Three killed, 24 injured in bus crash in Lampang

[connda]

By the look of the footage the driver can be named as Nigel Mansel, he was clearly speeding dangerously.

These coaches have other ways of slowing such as lower gear selection and the use of the exhausts brake, the power of the engine will slow the coach to under ten miles per hour where collision may not be avoidable but some control maybe possible.

RIP to the lost soul and prayers for the recovery of the injured.

Of course he was going fast......he had no brakes!!! At least he tried to warn everyone and get them to the safest part of the bus while still staying in his driving seat. Give him a little credit.

many ways to slow a vehicle without brakes... emergency brake pedal or handle first to full on, foot off of the gas, then down shifting to lower gears all the way to first gear.... this will almost stop the bus and run the bus into guard rail or curb and slide to a stop. the driver clearly has no clue as he plows into the intersection. looks to me as if he is still accelerating as he exits the screen.

What I see over and over again on Highway 11 here in Northern Thailand: Many of these buses are absolutely screaming. They will come toward an intersection full of stopped traffic, a red light you can see from a kilometer away, and only at the last minute come down hard on the brakes, jockey for a lane, and then pull to within a quarter of a car length of the vehicle in front of them before stopping. Incredibly agressive. About two week ago, after passing an accident scene on HW11 where two bodies were sprawled across the outside lane (quite dead), once we got passed the carnage, I had one of these bus driving a**wipes pass me and other slow moving traffic on the shoulder (motorcycle lane). The draft from his bus pushed my car as he went by, my guess, in excess of 100kph. We were probably doing 50kph has traffic picked up speed after the accident. This after just passing a fatality. Yeah, yaba and bus drivers mix really well. Or abject stupidity and bus drivers...who knows? All I know is that they have no traffic enforcement at all in Thailand (road blocks are not traffic enforcement - they are shake-downs).

Edited May 29, 2015 by connda

[T_Dog]

By the look of the footage the driver can be named as Nigel Mansel, he was clearly speeding dangerously.

These coaches have other ways of slowing such as lower gear selection and the use of the exhausts brake, the power of the engine will slow the coach to under ten miles per hour where collision may not be avoidable but some control maybe possible.

RIP to the lost soul and prayers for the recovery of the injured.

Of course he was going fast......he had no brakes!!! At least he tried to warn everyone and get them to the safest part of the bus while still staying in his driving seat. Give him a little credit.

many ways to slow a vehicle without brakes... emergency brake pedal or handle first to full on, foot off of the gas, then down shifting to lower gears all the way to first gear.... this will almost stop the bus and run the bus into guard rail or curb and slide to a stop. the driver clearly has no clue as he plows into the intersection. looks to me as if he is still accelerating as he exits the screen.

What I see over and over again on Highway 11 here in Northern Thailand: Many of these buses are absolutely screaming. They will come toward an intersection full of stopped traffic, a red light you can see from a kilometer away, and only at the last minute come down hard on the brakes, jockey for a lane, and then pull to within a quarter of a car length of the vehicle in front of them before stopping. Incredibly agressive. About two week ago, after passing an accident scene on HW11 where two bodies were sprawled across the outside lane (quite dead), once we got passed the carnage, I had one of these bus driving a**wipes pass me and other slow moving traffic on the shoulder (motorcycle lane). The draft from his bus pushed my car as he went by, my guess, in excess of 100kph. We were probably doing 50kph has traffic picked up speed after the accident. This after just passing a fatality. Yeah, yaba and bus drivers mix really well. Or abject stupidity and bus drivers...who knows? All I know is that they have no traffic enforcement at all in Thailand (road blocks are not traffic enforcement - they are shake-downs).

HWY-107 north of Mae Rim is the same as the Standard Tour buses and mini vans head for the elephant camps. We finally got a dash cam as we have seen the big buses crossing the double yellow to pass two lanes of traffic and flashing their lights at oncoming traffic, namely, us. There is no enforcement of traffic rules in Thailand and I expect even more serious crashes than the one in Lampang.

[cmsally]

I can fill in some info from people that rode this bus in the preceding 2-6 weeks. The company has mostly older buses, hence the breakdown halfway on one journey where they took 3 hours to fix it. There are apparently 2 newer buses and on a journey a couple of weeks ago one of these newer buses apparently drove hell for leather, overtaking everything in sight. Then rather interestingly he stopped for almost an hour near Lampang. There was no explanation and one would presume this is because he would arrive to Chiang Mai way too early, it would have been obvious that the speeds he was travelling were not acceptable.

