Video: School bus driver dead as homeward bound students injured in 18 wheeler collision

[connda]

9 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

deleted

post #5 was faster

 

Not only crazy dangerous conditions but VERY clearly forbidden to overtake at this stretch.

For a purpose I guess.

Also looks like a slight uphill path.

 

Every day that I get out on the road in my car I see this same stupidity.  I could make a list of the inane things I see.  This is one of them.  Cars/trucks/buses driving into the oncoming lane and expecting oncoming vehicles to get out of the way.  99.9% of the time they probably get away with it;  until they don't.  You can blame Thai drivers for being reckless and poorly trained in driving skills - and reckless, and reckless, and reckless. 
But!  I fully blame the government for not enforcing traffic laws.  Today I saw 6 Highway patrol cars escorting 4 trucks.  What are Thai Highway patrol cars for???  Escorting VIPs.  In Western countries they are for pulling over drivers committing traffic infractions.  Drivers have absolutely no fear of reprisal if they break the law (passing crossing a double-line denoting a no-passing zone, and failure to yield to on-coming traffic - This isn't a one off.  I see it virtually every time I get out and drive).  In this case, the driver died for her stupidity and arrogance.  How many Thai drivers are issued tickets for doing the same???  My guess is none.  Zero.  Nada.  Why?  There is no real enforcement in Thailand.  And the carnage obviously is not a deterrent for Thais.  The average Thai driver is unfazed.  Put Buddha on your dashboard, buy some flowers for him, and misfortune will pass you by - Not.
Until the government puts modern police cruisers on the road and starts issuing tickets for moving violation, and charging significant fines for breaking traffic laws, and applying sever sanctions for dangerous and reckless driving this insanity will never end. 
I'm not optimistic.  The Second Most Dangerous Roads in the World - and still completely backwards.  Thais don't seem to care.  I can't fathom why. 

Edited January 10, 2017 by connda

[connda]

3 hours ago, samuifanatic said:

Look at the video again. At the point of impact it was the truck trailer that was totally on the wrong side of the road, the small vehicle was in the emergency lane and the bus was completely in the left lane. It was the truck at fault! (Despite the bus overtaking). 

 

A lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon here. 

 

The cab of the truck was pointing to the left and was in the left lane, and the trailer had jack-knifed.  He very well could have been trying to steer the truck to the shoulder to avoid a collision causing the truck to jack-knife which would send the trailer into the oncoming lane, especially on wet roads (research the causes of jack-knifing trucks and you'll understand the factors at play: ie, braking and swerving to the left on a wet road to avoid the on-coming bus). Once an 18 wheeler's trailer jack-knifes the cab of the truck is just along for the ride.  Without virtue of a video showing the truck driver's maneuver before the crash, it's impossible to assign blame to the truck.  The bus driver's fault is evident.

Edited January 10, 2017 by connda

[spiritrace]

These drivers need to understand that they have lives in the back of the bus and that they are NOT obligated to take risks.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

12 hours ago, smedly said:

for <deleted!> sake yet another serious bus crash, when is this madness going to end, something drastic needs to be done

 

Thailand, the hub of serious bus accidents in the world......by a country mile

 

surely someone is going to waken up to this carnage and start getting serious

 

Limit all buses and mini vans to a strict 45kmph speed limit until a long lasting solution has been found and anyone caught going over 45kmph or committing any other moving traffic violation gets a mandatory month in jail and licence revoked for a year forcing them to take the test again to get it back. and a hefty fine of at least 20kbaht

For someone with a fine record on TV after 9 years I have to say I am surprised at your proposals for a cure to the road carnage.,

Whatever laws and restrictions are are made here, unless the laws are actually enforced nothing will change. This will never happen unless the children are taught to think, not just repeat.

The fundamental change in this country will only start to happen if two things are actually addressed and completely reformed  :

1. The police, starting at the top.

2. Education on all levels.

 

But you know that.

 

[kannot]

people say what harm does religion do.....well if  you are  told as a FACT you  will be reborn then this IS part of the problem.

[kannot]

local bus "roars" thru the  village by me daily, I came  round the  bend just a few days ago to find him with half the bus on my side of the road followed by the last minute ( normal) swerve to avoid me.......all my fault of course, kids hanging out of the windows etc

[SHARX]

It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach, for the sake of getting to the destination a few minutes early so many young lives are put in serious danger.

