Indian tourists killed in van crash on elevated road to Suvarnabhumi Airport

[pinklaopanther]

These drivers really are nuts and sadly the Thais don't speak up about it. A couple of years back I took a van from Tak

To Sukhotai(don't know if anyone on here is familiar with the road?) A dual carriage way with a maybe half a foot

drop down next to the edge of the right hand lane and then a gap 10 or so inches away from the central reservation for much of the way. Its like a racing track basically. Anyway the driver was doing at least 120/30 all the way with the wheels literally balancing on the drop. It was petrifying.

All my Thai collegues quite happily yapping away and passing food here and there, to the driver, he's constantly looking back and yapping away to a collegue of mine in the passenger section, van swaying left to right. Me sweating like a pig out of fear and disbelief at my impending death. God almighty. The journey was about 2 and a half hours, it felt like a lifetime. They have no sense of danger do they? and they're too damned polite or scared of losing face to ask the bloody drivers to slow down. TIT. Never again. but it won't change, they just don't give a shit.

[Sviss Geez]

Well in my experience water rucks tend to be rather large and brightly coloured, many have powerful illuminated signs that show arrows regarding which direction one should take to avoid ramming said truck.

There's a video of the aftermath on FB showing your assumptions to be wrong. The water truck probably had little in the way of warning signs on it for such a hazardous operation. Warning the content is graphic as the driver passes the minivan.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=712509745513554

Well as the water truck had burst into flames on impact by the van, according to the Bangkok Post, how would you be able to assert that his assumptions are wrong and yours about no warning signs are correct?

[In Search of Space]

We were headed to Bangkok last week. In the fast lane of the motorway doing 100km or so. Quite a bit of traffic, moving along nicely, but lots of vehicles.

I'm pretty good about keeping my distance. Tough to do here as even a small gap gets taken advantage of many times.

All of a sudden, the cars in front were moving over. Fast. It happened quickly. They had blocked a majority of the fast lane with NO advance warning. There were 3-4 cones fairly near each other that were blocking off the fast lane, with maintenance vehicles right behind them.

Most dangerous one I've seen was about 20 yards of the central lane on the Bangkok - Pattaya motorway closed off, about 6 workers and 6 cones around them. No signs or warning and cars swerving everywhere at the last second

All you have to do is be distracted for just a few seconds, and you're into blocked lane and a major accident. I also see these water trucks all the time in Pattaya. No flashing lights, no workers waving a flag a bit up the road. Just there in the fast lane moving slow.

Edited December 29, 2014 by In Search of Space

[PatrickHames]

Yet another very preventable tragedy.

You nailed it mate, how many more ? This could have been any of us at anytime. Buckle up and protect your kids and don't be afraid to tell your driver to please slow down, maybe he'll care enough to listen. RIP.

[louse1953]

I have been in one of those Vans driving from Ayutthaya to Bangkok. In fact many times over.

Its very easy at high speed to have the traffic depart from the lane in front of you only to find an obstacle there dead centre in where you are going.

Sure, fallowing too close behind other vehicles, driving too fast, inattention, lack of skill in driving all of those but I still had to get to town.

What would you expect for 100 baht over 80 kilometres?

Certainly beats the never come trains.

Its an odds game we mostly play

Regards

Well i will never play,you are a braver man than me,Nuddy.

[louse1953]

10 of them going around gangbanging individual Thai girls. At least now, this group is stopped.

[wow64]

Feels sorry for the tourist here on holiday RIP.... Dont feel sorry for the van driver, 1 less idiot on the road racing his Van around at hight speed with no respect for others lives.

Sent from my c64

[louse1953]

We were headed to Bangkok last week. In the fast lane of the motorway doing 100km or so. Quite a bit of traffic, moving along nicely, but lots of vehicles.

I'm pretty good about keeping my distance. Tough to do here as even a small gap gets taken advantage of many times.

All of a sudden, the cars in front were moving over. Fast. It happened quickly. They had blocked a majority of the fast lane with NO advance warning. There were 3-4 cones fairly near each other that were blocking off the fast lane, with maintenance vehicles right behind them.

