Patong hill bus crash driver guilty of reckless driving, fined B1,000

[webfact]

Patong hill bus crash driver guilty of reckless driving, fined B1,000
Chanida Summast


The crash left six Chinese tourists requiring hospital treatment for minor scrapes. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: -- The driver of a tour bus that crashed on Patong hill on Sunday night while taking 25 Chinese tourists to their resort on Soi Eden in Patong has been found guilty of reckless driving and fined B1,000.

Sunday’s crash, the second of its kind in two days last weekend, happened at 7:10pm when a tour bus with Nakhon Pathom plates was transporting the group of tourists back to their resort following a trip to Phang Nga and crashed into a roadside traffic barrier on Patong hill, near the entrance to Sea Pearl Villas.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/patong-hill-bus-crash-driver-guilty-of-reckless-driving-fined-b1-000-58060.php


-- Phuket News 2016-06-30

[wxpwzrd]

Wow, a WHOLE 1000 baht?

[keith101]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

[Soupdragon]

They wanted to also suspend his license but found he never held one

[Kasset Tak]

1,000 Baht, me and my friends (Thais) was fined 1,000 Baht each for not wearing seat belts in their pickup on a small 5 km long dirt road during songkran (4 of us so totally 4,000 Baht) and this guy gets of with 1,000 Baht for reckless driving!!! Another friend was fined 50,000 Baht for wrecking/driving his car while under intoxication... he was driving on his own farm when he had the accident but as he had to go to hospital (he stayed there for 2 weeks) the police got involved...

The traffic in Thailand will never become better as long as the penalties don't fit the crime!

[gandalf12]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

What would the punishment have been had it not been a Thai driver? A hell of a lot more I think

[stevenl]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

What would the punishment have been had it not been a Thai driver? A hell of a lot more I think

Standard fine for reckless driving causing an accident is 1,000 Baht. This will quite often be lowered to 500 Baht. And those fines are for foreigners and Thai alike.

[grumpyoldman]

Hold on everyone.

Who inspected the brakes on the vehicle? Which road department gave the A-OK for satisfactory passing of vehicle competence before this driver got behind the wheel?

Another TV poster and I both worked in a transportation outfit in the U.S., and yes, there is driver incompetence, but yes also there are mandatory vehicle inspections which flat out don't go down in Thailand.

Can you imagine being the driver, coming down Patong Hill, pumping the brakes and nothing is there? Now what chief?

[trogers]

Boo...ooh! There goes the money for a Oishi Buffet for two.

[LivinginKata]

Driver should have least had his license revoked pending further driver training. Maybe even intoxicated with drink or drugs. That's why I would never take a bus or allow my wife to take a bus in Thailand.

[Berty100]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

I guess that is on the assumption that he has a license

[Brer Fox]

The story doesn't say who found him guilty and who decided the penalty. Was it a court and magistrate of was it the police themselves? If it was the police then the fine of 1,000 Baht was probably the secondary penalty with the primary unreported penalty being much much higher.

[NongKhaiKid]

Well that's certainly taught him a lesson, bet he's far more careful from now on !

[Psimbo]

Wow- a whole 1000 baht- I bet he was shaking in his boots (with laughter). That'll teach him to take better care in the future- won't it!

[Psimbo]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

What would the punishment have been had it not been a Thai driver? A hell of a lot more I think

There most likely would not have been a fine as most foreign drivers have mastered how to drive up and down hills and negotiate bends safely- this sort of incident would not have happened in the first place.

I recuse the Chinese on motorbikes from this statement!

Edited June 30, 2016 by Psimbo

[stevenl]

The story doesn't say who found him guilty and who decided the penalty. Was it a court and magistrate of was it the police themselves? If it was the police then the fine of 1,000 Baht was probably the secondary penalty with the primary unreported penalty being much much higher.

Nonsense. After an accident, if found guilty, it is sop of the police to issue a fine of 1,000 baht for reckless driving. Quite often after some talk this will end up at 500 Baht.

[Deli]

How cruel, they doubled the fine for this crime.

It's everyday amazing again....

[sahibji]

a fine of a thousand bahts.

what a joke!

even if the driver in this case was not wholly culpable

a more serious punishment should have been meted out.

[CarolJadzia]

So did anybody teach the driver about the fact brakes on coaches and larger vehicles can overheat?

Did anybody teach him to select a lower gear at the top of the hill to make sure it was not a problem?

Or is the only training the driver has ever been given the driving test, that only tested his ability to park and manoeuvre a small vehicle in a carpark?

More carrot, less stick!

[WhizBang]

Wow, that will certainly teach him.

You really couldn't make this stuff up.

[White Christmas13]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

They have driving tests in Thailand ?

[Khun Paul]

k 100 baht fine, BUT also should be Licence suspended , another driving test and 12 months on the sidelines minimum.

[300sd]

He should get at least 104 years, because, for doing nothing, people receive 103 years here in honest old Thailand. Sometimes I just don't "understand" this Thai justice system......

[tuanku]

should have his license suspended for at least 3 months and have to a driving test to get it back

They have driving tests in Thailand ?

they do, but they are strictly optional. If too much trouble you can just drive and pay the trifling fine if you unexpectedly get caught.

[TheMacMan]

Same old same!

Good on any Thai official action to improve safety, reduce crime, improve conditions..... but ...but..... but!!!!

Until they start bringing the fine system into the 21st century then they are wasting their time.

Dangerous driving, causing injury!

A 1,000 bht fine is NO DETERRENT..... a 5,000 or 10,000 maybe.

Those guilty of crimes like this should have at least a HIGH fine and a ban or driving for a period of time....

People NEED to worry and fear the punishment in order to deter them from doing the crime!!!

(e.g.: Taxi drivers have been reported on many times getting a 100, 500 or 1,000 bht fine for crimes and yet they will make that in ONE fair in ONE day with the meter turned off!!..... hardy going to scare them is it..... a 5,000 or 10,000 bht fine and a ban on their driving job for a month, 2, months, 3 months or more and then maybe they will think twice!)

The fines and punishment MUST do what they are meant to be... A FINE and a PUNISHMENT.... otherwise they just shrug it off, have a laugh and go back to doing the same old things all the time!

[Redline]

There is no way he will EVER do that again...nope...not gonna do it.....

[bbbbooboo]

hmmmm....that will certainly teach him a lesson

[Tonawatchee]

We should feel gratified that this pressure from authorities ,no doubt, has made this culprit realize the error of his ways.