Forty one men in a van! But Thais miss out on Guinness record!

[webfact]

Forty one men in a van! But Thais miss out on Guinness record!

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Foreign news media has been having a go at Thailand for its appalling road death statistics after no less than 41 men were found crammed in a van on Sunday.

 

Britain's Guardian newspaper raised the issue of what they said was the country with the second worst accident statistics on earth.

 

The video that forms the basis of the story was taken on Sunday and shows police emptying a Toyoto Commuter van of its human contents one by one counting as they go, reported Manager Online.

 

The officers can barely keep a straight face as the last of the occupants emerges and a flashlight makes sure there are no more hiding under the floor carpets.

 

Posted by Siraphop Srakaew it is not known where the video was taken and why but Thais online surmised that the occupants of the van were probably foreign workers.

 

The Guardian said that the Commuter is designed to carry 16 people.

 

But this was not a record - the most in a passenger vehicle that got in the Guinness Book of World Records was done in Krasnoyarsk, Russia when a similar number were crammed into a Rav4, the paper said.

 

The paper said that Thailand was second only behind Libya in the accident statistics while they said that the University of Michigan calculated that there were 44 deaths per 100,000 of the population per year. 

 

This would put the annual death toll well over 25,000.

 

Mention was made of frequent accidents on public transport in the kingdom with Sunday's boat tragedy on the Chao Praya being highlighted.

 

The government had stated in 2013 that they intended to reduce traffic accidents but drink driving and negligence has meant that any dent in Thailand's poor record in this regard was negligible, the report stated.

 

Source: Manager Online

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-09-20

 

[PatOngo]

Vans, boats, pick ups, mocy's.....what is'nt overloaded?

[Scott]

My God, they must have used a lubricant to get them all in there.  

[NongKhaiKid]

Students do this sort of thing for charity during rag week but at least they don't drive the vehicle.

[CelticBhoy]

Good advert for Toyota  

[Thian]

25 minutes ago, CelticBhoy said:

Good advert for Toyota  

 

Yup but not good for the image of Thailand...and even after the Officials were told to make the roads more safe ASAP.

 

This movie was already in the online newspapers in Europe yesterday.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Students do this sort of thing for charity during rag week but at least they don't drive the vehicle.

 

We had to drive the vehicle for it to count.  Not on the road, mind you.  But the vehicle had to start and move with all the people inside.  50' in the parking lot was good enough.

[Thian]

6 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

We had to drive the vehicle for it to count.  Not on the road, mind you.  But the vehicle had to start and move with all the people inside.  50' in the parking lot was good enough.

 

So 60 babies in a minivan will break the record?

[Squeegee]

The genius of "Thailand number 1" was so little blood spilled, unlike most other countries.

 

Again and again we see the internet and social media is what it actually took to bring Project Thai crashing down.

 

News is global now in very undeniable and immediate ways.

 

 

 

All they can do to stop ridiculous things happening out of the back of their vans now is shut the doors on the outside world until such time as said doors (around the same time as the wheels) come off.

 

 

PS. "Second in the world" and not including everyone who made it past being scraped off the tarmac to the hospital... where it's no longer counted as a traffic accident fatality, apparently.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Squeegee

[impulse]

3 minutes ago, Thian said:

 

So 60 babies in a minivan will break the record?

 

Don't know.  They didn't come out with minivans until long after I graduated.  I kind of lost interest after that, what without the kegs of beer and the coed babes to impress.

[alocacoc]

Watch this. Silly refugees in Europe.

 

 

[worgeordie]

41, winning lottery number,that's far more important.

regards worgeordie

[waldroj]

The flippant reporting style of this Manager Online article suggests that its writer is sceptical of The Guardian traffic statistics for Thailand.

 

Alas, the World Health Organisation's Global status report on road safety 2015 (http://www.who.int/entity/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2015/country_profiles/Thailand.pdf?ua=1) will not provide any comfort to this author.

 

In the final paragraph, he says "...The government had stated in 2013 that they intended to reduce traffic accidents but drink driving and negligence has meant that any dent in Thailand’s poor record in this regard was negligible, the report stated...".

 

Whilst, drink driving must be a big contributor along with speed, might I suggest that it is the abject failure (of the overwhelming number of motorcyclists in Thailand) to wear helmets that puts the biggest dent in the country's poor record (as well as their heads)!

 

Maybe, they should try to break the Guinness Book of World Record  for the most people in a passenger vehicle - it might be a safer way for Thais to travel.

[Jonmarleesco]

I'm surprised the Guardian didn't look at the area where Thailand truly excels: the bodies per motorcycle record. 

[Mickmouse1]

Only roads? ?

[Oldgumshoe]

I wonder if that was that the van that past me doing about 140 kph on the Chonburi express way. I would not be surprised.

[tifino]

 

Surprised a Record there hasn't been attempted for, on a motorcycle - at schooltime.

 

Anyhow Guinness Records don't lower themselves to acknowledging what happened in the OP

 

... luckily, this is only valid for darwin awards

Edited September 20, 2016 by tifino

[sahibji]

41 in a vehicle designed for 16.

if that is not a recipe for disaster, then what is.i cannot imagine the conditions under which these people were worse than sardines.

the van's acceleration power will be compromised plus the momentum generated by such a weight will make it a projectile making emergency stops extremely difficult.

Edited September 20, 2016 by sahibji

[sahibji]

35 minutes ago, Oldgumshoe said:

I wonder if that was that the van that past me doing about 140 kph on the Chonburi express way. I would not be surprised.

a van that is loaded with 41will not be able to achieve that speed. but what was the driver up to?

Edited September 20, 2016 by sahibji

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Only roads? ?

no all areas.

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, Jonmarleesco said:

I'm surprised the Guardian didn't look at the area where Thailand truly excels: the bodies per motorcycle record. 

you have competitors in rural china and india.

[tifino]

 

 

...sardines  - more like pla ra, all those smelly sweating bodies

[SOTIRIOS]

...and they have the gall to criticize us at every turn....

 

...seeking 'quality tourists'....etc.....

[sahibji]

4 hours ago, alocacoc said:

Watch this. Silly refugees in Europe.

 

 

they exist worldwide. greed to maximize without any regards for safety.

[sahibji]

4 hours ago, Thian said:

 

So 60 babies in a minivan will break the record?

do not try. it will be no fun.

[sahibji]

5 hours ago, Thian said:

 

Yup but not good for the image of Thailand...and even after the Officials were told to make the roads more safe ASAP.

 

This movie was already in the online newspapers in Europe yesterday.

sure it is big news and you are right  TOYOTA is the clear winner.

Edited September 20, 2016 by sahibji

[tifino]

Just now, sahibji said:

do not try. it will be no fun.

 

we were driving around Europe 12 moths ago, and it was quite warm weather, (relatively)

 

we heard news about the van, just inside the Austrian border from the South East;

-  full of dead (about 60 illegals), when the van was finally opened.

The drivers had panicked, and abandoned the vehicle, by the road, and it was almost a week before it was identified and opened.

 

packed like sardines

 

pla ra would have smelt better 

 

[bark]

Good springs on this Van

[tifino]

Just now, bark said:

Good springs on this Van

 

30 years ago we referred to these Toyotas as bongo vans...

 

 

...still living up to that image 

[sahibji]

5 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Students do this sort of thing for charity during rag week but at least they don't drive the vehicle.

that is a game this is business.