All you have to do is be distracted for just a few seconds, and you're into blocked lane and a major accident. I also see these water trucks all the time in Pattaya. No flashing lights, no workers waving a flag a bit up the road. Just there in the fast lane moving slow.

Maybe you are from the UK, and if so you should know that the Highway Police would immediately frown on you for referring to the outside lane of any highway as the 'fast' lane. When speeding motorists are stopped by the Police, they are always reminded of the fact that the outside lane is just that, or more correctly the 'overtaking' lane. I'm not suggesting you were 'speeding' when the incident you refer to took place, but for heaven's sake, just remember where you are, and what to expect ie 'the unexpected'!

Agreed. First rule of the road, as I remember

'Keep left unless overtaking"

I know it can be difficult at times. but that's the rule.

1st rule learnt riding motor bikes at 16 years of age.Why are people in such a rush to get somewhere,just dont take the flying coffins.

[ThaiSanookGuy]

I have often wondered how many people have to die in these vans before the government

starts to rein them in . Apparently the number is much larger than I thought..

Don't worry, people in charge will bring happiness and save 30000 lives a year soon...

[Shaunduhpostman]

Again...tourists don't know what they are in for. Foreign residents and natives do.

[changsinghleo]

Rode in one once 20 years past. Complained to the driver to no avail. What did I do? I demanded he stop, I got out in the middle of

nowhere and walked. Maybe sounds stupid but I may have saved my life, and have never been so ignorant as to ride in one since.

Unfortunately for others, especially tourists, they have no warning prior to boarding these death projectiles. Actually what should be done is they should forever be banned from the roads. Mr. P.M., please try one yourself for a short ride and then ban them.

Please! Forget T.A.T., etc., they only are after money.

[Torrens54]

When is someone finally going to take responsibility for the carnage on the roads here??

Silly me!!

Words like responsibility and accountability don't exist in Thai vocabulary.........................

Well of course those words don't exist in THAT Dictionary because Thais are perfect.

Only yesterday, I commented to my wife about how rude some Road Users have become over the years.

Her comment, in ALL SERIOUSNESS was: " they are not Thai, they are Ferang, Chinese and....

(wait for it......) BURMESE!

[fish fingers]

"Discover Thainess" and play Russian roulette with your life!!

Wish the injured a speedy recovery!!

'speedy' indeed

[vijer]

Christ, in my area the BiB walk, walk flapping their little white gloved hands, out 3 lanes over to flag down trucks for Tea inspections and this causes major chaos over all 4 lanes. Not to mention you see these water trucks and street cleaners during rush hour, how about showing some intelligence and have these slow moving vehicles operating at 3 AM?

[KhnomKhnom]

Driving without due care and attention, likely, but frequently see these water trucks and others putting up fairy lights on the central res at the most inopportune times of day, namely rush hour! Beggar's belief!

Whilst I was bobbing about TV, realized I NEVER "begger" belief, never call a man a "mate," dont use "OZ" nor "BIB" nor "LOS" and especially never use "LOL" and so on........ but delight in using other nation's slang, and oh, IHOB and IHOA.

[WorriedNoodle]

I usually stay at C&N Hotel in Patong when I come to Thailand which provides a free airport transfer if you book via their site and stay at least three days. But they use one of these vans for the airport pickup and the driver always hogs the outside lane regardless of traffic conditions. It inevitably leads to other vehicles overtaking on the inside lane and there have been times where I've wondered whether we would get to our destination in one piece especially when it's wet with spray being thrown up by vehicles cutting in front of us.

Tour buses tend to hog the outside lane as well which only adds to the sense of impending doom especially when climbing Patong hill during a thunderstorm.

Everyone has been hogging the outside lane in Phuket since they had outside lanes. I remember the alarm of it back in the early '80s. It's a southern thing, and despite the stupidity will never change.

[joebrown]

There is NO excuse for not seeing a water truck. If you was driving at the correct speed with your eyes open. Free of drink and drugs. Not changing cd's or texting on your phone. Or perhaps having an argument with your wife, even on hands free. Its not rocket science, just common sense.

Yeah right. That exactly what one expects to see in the outside lane of the expressway. A water truck moving at 10k per hour. You are an arrogant fool.