As the old saying goes.

“it’s better arrive late. Than be Dead and On Time”

[Sooo Upto Me]

17 hours ago, tracker1 said:

Paid the price for plain stupidity ! when will they ever learn ?

 

They don't.

Just a uneducated, selfish,  me me country. ?

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I think that i am right in saying that Thailand road markings are the same as the ones in the UK and Europe.If so then a solid line indicates that the line must not be crossed.It does not indicate that you must not overtake,because motor cycles,being very slim,compared to cars and lorry's.,would be able to overtake without crossing the line.It so follows with other road markings such as solid,and dotted lines indicating which side of the road may not cross over on to the other lane.The problem is,that because most Thai people dont have licenses and have never even taken a test(which is a piss poor example of a test,due to no theory or questions being included in said test)and therefore have no idea what the markings mean.To them,they are just road decorations.This makes things doubly dangerous for those of us who try to obey the markings,when bloody great lorries cross over and flash you like your in the wrong????One of my girlfriends,in this land before time,turned left after passing a sign that said,yes you got it,no left turn.I remarked upon her doing so,but she said that she didnt know what the sign meant.Apparently,she had been doing this for years,when visiting her mother in  sunny Suphan Buri.She had to have been extremely lucky because the turning led on to a main,one way street.Needless to say,i promptly excused myself from any further journeys  to visit  her mother again.

[Keesters]

Just another day on Thailand's crazy roads. Got to keep it at #2 most dangerous roads while striving for first place.

 

Glad none of the kids were killed.

[catinthehat]

17 hours ago, lee68 said:

True about common sense,been here 20 years and never yet met a Thai with it!

Yes it is so sad at how much it holds them back. If they could only realize that their status would have a chance at rising within ASEAN.

But to realize means to think. which is a process used to apply to such actions as common sense, thinking outside the box, planning ahead, having a "plan B" when your first attempt fails, risk assessment, etc, etc. Been coming here for 42 years. Residing for the past ten.

[hugh2121]

Visibility was not exactly good so I'm not sure. Was the lorry also on the wrong side of the road? Moment of impact looked to be on the side of the road where the bus was supposed to be. Of course, the bus being overtaken would not slow down to allow the overtaking bus to get in quickly.

[balo]

It always amazes me how Thais react when they witness accidents , just listen to the dash cam video . 

 

 

[Lampang2]

The cab of the truck was pointing to the left and was in the left lane, and the trailer had jack-knifed.  He very well could have been trying to steer the truck to the shoulder to avoid a collision causing the truck to jack-knife which would send the trailer into the oncoming lane, especially on wet roads (research the causes of jack-knifing trucks and you'll understand the factors at play: ie, braking and swerving to the left on a wet road to avoid the on-coming bus). Once an 18 wheeler's trailer jack-knifes the cab of the truck is just along for the ride.  Without virtue of a video showing the truck driver's maneuver before the crash, it's impossible to assign blame to the truck.  The bus driver's fault is evident.

Correct.

Truck managed to move the front because steering-wheels are in the front.

Moving the trailing wheel pairs (including the trailer) to the left will take considerable much more distance due to the angle of the wheels versus the main direction.

Not sure he jack-knifed it.

[docspinoff]

there seems to be a lot of debate who was right and who was wrong. But surely  a yellow line is a yellow line and a solid yellow line means NO over taking . but as we all know here whats the use of any sign or painted line ???Just a waste of Paint .

as for a red traffic lights  . does that mean STOP. or sound my horn ????

 

[inzman]

Bottom line, when you transport children, you must strictly obey the traffic rules! Passing on a solid yellow is not allowed! Guilty bus driver. 

[balo]

The lady bus driver was overtaking , why did she had to do it  ? It was nothing wrong with the speed , she had responsibility for all the school kids. Yes she is to blame.  

We are all aware of speeding trucks , this bus driver should know better but again the Thai brain is not thinking about safety . Me first . 

