Van driver has survived, according to a report in the unmentionable paper.

1 hour ago, retarius said:

There are a lot of great suggestions on here about tachometers and the like, fitted as standard in developed countries. But nothing can be done and no laws passed will be effective until there is a functioning police force whose purpose should be to uphold the laws. If 200 baht in the gloved hand can buy you out of any bad driving what hope is there?

 

For me I would like to see a cultural change whereby local communities get together and say 'no more'. Let's have local parents and schools get together to police their own children/students with regard to licenses, drinking, helmets and the like. In my town we have a police man on duty outside the local high school where kids drive out on motor bikes without helmets and 3 or 4 to a bike…he does nothing at all, it seems his job is to blow his whistle a lot. Yet 100 yards down the road on the main road there is a poster campaign to get kids to wear helmets….wouldn't you think that someone somewhere in the township authorities or police would move the campaign to the high school?

A very sensible suggestion - the best I've read on here: something constructive and sensible. Can not the village headmen initiate something like this?

Sadly this accident was just waiting to happen.

Yesterday, I spent the day on  Nongram Beach , Sattahip, which is actually owned by the Royal Thai Navy.

The behaviour from some of the people on that beach, was nothing short of irrisponsible and ignorant.

I witnessed whole groups of people getting completly bladdered on " Hong Thong " Whisky while on a family day out at the beach.

Somebody from every group would have driven after consuming all that whisky ( and I witnessed not one that was not drinking )

Unfortunatly, this kind of appalling behaviour seems to be the norm in Thailand. 

Why do these people act with total disregard to their own safety as well as that of others ?

The answer is really simple - IT,S BECAUSE THEY CAN  , AND GET AWAY WITH IT.

.

 

 

190km per hr on the airport highway in a van once and he ignored me when i told him to slow down. no more vans for me.

never, ever, use a van in Thailand, you are asking to be killed.  Secondly, when are they going to teach people to drive in Thailand?

It is no wonder there are so many crashes.  Nobody is taught to drive.  Its just ridiculous.

28 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

 

When the van driver fell asleep I doubt he had any control over the vehicle.

 

Just as anyone else in the same situation wouldn't have control.  If he fell asleep, of course. 

 

Maybe the pickup driver was to blame in this clearly offset, head-on collision.

Today...IS in Baghdad....24 dead....

 

 

Driver in Chonburi....23 dead...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 20179 yr by Sphere

3 hours ago, robertthebruce said:

How sad is this...

 

will this ever stop, ???

 

Meanwhile, the cops are busy with roadblocks ticketing motorbikes for no helmet. It takes 5 cops to do it.

It's just horrible. Driving in Thailand is getting worse and worse. RIP to the victims.

27 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Life works in mysteries ways especially here. RIP those that perished. Makes one reflect on life. The van driver shares some of the responsibility. I guess tourism will intervene and hand out a few thousand baht per victim and life will move on till the next time. 

 

The victims are dead. 

A few thousand baht will not be of use to them. 

Devastating my heart goes out to all the families, Harder driving tests, educate the drivers, enforcement of the law

Mr PM seriously needs to do something now.... instead of doing his silly exersizes .

The telly graphic says van crossed the median.  First time I have seen people visibly upset and angry after a crash like this. Apparently they could hear the  people screaming as they burned to death. Frightening and I feel  for these victims.

5 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

It's just horrible. Driving in Thailand is getting worse and worse. RIP to the victims.

You're quite right I think also .....driving here has always been a challenge and I think I'm better for that......but nowadays, it's just plain scary sometimes....!

31 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Really they need to prosecute the company owners for forcing drivers to drive multiple shifts with no sleep. Coffee and m 150 will not keep them awake, when they have such horrendous schedule. 

The bus driver that ran away because he was too tired is a hero. 

Now they want to prosecute him. 

 

I know a Thai guy who used to drive a mini van for a Korean Golf Company. He was often forced to work (mainly driving) 20 hours a day. Living in the country and with no education , it was about the only job he could do to support his wife and 2 kids. Oh, the van was his own.

 

He fell asleep 2 times recently and had a minor accident each time, slightly injuring a few of the passengers.

 

Of course, the passengers complained and the reaction was that he was sacked. He has now been unemployed for about 3 months and the family are struggling to make ends meet.

 

Yes, it is the company owners that should be punished not the poor driver struggling to feed his family.