Best or worst I ever saw was a car parked on the downslope of one of the humps of the klongs on the to highway to pattaya.

My heart rate went to 200 as I came over the brow of the hump.

I have no sympathy with any driver who drives 'without due care and attention' on any Thai road. However, anyone whose spent more than a couple of months on the roads here should remember that EU or US driving conditions don't exist, and one should drive so as to 'expect the unexpected'. Your arrogance and lack of understanding of the fundamentals of driving in LOS is beyond belief.

Yeah yeah 18 years and thousands of trips around Thailand. If you can plan ahead that someone will park their car in the outside lane of a tollway, great man you are.

Water trucks should not be watering on the expressway, it is very dangerous. The road is planned for 90kmh. Maintenance lorries should have massive signage and safety around them

Looking at the pictures. Little or nothing. The van is not 100% to blame for this.

Thanks for the totally unnecessary sarcastic 'praise'. I've been driving around LOS for 10 years so I've probably seen and encountered most of the stupid antics on Thai roads as you have. It's obvious from many of the posts on this thread that driving on Thai roads is very dangerous for many reasons, which you have also stated. Also, anyone driving here has to have their wits about them 100%, all the time. Unforseen situations will result in unavoidable accidents. Most important however is the need to look ahead as far as the eye can see and then be able to take safe evasive action by anticipating potential problems. This is a basic need when driving anywhere in the world.

[maidee]

faster faster, we late for plane ....

baaaaaaaaaaaaam

better to be 5 min late in this life, than too early into the next ....

[anon022]

Anyone knows that parking your car on a highway is risking your life. Since this water truck was hardly moving, it is akin to parking your car on the middle of the highway. Slow moving vehicles obviously should not be on a highway. You can blame the driver of the van for speeding, but in this case it's clear what caused the accident, the water truck!

[spidermike007]

Traffic safety in Thailand is horrendous. There is so little in the way of enforcement. The police here are very inept, and very incompetent when it comes to taking people to task for reckless driving. Have you ever seen a speeding ticket issued here? A summons for reckless driving? If this driver had taken just ONE extra minute, and been just a tad more careful, this would not have happened. He must have either not been looking, or have been going at a very high speed to just plow into that truck in that fashion. Now, lives have been devastated, all over one man who did not exercise care in the way he conducted his job, and an entire nation that does not put an emphasis on traffic safety enforcement, Maybe the General can declare another crackdown? Only this time it would be a useful one.

[Tonawatchee]

The government will beat a path to enforce traffic safety laws just as soon as the Twelve Core Value Stickers are printed and distributed.

[apetley]

Anyone knows that parking your car on a highway is risking your life. Since this water truck was hardly moving, it is akin to parking your car on the middle of the highway. Slow moving vehicles obviously should not be on a highway. You can blame the driver of the van for speeding, but in this case it's clear what caused the accident, the water truck!

I used to work for the police in the UK and took a police driving test there. One of the first things the examiner told me after the test was that if you cannot stop safely and without changing lanes then you are driving too fast for the road conditions.

[mango66]

there but for the grace of God...

will they never learn?

Indians have God...???

[mango66]

Well in my experience water rucks tend to be rather large and brightly coloured, many have powerful illuminated signs that show arrows regarding which direction one should take to avoid ramming said truck.

I live in the area and I can assure you that many of these tourist trap vans are driven or perhaps I should say ''aimed'' at top speed with no considerateness to traffic flow rate, direction of flow, or any other road user or any consideration for current road or weather conditions either whilst trying to home in on their target of the departure level at Swampy.

I am of the mind that the greater majority of these van ''drivers'' are reincarnated Kamikaze pilots working for Banzai van lines

Do you really expect that a Thai Van-driver knows what such sign means ??

He thought still happy Xmass is going on !

RIP for the victims !

Education and change on people needs usual 2 generations !

Thai starting to count the 2 generations, until they have to start to educate them with traffic rules !!

[mikemac]

RIP. Happiness to the foreigner people!!!!!! They'll never learn in this 3rd world country. Let see again how many this coming week.

