One dead, 39 injured as bus flips and demolishes bus shelter in Songkhla

[FredNL]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

bus shelter...

 

It doesn't protect you against busses... 

[smotherb]

On 12/1/2016 at 8:43 PM, daveAustin said:

The ethos here: well, I normally go around the corner at that speed and there's no problem. 

"One woman died and many more were injured when a bus carrying local officials flipped in the rain on a bend in Songkhla."

 

Doesn't appear to be a bend in the picture

[kannot]

1 hour ago, FredNL said:

 

It doesn't protect you against busses... 

or shelter them from that pesky rain

[wvavin]

Take your picks! Brake failure, Speeding, Alcohol influence, Drug or Stupid?

[bangon04]

Another day, another bus crash in the Land of Self.

[Grubster]

Unlucky

[lemonjelly]

Dabbing the brakes instead of changing down gears.... every time.


Sent from my twisted mind using Thaivisa Connect

[bumpkin]

Not only in Thailand.  

Last month a speeding tram in Croydon, UK,  overturned on a bend and managed to kill 7.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

16 hours ago, jimstar1 said:

Did this not happen Yesterday  and the day before and the day before  etc etc tc etc Nothing new here RIP poor lady

 And almost every day the next week, month, year, decade...

Until they learn to drive this will continue ad infinitum.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

1 hour ago, bumpkin said:

Not only in Thailand.  

Last month a speeding tram in Croydon, UK,  overturned on a bend and managed to kill 7.

It is about 40 years since a tram crashed causing that many of fatalities in the UK. Here it happens almost every day, even in the dry season...

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

5 hours ago, wvavin said:

Take your picks! Brake failure, Speeding, Alcohol influence, Drug or Stupid?

Yep, and no training, no skill, no test, and little maintenance ...

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

9 hours ago, superdome said:

As an ex London bus driver[1966/1980]...i have a good idea why it went over...most people were upstairs on the bus...giving it a "top heavy" weight problem...so going round a bend make it very easy to topple over...i went on the skid patch in Chiswick[training centre for London bus drivers at the time]....Thai drivers would s....t themselves if they had to do that[i know...i nearly did my 1st time on it]....but bloody good training....i rest my case

You are dead right. Thing is, there is no training here worth its name for any vehicle let alone a real test.

If they introduced European standard testing for PSV, HGV and ordinary cars and motorcycles here the roads would be empty. That plus the lack of vehicle road worthiness testing and realistic police testing for alcohol, drugs, and speed results in the carnage we see every day.

TIT I'm afraid.

 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

11 hours ago, David Walden said:

Very much enjoying my stay in Thailand and for the last 6 weeks but I have made the motorbike journey on a Monday Cha-am to Hue Hin and return. This week I handed my motor bike back and decided the catch the mini bus too and from to Hue Hin.

The Cha-am to Hue Hin leg had its moments like one passenger with child next to me they wanted to get off about half way.  So from the middle lane travelling about 120kph she calls stop!!!  So across 3 lanes we stop in the motorbike lane (far left), smoke coming from the tyres we stop.  Me being polite and having the middle seat, I stand up so the lady can get by me to get OFF only to find I am on my head upside down in the seat in front.  As the driver had gone past the bus stop, after stopping he suddenly reversed at full throttle about 50kph for about 300 metres. A bit of pride lost managed to smile.  This apparently normal in Thailand.

THE RETURN TRIP TO CHA-AM…I believe it is one of the silliest things I have ever done in my life is to take this trip.  it about 25km.  The forward trip bad enough but the return trip for this Toyota Mini Bus even in heavy traffic going from inside to outside lane repeatedly was always at full throttle.  Starting in 2nd gear, gear changers were only made at maximum revs, motor screaming!  Not a single vehicle passed us on this trip every vehicle in front of us we passed like they were standing still.  There was one moment when a group of young lads in a large pickup played a game with us but gave up when we hit 140kph.  On the straight sections once out of town the vehicle was on maximum revs and sat on 140kph.  On approaching Cha-am the bus changed lanes at least 10 times at high speed until a great moment in my life when I arrived at the Cha-am bus stop ALIVE.

Does anyone know why Farangs don’t like travelling in Mini buses???  I think bus drivers are paid a bonus depending on how quickly they can make the journey?

 

 

   

 

Welcome to the Land of Smiles. Enjoy your stay, come back soon, the Tourist Visa is free!

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

13 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

There have been far to many slippery roads lately about time bus drivers went on strike , same with hills and bends , too many of those as well.

I was in a VIP bus crash here on a dead straight road in the dry. The near side rear double wheels came off. Driver managed to pull up despite slewing across three lanes, nobody injured, just a change of underwear needed for the passengers.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

I was in a VIP bus crash here on a dead straight road in the dry. The near side rear double wheels came off. Driver managed to pull up despite slewing across three lanes. Nobody injured, just a change of underwear needed for the passengers and crew.

 

[Boyblue]

Bangkok to Songkla, 15/16 hours drive, were there any replacement drivers on board, or is one man expected to drive with stops for probably 20+ hours. add that to no driver training and what do you get. The policeman who said it was "Slippery road conditions fault" has also never been taught to drive or taken a real test of competency...  

[Stargeezr]

Rainy day, slippery road, or too much speed, and double decker bus

all likely factors. bend is likely behind the photographer.  Only been to the

south by train, guess I was lucky. RIP{

[madusa]

First and foremost when driving on wet road with drizzle particularly when negotiating a bend you need to slow down before even coming to the bend, change to 3rd gear, doing this will prevent the vehicle sliding sideways when driver step on the brakes. The driver must not step on the brake abruptly that will surely cause the bus to go out of control.

Even new buses in Thailand will not pass any vehicle test in America or Europe. The reasons are (1) The flimsy body parts with very weak small metal rods for the framework. Very very thin metal for body parts.

(2) The design of the bus is such that the height is too high in relation to the bus body width (talking about double decker) The bus has only to go into a shallow hole on the road and it will flip over, especially with passengers all sitting on the top deck. Everybody wants to sit on the top deck. The driver must make sure the distribution of passengers are even or refuse to drive if passenger ignore the instructions. Can Thailand do that? Customers are kings in Thailand. Kings die when bus roll over, their trousers torn, their hands or feet facing in wrong directions, not a pretty sight. Thais needs to change mind set to save life.

(3)Seats not securely anchor to the floor. Looks good but not in reality. Seats come off and send passengers into space.

(4) Brake system not up to par in terms of the weight of the bus and the weight of passengers. When the bus going at 100 kph(kilometer per hour) the momentum of the bus is tremendous when emergency brake is applied the passengers weight ( say 80 percent load) will be such that it creates a powerful momentum that cause the brakes system to fail but not completely, it will take a much much longer distance to stop. Are drivers in Thailand aware of this? ( I would like to say the Germans are very good at judging the distance they should apply the brakes for it to be effective, because they drive on a no speed limit highway- their AutoBahn )

Driving big buses is more than just a skill. Thais with their big ego will not agreed with what I just said above. They want to do things their ways without even looking at the statistic of serious accidents in Thailand.