Chula student skewered on truck's pilings - red light in plastic bottle served as warning

[PaPiPuPePo]

calamity of errors

RIP to the lady.

An "error" doesn't really describe the way that truck was loaded and not properly marked. Gross, criminal negligence is more like it. Whoever was in charge of that load is ripe for a lawsuit from the family, I hope they go after him or them.

[BritManToo]

She only has herself to blame.

Ramming a slow moving lorry while you are driving at high speed is just daft.

[snowgard]

What I see on the photos is that the backlight of the truck work very well and a small light in a bottle is much more better and easy to see as a red shirt or something else.

I think the lady was to tired to drive and made the accident about this.

[ratcatcher]

calamity of errors

RIP to the lady.

An "error" doesn't really describe the way that truck was loaded and not properly marked. Gross, criminal negligence is more like it. Whoever was in charge of that load is ripe for a lawsuit from the family, I hope they go after him or them.

I posted earlier my opinion about responsibility for oversize/length loads and relative safety measures.. Having said that however, had she rear ended another Mercedes Benz driven by a less important person, upon whom would you place the blame? The person in the front or the car behind?

It is usually considered the responsibility of a driver to proceed at a speed which will enable him to stop if there is an obstruction ahead. In her case, a truckload of concrete piles.

[Berty100]

Just wondering, was she on the way home or going to the university at a very early hour?

Proably at the age of 35 she also had a life outside the university, don't you think?

[dcnx]

RIP.

I almost took some rebar to the head a few days ago while on my bike. I pulled up at a red light and the truck in front of me had nothing warning of the metal. Had I been 2 or 3 inches to the right they would have hit me directly in the face. Good chance someone else hit those things.

[thai3]

RIP to the lady.

At least the driver, having overcome the initial shock and who wouldn't be shocked, was decent enough to present himself to the police.

But not decent enough not to guttlessly run away as usual first, then realised they would find him anyway

Edited April 28, 2016 by thai3

[thedemon]

I got a shock when I saw the photo at the top of the page.

Last night around 11pm I was driving west on Ngamwongwan Rd (which is a continuation of Kaset-Navamin, where this happened) and I saw what looked like an identical load to this one so I wonder if there was a convoy of trucks moving those big piles.

I was approaching the bridge over Khai Rai junction, the traffic was light and moving pretty quickly (as I was), when suddenly all the traffic in the right hand lane slowed suddenly. There appeared to be nothing in the left lane so I wondered why and considered switching to the left lane. Just then I saw that what had appeared as an empty lane was actually a wall of concrete.

The angle of the piles meant that the tail lights (if any) were completely obscured and there was definitely no red light at the back of this trucks load. There are no street lights on that bridge but there is a lot of light-pollution from surrounding buildings and signboards. That added to the grey colour of concrete really made it appear invisible.

I have lived and been driving in BKK most of my adult life so am not easily shocked but this stood out to me as really very dangerous. As I passed the truck I thought to myself that those piles could easily have been carried properly on an articulated truck.

I am in no doubt how this accident happened. It could have been me.

[Hawk]

....'early morning'....like before sunrise.....

...but hard to miss such a massive vehicle one would think.......

Obviously you have not driven a car in Thailand! Car coming the other way with headlights full on and you cannot see anything up front.

[Torrens54]

....'early morning'....like before sunrise.....

...but hard to miss such a massive vehicle one would think.......

That's exactly the problem. She DIDN'T MISS It.

[berybert]

The child of another rich family dead. The red bottle is no use you cant argue with that but and it is only speculation she was a student driving a Mercedes. How many students have Mercedes and of them how many are likely to be less than giving 100% to what they are doing?

Condolences to the family

Child, 35 years of age- better brush up on your reading skills.

At what age did you stop being your parents child ?

[Moonmoon]

i always try to stay clear of big trucks n buses, but they always like to come close to me...

[Moonmoon]

The child of another rich family dead. The red bottle is no use you cant argue with that but and it is only speculation she was a student driving a Mercedes. How many students have Mercedes and of them how many are likely to be less than giving 100% to what they are doing?

Condolences to the family

Child, 35 years of age- better brush up on your reading skills.

At what age did you stop being your parents child ?

Never stop, I will always be my parent's child.

[torpedo1970]

RIP

It was the red light in plastic bottles fault.....

[gk10002000]

And the relative speed of the vehicles at the time of impact was? Was the truck stationary? Even if not, with headlights on and paying attention to the road, it is kind of easy to see a truck in front of you.

[Thian]

Often i see girls in big Benz working on the ipad while driving. Why not? In Thailand a Thai can do that.

[geriatrickid]

The child of another rich family dead. The red bottle is no use you cant argue with that but and it is only speculation she was a student driving a Mercedes. How many students have Mercedes and of them how many are likely to be less than giving 100% to what they are doing?

Condolences to the family

Your condolences are insincere. How do you know she is from a "rich" family? You do not, but your petty jealousy shows.

OOOO she has a mercedes. Stop the presses. Seriously? So what? Do you know what a used car is? What is so special about the low end model she was driving? Many of my friends drove used Beemers and Mercs. Who do you think purchases vehicles when they come of lease? Interest rates are low today and anyone can drive a Mercedes.Taxi drivers around the world drive them. Hua Hin has Mercedes fire trucks. Does this mean that the firemen are all filthy rich?

She was 35. Did you think that maybe she had worked or was continuing to work? Do you know what continuing education is? I did a year of that. I drove a "luxury" vehicle at the age of 25. I paid for it myself.

[Thian]

The child of another rich family dead. The red bottle is no use you cant argue with that but and it is only speculation she was a student driving a Mercedes. How many students have Mercedes and of them how many are likely to be less than giving 100% to what they are doing?