Piss take, right? Otherwise, rather insensitive don't you think?

Either way don't worry about him Commerce, Darwin's Theory will account for him sooner or later.

Unfortunately a lot of the people that lose their lives in these suicidal vans are not aware of the risk you take traveling in them. Tourists coming to Thailand should be warned about these perils, as they warn you about the death penalty for drugs etc.

I do my bit, I tell everyone I know who comes to Thailand how dangerous they are, and as I said in an earlier post, they will never get me in one.

[Commerce]

Anyone knows that parking your car on a highway is risking your life. Since this water truck was hardly moving, it is akin to parking your car on the middle of the highway. Slow moving vehicles obviously should not be on a highway. You can blame the driver of the van for speeding, but in this case it's clear what caused the accident, the water truck!

I used to work for the police in the UK and took a police driving test there. One of the first things the examiner told me after the test was that if you cannot stop safely and without changing lanes then you are driving too fast for the road conditions.

Was that before the days of ABS, or after?

In addition, if you are permanently using mirrors, you may change lanes to avoid, if you use them and anticipate gaps to pull over. Nothing special about that - it's called advanced driving.

As for 'Impossible's' statement above yours...... the water truck is not responsible at all. Drivers going way to fast and unable to respond is the cause. The causeway to and from Suva also has speed limits, usually 60 km/h........ work that one out, if you can't stop in time in a straight line!

[Commerce]

RIP. Happiness to the foreigner people!!!!!! They'll never learn in this 3rd world country. Let see again how many this coming week.

Piss take, right? Otherwise, rather insensitive don't you think?

Either way don't worry about him Commerce, Darwin's Theory will account for him sooner or later.

Unfortunately a lot of the people that lose their lives in these suicidal vans are not aware of the risk you take traveling in them. Tourists coming to Thailand should be warned about these perils, as they warn you about the death penalty for drugs etc.

I do my bit, I tell everyone I know who comes to Thailand how dangerous they are, and as I said in an earlier post, they will never get me in one.

I do find it a shame that so many people rely upon these vans to commute, Mike. I don't think they realise they could hire a car for the 200B or much more a day they pay for van travel and extras like BTS and so forth. It's fairly easy to hire a car for 4,000B a month...... then again, I also think too many are afraid to actually drive on Thai roads.

My wife and I have 2 cars.... a Jazz and a brand new Ford Fiesta, both fully laden with airbags and ABS and the likes..... we swap daily.. well she does, I work from home... but in amongst the traffic. She had a van pull out in front of her a year ago nearly hitting passenger side - she was in the Jazz. ABS trumped its 1/4 timing - ta ta ta ta... and she missed the end of it by 3 feet as it braked... passenger airbag fired as she pulled across the back of it... weird. But all replaced, fit for service... because she reported it, and his cut was caught on camera - she sued for distress, and won the case........ of course she's Thai and can be agressive when she's pissed off.... 555 lolz.

I much prefer to drive, and have done for 8 years, than rely upon vans and taxis and whatever. My life, and those around me, are in my hands..... and I've been glad to be in control, as a few times if I wasn't I wouldn't be typing now.

[Jonmarleesco]

'The water truck was watering plants and flowers on the elevated road when it was rammed at the rear at high speed.' So much for controlling these idiots' driving antics.

[Eneukman]

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We were headed to Bangkok last week. In the fast lane of the motorway doing 100km or so. Quite a bit of traffic, moving along nicely, but lots of vehicles.

I'm pretty good about keeping my distance. Tough to do here as even a small gap gets taken advantage of many times.

All of a sudden, the cars in front were moving over. Fast. It happened quickly. They had blocked a majority of the fast lane with NO advance warning. There were 3-4 cones fairly near each other that were blocking off the fast lane, with maintenance vehicles right behind them.

It was the same on Route 3 yesterday between Ban Chang and Rayong - on at least 3 occasions. An accident waiting to happen!

Alan

[brewsterbudgen]

There is simply no end to the lunacy and ineptitude this country can tolerate.

I think you'll find bad driving, poor law enforcement and too many vehicles is fairly common throughout the developing world, and therefore, regrettably, tolerated.