures of one.

[jaltsc]

Guess the driver has never been shown that every vehicle has also a handbrake which shall be used as an emergency brake when needed.

And a REAL driver knows that you can slow a vehicle by shifting down the gears.

If the driver had to make a dangerous movement in order to avoid other vehicles in front of him, then his speed was too high and he should take the FULL responsability of his actions.

But TIT and I can imagine the driving test of the bus driver to get his driver license.

RIP little one.

You only had 4 days to go to see another year.

It's pretty difficult to use the hand brake when one hand is on the steering wheel and the other is holding the cell phone while he's making arrangements to rendezvous with his mia noi.

[Fiddlesticks]

It's sad when you hear of people perishing in senseless traffic accidents no matter where it is however, this tragic event is too prevalent here in Thailand. I know I have beat this topic to death but the simple fact there there is no enforcement of traffic laws ensures that this terrible tragedy is certain to happen again and again. It's very easy to put the blame on the thoughtless and careless drivers but the REAL blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the law enforcement establishment and legislative body here in the Land of Traffic Death. I place the blame for this young child's death at their doorstep and wonder if they care enough to feel the loss. Their actions (or lack of action) tells me that they feel nothing, and that is very sad.

[clockman]

Remove the transport minister. And find somebody, who takes safety seriously. But. T.I.T.

[robertthebruce]

So so sad, but i dont believe the driver one bit, Brake Failure ??? yes right..

driving too too fast, and careless, is the norm in ''Thailand''....

its a melting pot out there, they show no consideration for anyone else, and its all about 'ME ME ME''...

suprised he never ran away, as thats the norm here , off to the ''Banana Plantation''.... ,

heart goes out to the little girl, so sad..

when is the Goverment and the Police in Thailand going to start doing there job, and educating and learning people to drive..

i love living in ''Thailand'' but driving scares the crap out of me.... its not a pleasure in any shape or form..

[RigPig]

In a country where kids go to school riding on the tail gate of a pickup, unlicensed and too young to drive the motorbikes their parents give them, babies carried on motorbikes with no helmets in peak hour traffic........ etc. etc.

This bus at least looks the part!

[balo]

Of course the bus developed a brake problem , the last time the brakes were checked was when the bus left the factory.

[hocuspocus]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

There are seat belts on these buses. The adult supervision should be charged with reckless endangerment.

There are maintenance schedules to perform on buses. The owners and mechanics should be charged with failure to maintain safety standards and allowing a dangerous vehicle to be on the road.

If it can be proven that the drivers of these buses are responsible for maintaining the mechanics of their vehicles, and that the driver could have known this would have happened, and somehow controlled the bus without any brakes, then I agree with the reckless driving charge. Otherwise... the police are about as stupid as charging a suicide victim with murder.

So much more to say, but too tired...

You simply cannot fix stupid...

My heartfelt sympathies to the wee one, for being unfortunate enough to be under the care of the ones she would have one day grown up to be just like; ...and that, too, is sad.

Please do not blame the mechanics as this was probably due to bad driving, over use of the brakes (instead of using engine braking) causing brake failure, not to mention driving like an idiot, too fast etc.Yes I am a mechanic but I do know how to drive and what excessive braking can result in when driving too fast.I do not understand why when they are paid peanuts that the drivers are prepared to drive like there is no tomorrow.

[torpedo1970]

Break failure, MY ASS!

Driving to fast to be able to stop for car stopped at red light,

turning to avoid collision, but due to high speed flipping round....

This sound more like a more believable story !

Problem with that story is that someone would have to be hold accountable....

SO TIT, lets blame someone else.... break failure... then no-one will need to be accountable.....

[Tongdee]

RIP little one.

Sadly your dead could have been avoided with a simple maintenance of the bus.

I doubt that the brakes were faulty altho it is possible.Likely not paying attention. First thing most drivers will come up with in a similar situation.

It is not my fault because Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (thinking on his feet) "Brake failure" (that should keep them off my case at least until the brakes are checked)

The bus does appear to be taller than most manufactors design them. The overheight busses are involved in a disproportionate number of "incidents".

They do earn a few extra $$$ every trip. Whoever gets the extra$$$ the space generates should be first in line for some legal actions.....

I doubt the driver gets any of that, altho his ass is at risk when... ... ...

Topheavy... ... ... They should be pulled from the road,

returned to spec. prior to bieng put back on the road.

[jlwilliamsjr18]

Disgusting...and such a waste of life and injury. We all know the problem, these bus companies are above the law and even get away with murder. Another item to add to the list, of reforms.

[TPI]

According to Thai language news - the hired coach approached the traffic lights much too fast and then swerved violently to avoid hitting other traffic. In doing so the driver completely lost control and the coach overturned on top of a local school mini bus that was taking children home from the loca school. The dead and seriously injured were in the mini bus - not in the coach which was from Lampang. The driver of the coach has been arrested for reckless driving. Our heartfelt sympathy for all those bereaved and injured.

It's almost boring the way the Thai establishment just slides over these crashes, only one dead, the driver will get bail, nothing will be done to ensure that the company's buses are all roadworthy or that the drivers are not off the planet with ice or speed mixed with their favourite tipple!

With no consumer protection laws what can you expect?