 

 

 

 

[draks]

I live in the Philippines at the moment my wife rides a motorcycle, when we were in the car I asked her if she knew what the yellow lines intbemiddleof the road were for, she had no idea, and my guess is 99% of drivers here don't know either. Even the so called professional drivers drive like idiots , too fast, bald tyres overtake in the most dangerous areas. Same here as in Thailand.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

The solid yellow line does not mean no overtaking.It means do not cross it over into the oncoming traffic.The same as solid lines with a dotted line next to it,indicate that if you are on the lane with dots it is safe to cross if overtaking.These sold/dotted lines usually appear on bends,with the dotted line favouring the open view of the bend.Motor bikes manage to overtake on roads with solid lines without crossing the line.If a solid line meant no overtaking,then no bugger (if every thing was even) would overtake and we would all be stuck behind motorbikes that would be in a long single file.

[Sir Dude]

They can propose anything they want from "The Ministry of Good Ideas & Grand Plans" but nothing will change on the ground until they properly regulate and 'get a grip on' those fools that drive these vehicles. It's not the vehicles that are dangerous, it's the drivers. Problem is that no-one on the ground gives a <deleted> about anything other than greed. Some meaningful and pro-active deployment of law enforcement wouldn't go amiss either.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Sir Dude

[Boycie]

6 hours ago, Lampang2 said:

Correct.

Truck managed to move the front because steering-wheels are in the front.

Moving the trailing wheel pairs (including the trailer) to the left will take considerable much more distance due to the angle of the wheels versus the main direction.

Not sure he jack-knifed it.

 

[Mises]

At the point of impact the front of the truck is well in his own lane but the trailer is not. 

In the UK the truck is called a drawbar unit or wagon and drag, in particular this type of trailer is called a turn table drawbar trailer because the front wheels are steered by the towing truck. It might well be that the truck was in its lane but swerved to avoid the bus and the direction of the truck at impact supports this. However this will also steer the trailer wheels and might well have caused the rear of the trailer to kick out as others here have suggested but for the wrong reason of braking. So the truck might not have also been across the road solid centreline as the bus clearly was.

 

Whatever, the bus driver would not have known the approaching truck had a trailer until it was too late.

[sioux2012]

looking again and again at the video...seconds before impact and at impact, the bus driver definitively crossed the double yellow lines has 100% fault no matter which way you look at it. But the driver of the 18 wheeler (hard to see from the angle) may have been speeding and was in the process of overtaking the car on the left hand side of his lane, when he noticed the school bus had crossed over the double lines and was moving to the left lane. If this is true, the driver of the 18 wheeler had already lost control of his trailer but maintained it on his side of the road. The trailer was already in a skid due to the speed and conditions of the road.

 

The bus driver is still 100% at fault for crossing the double yellow lines. But she might of saved the 18 wheeler from an almost certain accident, and that drivers life.

Edited January 11, 2017 by sioux2012
NOT CONDONING what has happened

[smedly]

7 hours ago, Mises said:

At the point of impact the front of the truck is well in his own lane but the trailer is not. 

In the UK the truck is called a drawbar unit or wagon and drag, in particular this type of trailer is called a turn table drawbar trailer because the front wheels are steered by the towing truck. It might well be that the truck was in its lane but swerved to avoid the bus and the direction of the truck at impact supports this. However this will also steer the trailer wheels and might well have caused the rear of the trailer to kick out as others here have suggested but for the wrong reason of braking. So the truck might not have also been across the road solid centreline as the bus clearly was.

 

Whatever, the bus driver would not have known the approaching truck had a trailer until it was too late.

as I stated in an earlier post and also many have repeated - the truck driver was also to blame for this accident - if either driver had made different choices it could easily not have happened

 

The driver of the bus (responsible for all on board) decided they needed to get where they were going as fast as possible - to achieve a 5-10min gain they were willing to make what most people would regard as a reckless stupid overtake that only the driver knows why they needed to do it, this mentality and extreme stupidity on the roads in Thailand is endemic of immature childish thinking, driving is like a competition

 

As for the truck driver, well all of the above  is evident so no difference there, as for what actually happened

 

Well as I said in an earlier post - the truck driver was likely driving right up behind the vehicle in front of him/her and more or less was completely blinded by the road spray/fogging, he/she decided to take a peek to see if there was a chance of an overtake, when the fog cleared what he/she saw was a bus a few meters in front already in an overtake, he/she took evasive action steering to the left which (as already mentioned several times) resulted in the trailer swinging out further and colliding with the bus.