[OlegCM]

Hello everyone!

Me and my wife unfortunatly were in the bus and we were two of lucky three who walked out of it on our own feet.

I remember that about 20 km before the place of accident something had broken with loudly sound. Sound was like it was at air conditioning system. A passenger said about it to the bus attendant.

Minutes after we begun to lose normal resistance of shocks and some times hit the road by bottom of the bus, it was like you go over ramp with weak shocks by a car or a motobike. A passenger once again warned the bus attendant that something was going wrong.

After we stopped, the driver started the engine with idling for a while. As I have known after the accident he could did it to fill pneumatic system because of lack of air in system. Pneumatic system is responsible for shocks and breakes. At that moment I didn't know.

We begun to go very slowly. We had passed by the last part of serpentine at the moment we suddenly begun to accelerate. Bus attendant screamed in Thai something that I got like "fasten the belt and prepare to a crush". Although I dont speak Thai I understood that it meant something like this.

A while all of us were like waiting to die and then two huge hits, then silent, then I opened my eyes, I saw bus full of concrete powder from the house we had crushed into.

It was getting fill of gas, maybe it went from air cooling system. There were only three people in consciousness, me, my wife and the bus attendant. She got to the door tried to open it, I unleashed the safety belt, the lock had broken it was really hard, then I got to the door too, kicked it out with 10th time maybe, then we walked out, then I heard emergency cars alarm.

We got some concussion, but it was the less one we could got on this accident.

[lvr181]

Hello everyone!

Me and my wife unfortunatly were in the bus and we were two of lucky three who walked out of it on our own feet.

I remember that about 20 km before the place of accident something had broken with loudly sound. Sound was like it was at air conditioning system. A passenger said about it to the bus attendant.

Minutes after we begun to lose normal resistance of shocks and some times hit the road by bottom of the bus, it was like you go over ramp with weak shocks by a car or a motobike. A passenger once again warned the bus attendant that something was going wrong.

After we stopped, the driver started the engine with idling for a while. As I have known after the accident he could did it to fill pneumatic system because of lack of air in system. Pneumatic system is responsible for shocks and breakes. At that moment I didn't know.

We begun to go very slowly. We had passed by the last part of serpentine at the moment we suddenly begun to accelerate. Bus attendant screamed in Thai something that I got like "fasten the belt and prepare to a crush". Although I dont speak Thai I understood that it meant something like this.

A while all of us were like waiting to die and then two huge hits, then silent, then I opened my eyes, I saw bus full of concrete powder from the house we had crushed into.

It was getting fill of gas, maybe it went from air cooling system. There were only three people in consciousness, me, my wife and the bus attendant. She got to the door tried to open it, I unleashed the safety belt, the lock had broken it was really hard, then I got to the door too, kicked it out with 10th time maybe, then we walked out, then I heard emergency cars alarm.

We got some concussion, but it was the less one we could got on this accident.

Wow - you both are certainly very "lucky"!

Based on your account of the events, seems that the bus driver was not conscious of his obligations to the passengers and that there were some serious defects with the bus that was allowed to carry passengers. I hope the owners of the bus (along with the driver) get hauled before the courts after due investigation.

[cgphuket]

another "lets blame the brakes again" story rather then driving at an inappropriate speed or else sleepy

Considering he announced brake problems and could not stop, prior to the accident, maybe the "blame the brakes" story is true this time...

[lvr181]

another "lets blame the brakes again" story rather then driving at an inappropriate speed or else sleepy

Considering he announced brake problems and could not stop, prior to the accident, maybe the "blame the brakes" story is true this time...

Perhaps he was also aware of brake problems but continued driving?

We can all only speculate until the truth comes out - if it ever will.

[gk10002000]

I thought commercial sized vehicles such as this, the brakes actually come on if there are vacuum failures? That is why you hear that big whoosh of air as they start out. Anyway, the video sure looked like it was going fast. So if the driver really did what he claims, i.e. alerted the passengers, had a conversation etc., then he should have had plenty of time to take his foot OFF the gas pedal!

[gk10002000]

another "lets blame the brakes again" story rather then driving at an inappropriate speed or else sleepy

Considering he announced brake problems and could not stop, prior to the accident, maybe the "blame the brakes" story is true this time...

