Truck topples 47 power poles

[george]

Truck topples 47 power poles

SAMUT PRAKAN: — A 22-wheel tractor-trailer struck a power pole in Bang Phli district, setting off a chain reaction that brought down 46 other poles, damaging 37 passing vehicles.

Source: Bangkok Post/Facebook 2015-08-01

[Bluespunk]

Where's video footage when you really need it?

[Crossy]

Oops!

[TommyUK1960]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

[stoneyboy]

Very fortunate that there weren't any deaths.

[Don Mega]

Sterling effort !!

[zaphod reborn]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

The company that employed the truck driver. The negligent party, and their employer, when the employee is acting within the course and scope of their employment, is always responsible for the damage. Insurance only allows them to shift some of the risk of loss to another party. It's possible the company has an umbrella insurance policy that would provide excess coverage. Policies with US$1 million limits are not uncommon.

[Tywais]

A large scale demonstration of the domino effect.

[cooked]

The tall concrete power poles aren't concreted in. In fact none of them are.

[amerasianex]

No way that should have happened. The structures must have been grossly over loaded. And there was zero engineering. Hard to believe ...

[magnacarta]

I thought that Guiness world record attempt was going to be for riding bikes,this must rank as world record,well done Thailand.

[Ricardo]

I foresee a run on lottery-tickets with the numbers 22 (wheels) and 37 (passing vehicles) and 47 (power poles) in the near future !

[trogers]

A six-lane traffic way. What load and speed was the truck handling?

[Somtamnication]

Did they notify the Polish embassy?

[dominique355]

Wouldn't that be an opportunity to put these power lines and phone cables under ground?

[kickstart]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

Thai tv this morning said 30 million baht.

I wonder if the truck owners have any insurance at all,I think the company owner was choking on his rice this morning,one big bill.

[Oil Baron]

Pole position!!!

[arfurcrown]

zaphob reborn. post # 7

The company that employed the truck driver. The negligent party, and their employer, when the employee is acting within the course and scope of their employment, is always responsible for the damage. Insurance only allows them to shift some of the risk of loss to another party. It's possible the company has an umbrella insurance policy that would provide excess coverage. Policies with US$1 million limits are not uncommon.

Certainly fine rhetoric, but remember this is Thailand and the rules do tend to be somewhat flexible and open to umpteen variations upon the theme.

[JakeSully]

Thai driving! Enough said!

[kannot]

I dont see anyone pointing, where should I be looking?

[al007]

I love Thai Visa because I have never found another part of the world that make me laugh so much, not even Poland!!!

My wife says why am I laughing so much, I explain notify polish embassy, she does not get it until I say we say pole you call your friend buffalo woman because she has no brains

So many poles one truck must soon be entered in Guinness book of records

But Oh dear then all thais will try to get bigger score

Have a beautiful day, be happy, stay happy

Drive carefully or the record could be taken

[kartman]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

Suppose the owner or their insurance company could argue that hitting one pole should not bring down another 46 and whoever put them up was negligent with the foundations or the amount of cables/load they subsequently allowed to be put on them.

[DLock]

Must admit, I can't smiling at this one.

Hope no one was seriously hurt, but this is really funny.

I'm sure some dash cam or CCTV will turn up with video...at least I hope so.

[dotpoom]

The poles can't have been that well secured if it's that easy to bring them down.....a bit like some Governments really?

[biplanebluey]

I see about 5 in the picture and would have thought the truck would have stopped at the first one down---- that loud banging noise????------ surely the rest did not fall if he did indeed stop at No1.If so gross negligence to the "pole fitter engineers!!!!" and the "wire hanger uppers"

[Bredbury Blue]

The wife showed me a thai video on her Facetube of someone going along the road on a motorbike filming. Road was closed to cars. Concrete poles all down and smashed across the road. Some cars seen smashed underneath. Happened near Thai Arrow factory at Theparak km 20. I live very close and just returning from upcountry and hoping there's not massive traffic jams in Bangpla.

[Gumballl]

No way that should have happened. The structures must have been grossly over loaded. And there was zero engineering. Hard to believe ...

Even in (developed) western countries, concrete poles alongside the roadway are not buried into the ground. The are set atop a platform base, from which the actual pole is bolted down onto. The base of course, is buried deep into the ground.

If a vehicle should strike the pole, it will not fully stop the vehicle, thus minimizing injury to the vehicle passenger(s), and the vehicle itself. The bolts holding the pole erect are specifically designed to break (at a certain force), so as to minimize the impact of any collision. As the pole falls, it may pull with it the cables between it and the next pole.

The tensile strength of the cable, and the fastener that binds it to the pole (and the next pole), determine whether the next pole will stand erect or also fall.

In life, dudu happens... in this accident, the cables could have broken away, but they did not; perhaps by intelligent design. Hence why all of the poles came down.

If the cables were power cables, then perhaps it was for the best that the cables did not snap and cause other damage (such as an electrical fire or an electrocution).

Edited August 2, 2015 by Gumballl

[realenglish1]

Sounds Like a House of Cards

[zyphodb]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

The company that employed the truck driver. The negligent party, and their employer, when the employee is acting within the course and scope of their employment, is always responsible for the damage. Insurance only allows them to shift some of the risk of loss to another party. It's possible the company has an umbrella insurance policy that would provide excess coverage. Policies with US$1 million limits are not uncommon.

Well that'll take a very large brown envelope to the electric board, plus lots of smaller ones for the cars...

[indothai]

Who pays for this when most insurance is caped at 10 mil Baht? More than 10m baht damage there.

Suppose the owner or their insurance company could argue that hitting one pole should not bring down another 46 and whoever put them up was negligent with the foundations or the amount of cables/load they subsequently allowed to be put on them.

Obviously the company that owns the truck will pay for the damages, but usually they will put a minimum capital on the company so that if they every get sued they can declare bankruptcy. Similar thing happen on Rama 3 road, a truck pulling a crane accidentally rolled down a slope pulling down polls and damaging property.... company paid the first million then declared bankruptcy. Once the company is bankrupt, it's everyone to themselves.