 

Both drivers were at fault, if either had made sensible choices the accident could easily have been avoided, the bus driver was responsible for all the people on board and should not have been taking what we would all regard as a reckless stupid decision to try and overtake - it boils down to extreme stupidity and a serious lack of skill and training which pretty much explains why all of thailands roads are so dangerous, couple that with an incessant immature need to go faster louder and better than everyone else and you have accidents waiting to happen - and they do more than anywhere else on the planet  

[quandow]

On another note, why does it seem that these videos are 80% waste of time? The first two minutes of this video were unnecessary, and I've seen this 100% of the time of all videos I've personally seen. RIP driver, may the trauma pass quickly to the survivors.

[Mises]

On ‎11‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 11:23 PM, smedly said:

as I stated in an earlier post and also many have repeated - the truck driver was also to blame for this accident - if either driver had made different choices it could easily not have happened

 

The driver of the bus (responsible for all on board) decided they needed to get where they were going as fast as possible - to achieve a 5-10min gain they were willing to make what most people would regard as a reckless stupid overtake that only the driver knows why they needed to do it, this mentality and extreme stupidity on the roads in Thailand is endemic of immature childish thinking, driving is like a competition

 

As for the truck driver, well all of the above  is evident so no difference there, as for what actually happened

 

Well as I said in an earlier post - the truck driver was likely driving right up behind the vehicle in front of him/her and more or less was completely blinded by the road spray/fogging, he/she decided to take a peek to see if there was a chance of an overtake, when the fog cleared what he/she saw was a bus a few meters in front already in an overtake, he/she took evasive action steering to the left which (as already mentioned several times) resulted in the trailer swinging out further and colliding with the bus.

 

Both drivers were at fault, if either had made sensible choices the accident could easily have been avoided, the bus driver was responsible for all the people on board and should not have been taking what we would all regard as a reckless stupid decision to try and overtake - it boils down to extreme stupidity and a serious lack of skill and training which pretty much explains why all of thailands roads are so dangerous, couple that with an incessant immature need to go faster louder and better than everyone else and you have accidents waiting to happen - and they do more than anywhere else on the planet  

 

On what evidence are you sure the truck driver had crossed the yellow line? This is pure unbalanced speculation on your part. Why would the truck driver be blinded by "spray/fogging"? Again pure speculation and not supported by the video, the camera car is not blinded despite following a large bus, the truck is following a car and his windscreen is much higher up.

 

I attach a still of the video; if you place a ruler along the yellow road marking it suggests the truck was in his lane. One can't be sure but he certainly was not way over the line like the bus.

 

As to the rest of your post I will take heed of your signature.

[Credo]

On 1/13/2017 at 5:00 AM, quandow said:

On another note, why does it seem that these videos are 80% waste of time? The first two minutes of this video were unnecessary, and I've seen this 100% of the time of all videos I've personally seen. RIP driver, may the trauma pass quickly to the survivors.

It's like all accidents, it's not really a long time, it just seems like a long time.  

[kannot]

On 1/11/2017 at 5:36 PM, draks said:

I live in the Philippines at the moment my wife rides a motorcycle, when we were in the car I asked her if she knew what the yellow lines intbemiddleof the road were for, she had no idea, and my guess is 99% of drivers here don't know either. Even the so called professional drivers drive like idiots , too fast, bald tyres overtake in the most dangerous areas. Same here as in Thailand.

if  u really want to frighten yourself go to any tyre  fitting place and  look at the carcasses that have been  taken off

[kannot]

On 1/11/2017 at 7:54 PM, Khon Kaen Dave said:

The solid yellow line does not mean no overtaking.It means do not cross it over into the oncoming traffic.The same as solid lines with a dotted line next to it,indicate that if you are on the lane with dots it is safe to cross if overtaking.These sold/dotted lines usually appear on bends,with the dotted line favouring the open view of the bend.Motor bikes manage to overtake on roads with solid lines without crossing the line.If a solid line meant no overtaking,then no bugger (if every thing was even) would overtake and we would all be stuck behind motorbikes that would be in a long single file.

Uk version "do not cross or straddle" except  in a few situations when safe to do so ie vehicle  blocking road or instructed by a  rozzer etc etc

[eeyang wah]

hahahahahahahaha GOOD!

 

Shame about the injured kids though.