 

I often travel in the company's vans and yes, I have seen the driver dosing off sometimes. I am sure they must do extra jobs at night because during the day, all they do is wait for us to finish our meetings and drive us back again.

 

I avoid vans as much as I can.

 

Back to this case. As yet, no one really knows the cause of this accident so lets stop blaming people. 

No-one has mentioned road design yet. Many European roads of this type have something in the central reservation to keep vehicles in their own directional lane. By reducing head on collisions the death tolls have also been reduced.

I saw a new road being constructed recently and there was a deep ditch in the central reservation into which drainage pipes were being laid. This would stop vehicles crossing into the other lane.

A little further on a macro was infilling the ditch to level, and further on they were watering the newly laid grass over the now flat central area.

This of course would not stop the original accident but would have resulted in a lower speed collision for the van without involving a head on collision with the pickup.

May they all rest in peace.

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The road layout looks like both vehicles should have been travelling in the same direction, which makes it a little harder to understand this tragedy. RIP. all

Minivan crossed the grass median dividing the dual carriageway 

 

 

25 dead, not 23 as previously stated. I've traveled this road so many times in 6yrs Chanthaburi-Bangkok, bus by preference but minivan at times; often it's a racetrack, the long straights too tempting for lunatic drivers

 

Tragic for so many families, guessing those heading to Bangkok had been visiting their families over new years

28 minutes ago, Sphere said:

Van driver has survived, according to a report in the unmentionable paper.

Bangkok Post?

^ The Nation says driver died:

 

Police said a Chanthaburi-Bangkok passenger van crossed into the opposite lane and crashed with a pick-up truck.

The van driver and 12 passengers were burned inside the van and 12 other people travelling on the pick-up truck were killed.

Yep, but why is it missing another 27 people? I thought that 50 was the standard in a car made for 13! Anyway, I am deeply sorry for the ones that passed away.

This is tragic to say the least and I agree with everyone on this post, more needs to be done, but then again, its up to the Thai's to create change which takes time, you cannot change a culture overnight, especially if their leader doesn't start the change.

 

There has been a lot of drinking in our village and partying till late, so today, I decided to take the kids for a drive to Udon Thani which is an hours drive from our village, I read that the roads during this season are very dangerous, so it was a first, the kids had been stuck in the house long enough, and I have to report that the drive was without incident, and I think I only saw one or two cars overtake on the single lane each direction heading to the main road, and when we came to the main road 2 lanes in both directions, it was smooth sailing except for two idiot drivers at separate times driving fast and moving in and out of traffic and going up very close to the rear of the cars in front of them to push them into the left lane.

 

Never seen so man cars on the road heading back to BKK 

Can Thaivisa.com do something to stop these endless Incidents? 

If they could they would.

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All these people had there lives snuffed out, 

by the murderous drivers of Thailand.

Shame on you,   the authorities of Thailand,   who do nothing to stop this

type of behaviour. 

 

1 hour ago, ponder said:

My feeling exactly. I was in one of these vehicles going from Pattaya to Bangkok when I suffered the only panic attack that I have ever had in my life. On the back inside seat, I could not move at all, and I knew that if anything happened, nobody would get out alive except the driver (possibly). The bus stopped after about 15 minutes to re-fuel, and I got out and took a taxi instead.  

 

These vans are death traps, and I shiver to think what a horrible end these unfortunate people met, trapped in a burning vehicle.

 

Luckily, I have never had any panic situations but sometimes I played wild-card; in case of an accident who could escape? (especially when I meet with driver over fuelled  ego.)Unfortunately, I have to say that the driver and the other first seat may leave the minivan. Should the door be opened - it has an automatic lock-one or two passengers can go out, but no chance of second row and the back seats is close to zero. 

I agree on those who say minivans are a  running coffin, randomly drops off from the game board.

A car passes by films the carnage.

Edited January 2, 20179 yr by Wilsonandson

4 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Total carnage, now will people with authority start doing something ?

Apparently you never read the good generals previous statment regarding Public Transport he is was gunna do something

Well that's put a kaybosh on the road fatality statistics. Will Thailand, ever, ever learn?

58 minutes ago, crickets said:

190km per hr on the airport highway in a van once and he ignored me when i told him to slow down. no more vans for me.

 

190 kph? Yeah, right.

57 minutes ago, sabaii69 said:

Meanwhile, the cops are busy with roadblocks ticketing motorbikes for no helmet. It takes 5 cops to do it.

How could those police officers have averted this accident?

Edited January 2, 20179 yr by gdgbb

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