Well, don't see any independent account of that yet except that "newbie" poster who claims he and his wife were on the bus. But, assuming his account is true, and there was some sort pneumatic issue after the bus incident, that doesn't seem to account for the speed. maybe the throttle linkage got stuck and jammed? can't he downshift? Even automatic transmissions usually let you force a lower gear? Maybe buses don't have that, I don't know.

[gk10002000]

another "lets blame the brakes again" story rather then driving at an inappropriate speed or else sleepy

And here we have yet another TV member who can't read. The driver asked his conductor, who was also his wife, to get all the passengers to the back of the bus as his brakes had failed. The guy was a hero, and you come up with the same old, same old blame the driver. Jeez!

Here it is again: He then told his wife who is the bus conductor to immediately advise all passengers to gather at the rear and those seated to fasten their seat belts. As the bus with failed brakes entered the intersection, he blew the bus horns to warn vehicles at the intersection of the approaching bus with brakes failure.

Got it this time?

We don't know the driver actually did that. It is a good story and sounds like a responsible thing to do, bit no independent confirmation. If he did those things, it sounds like he had time to do a number of things, such as? 1: turn off the engine! 2: Down shift to a lower gear? I am sure he will try to deflect blame as soon as possible. Let's get some verified eye witnesses before I believe anything a Thai involved in an accident that might be at fault says

[Mr Somtam]

Here is what you can get with GPS tracking. And the government could make it mandatory in a minute. The government could monitor all buses and stream the data to the bus companies.

"

Basic features

• All-included real time GPS tracking solution
• GPRS communications
• GPS positioning
• Ignition status report
• No software needed, web based solution
• Multilanguage support
• Microsoft Bing maps or Google Maps
• Exports to Google Earth
• Exports to Excel
• Graph and table views of ignition, speed and sensor data
• Automatic reports delivered by email
• Automatic alarms delivered by email

Optional features

• Integrated navigation with two-way messaging
• SMS messaging for mobile phones
• Cost management
• Smartphone interface for fleet managers
• Door open sensor and temperature sensor
• Automatic RFID driver identification
• Anti-theft vehicle remote immobilization
• Alarms delivered by SMS
• Integration with CANBus for control of fuel consumption, fuel level, tachograph states, engine temperature, engine revs and others
• Generic digital and analog inputs
• Webservice integration with other applications

"

They wouldn't know where to rubber stamp and photocopy all that stuff...

[Gecko123]

I saw footage of the crash being share on Facebook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLiQ-OsXSvw

Thanks for sharing this video with us. It just goes to show the carnage on Thailand roads once again.

Come on General please do something about it.

Come on, how is anyone going to do something about it ? It will take decades to improve the drivers of this country.

I think a national driver education program could be implemented very quickly.

The government could increase awareness and education about road safety by:

addressing this in daily TV broadcasts

using distance learning channels to broadcast driver training and safety videos (especially at schools)

hiring traffic safety speakers to speak at schools

setting up a department of motor vehicles which keeps records of accidents and driving infractions, and suspends bad drivers

stepped up traffic enforcement of speeding, reckless driving

stepped up vehicle road worthiness inspections

stepped up enforcement of driver licensing laws

[berybert]

I saw footage of the crash being share on Facebook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLiQ-OsXSvw

Thanks for sharing this video with us. It just goes to show the carnage on Thailand roads once again.

Come on General please do something about it.

Come on, how is anyone going to do something about it ? It will take decades to improve the drivers of this country.

I think a national driver education program could be implemented very quickly.

The government could increase awareness and education about road safety by:

addressing this in daily TV broadcasts

using distance learning channels to broadcast driver training and safety videos (especially at schools)

hiring traffic safety speakers to speak at schools

setting up a department of motor vehicles which keeps records of accidents and driving infractions, and suspends bad drivers

stepped up traffic enforcement of speeding, reckless driving

stepped up vehicle road worthiness inspections

stepped up enforcement of driver licensing laws

Suspending bad drivers is a good idea. That would take out every Thai driver in an instant.

When you have a country of bad drivers who is to say who is a good and who is a bad driver ?

Take a look at the Thai driving test questions. Almost every answer is wrong to anyone who knows how to drive.

[149er]

I wouldn't worry too much about road safety here. You're more likely to be killed by a heart attack or cancer.

Here are some tips to live longer - laugh a lot, eat healthy and drive a big car.