Condolences to the family

Your condolences are insincere. How do you know she is from a "rich" family? You do not, but your petty jealousy shows.

OOOO she has a mercedes. Stop the presses. Seriously? So what? Do you know what a used car is? What is so special about the low end model she was driving? Many of my friends drove used Beemers and Mercs. Who do you think purchases vehicles when they come of lease? Interest rates are low today and anyone can drive a Mercedes.Taxi drivers around the world drive them. Hua Hin has Mercedes fire trucks. Does this mean that the firemen are all filthy rich?

She was 35. Did you think that maybe she had worked or was continuing to work? Do you know what continuing education is? I did a year of that. I drove a "luxury" vehicle at the age of 25. I paid for it myself.

Thai firemen are all filthy rich! They have 300 new firetrucks standing untouched for more then 8 years....perfect ones from Austria. Now which other firebrigade can claim that?

[chang1]

Stopping the fitting of tinted window film to the front windows would help prevent this type of collision. My pickup has 40% tint on the windscreen and 60% on all other windows great in the day but for me it is almost unusable at night. When my wife was talking to the dealer about fitting it I thought I was asking for 40% on the front side windows and 60% at the back with nothing on the windscreen. If I come to live here I will have to get it removed.

When I visited Indonesia I saw most vehicles had 2 types of tint on the windscreen one that was about 60% and the other (probably made of 2 layers) which was around 80% The 60% piece was a strip about 50mm wide at eye height and the rest 80%. On a dark country road in a mini van we nearly hit a motorbike with no lights. Even though I was in the front seat I did not see it until we were right upon it and braking hard.

Thais generally have very good eyesight but tinted window film really does impair night vision on roads. Here in the UK all tinting is illegal on the front windows and has been for a long time.

[Thian]

I bet a small red light in a bottle is not according the rules.

I see it all day, red plastic bags, red towels, red ribbons, red bottles they use everything but nothing standardised. And also many have nothing red at all.

[mike324]

The road looks pretty well lit based on the 2nd picture, and trucks like that can't be going that fast to begin with. Looks like driver error on her part, perhaps she was drowsy / distracted while driving / following too close and did not notice the pilings.

Fault also lies in the law, by law you can have a load stick out but you need to tie a red cloth or small light at night. The small light is not succificent, they should require the lights to be XXX dimension so it is visible enough. Many times its just a small lightbulb in a plastic bottle.

[ratcatcher]

I bet a small red light in a bottle is not according the rules.

I see it all day, red plastic bags, red towels, red ribbons, red bottles they use everything but nothing standardised. And also many have nothing red at all.

"..not according the rules."

Red bowls, however, are acceptable.

[bruceamstutz]

Ok, just my opinion, but if the driver of the truck was doing "normal speed", by looking at the photos, the woman in the Benz was definitely NOT doing "normal speed", but a speed well above "normal".

I agree. Maybe normal speed, but texting her BF she was on her way to meet him.....Sorry but you didn't get there...May you RIP...

[Artisi]

I got a shock when I saw the photo at the top of the page.

Last night around 11pm I was driving west on Ngamwongwan Rd (which is a continuation of Kaset-Navamin, where this happened) and I saw what looked like an identical load to this one so I wonder if there was a convoy of trucks moving those big piles.

I was approaching the bridge over Khai Rai junction, the traffic was light and moving pretty quickly (as I was), when suddenly all the traffic in the right hand lane slowed suddenly. There appeared to be nothing in the left lane so I wondered why and considered switching to the left lane. Just then I saw that what had appeared as an empty lane was actually a wall of concrete.

The angle of the piles meant that the tail lights (if any) were completely obscured and there was definitely no red light at the back of this trucks load. There are no street lights on that bridge but there is a lot of light-pollution from surrounding buildings and signboards. That added to the grey colour of concrete really made it appear invisible.

I have lived and been driving in BKK most of my adult life so am not easily shocked but this stood out to me as really very dangerous. As I passed the truck I thought to myself that those piles could easily have been carried properly on an articulated truck.

I am in no doubt how this accident happened. It could have been me.

Sorry, your analysis of what is more than likely the actual cause, no lights, blending in with the surrounding area etc. is a bit too advanced for the accident investigation experts here in TV.

They like speeding, texting, phone use, entirely her fault etc., much easy than actually thinking.

[DrTuner]

What kind of screen tint did the merc have? The gangsta style black windows here won't let you see a lighthouse from five feet away.

[Artisi]

RIP, lady.

Those little red flags are simply not sufficient. Also, another good reason to keep your distance when behind a vehicle if you can.

That is then they are actually visible at night by displaying rear lights and not obscured by an overhanging load which more than likely blended into the surrounding landscape.

[thedemon]

RIP, lady.

Those little red flags are simply not sufficient. Also, another good reason to keep your distance when behind a vehicle if you can.

That is then they are actually visible at night by displaying rear lights and not obscured by an overhanging load which more than likely blended into the surrounding landscape.

That is exactly right. On the truck I saw, the piles were far longer than the truck itself so that they extended over the top of the cab completely obscuring it.

When approaching from behind it was just a grey mass with no part of the truck visible.

[daveAustin]

From where I am sitting I would place most of the blame on the unfortunate Merc driver, though no-one would wish for such a harsh outcome. Obviously driving too fast and not looking at what was ahead of her. Sad

Easy to be drawn into a knee jerk response when rich Thai kids with Mercs are in the equation I guess. Truth is, whatever she was up to at that time in the morning and if she were doing 200kph and on Facebook is immaterial. ALL blame is on that truck. Overloaded, can't see the lights, moving big loads at night. Thailand has moved on heaps and bounds but sadly retains third world facets. Driver running, while incomprehensible in the West, is the done thing here... self preservation. RIP.