Phuket Chinese tour bus amid 'brake failure' rams cars on Patong Hill

Eakkapop Thongtub

 

The Phuket tour bus was carrying 30 Chinese tourists when it rammed the cars on Patong Hill. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

 

PHUKET: -- A Phuket tour bus carrying 30 Chinese tourists back to their hotel in Patong suffered a reported brake failure at the bottom of Patong Hill yesterday evening (April 13), causing a five-car pile-up.

 

The driver told police the brakes failed as the bus made the steep descent into Patong.

 

Lt Col Maj Pattapee Srichai and fellow officers from the Patong Police arrived at the scene, in front of Wat Suwankhiriwong (Wat Patong), at 7:36pm.

 

The white Mercedes-Benz bus, registered in Nakhon Ratchasima, rammed into the back of a white Toyota Fortuner, reported Col Pattapee.

 

The Fortuner was then pummeled into a bronze Isuzu, causing an end-to-end chain reaction of one car being shunted into the back of another, he explained.

 

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-chinese-tour-bus-amid-brake-failure-rams-cars-on-patong-hill-61776.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2017-04-14

Must be caused by the teflon dust brushed off all of the authorities shirts. 

Quality buses for quality tourists.

So these busses are autos and have no gears to help slow them down and also don't have "air brakes" which fail to a closed position which in theory should stop it in its tracks ?

2 minutes ago, johng said:

So these busses are autos and have no gears to help slow them down and also don't have "air brakes" which fail to a closed position which in theory should stop it in its tracks ?

If they are drum brakes and are not adj correctly with all the will in the world, they will not stop you. Infact on a hill with constant braking the drums will get hotter and expand causing brake fade.

One day some bright spark in the local BIB or Transport Authority will look at similar hills in other countries and get the stats on, "brake failures/faulty this and that" and other excuses and it SHOULD become obvious; they are rare occurrences elsewhere......here the problem is with poor driving skills, lack of maintenance and general road education, not to mention unlicensed drivers.

 

The above can be fixed (well in country which cares) but what can't be fixed is stupidity, lack of reasoning ability and the fact that the notion of consequence is beyond Thai's comprehension.

The driver should have said !! I was driving like a loony, too fast and couldnt stop in time.

Descending a hill in 4 th gear,with foot on brake to slow down,

which results in the brakes getting too hot,resulting in brake fade,

so when you need them they dont work.

Going  down any hill you use the gears to slow you down not brakes ,I have

heard where truck and bus drivers knock the vehicle into neutral,

and freewheel down hills to save fuel,little wonder so many accidents

happening on hills here

18 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Descending a hill in 4 th gear,with foot on brake to slow down,

which results in the brakes getting too hot,resulting in brake fade,

so when you need them they dont work.

Going  down any hill you use the gears to slow you down not brakes ,I have

heard where truck and bus drivers knock the vehicle into neutral,

and freewheel down hills to save fuel,little wonder so many accidents

happening on hills here

But surely they learn this in the extensive testing they undertook to get their public service vehicle or HGV licence???!!!

WOW! Never heard of that happening before! 

Songkran in Phuket wouldn't be complete without a bus crash on Patong Hill...!  Congratulations on another successful year

4 hours ago, Panda13 said:

Quality buses for quality tourists.

 

And quality bus drivers for ALL tourists.

 

Phuket is all about maximum money coming in, for minimum money going out.

 

The buses, the tyres, the maintenance, the drivers etc are the cheapest that the operators can get, in order to maximize their profits.  Thus, safety standards are non-existent.

 

Bus accidents have been happening on Patong Hill for years, with no end in sight, as nothing has ever been seriously being done to stop them. 

3 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Descending a hill in 4 th gear,with foot on brake to slow down,

which results in the brakes getting too hot,resulting in brake fade,

so when you need them they dont work.

Going  down any hill you use the gears to slow you down not brakes ,I have

heard where truck and bus drivers knock the vehicle into neutral,

and freewheel down hills to save fuel,little wonder so many accidents

happening on hills here

Yes, Angel gear has delivered many drivers to the Angels, very early in my 40years as a heavy vehicle driver I was told to descend hill in the same gear that you would ascend it, and with the assistance of an engine brake very little use of the brakes should be required.

Do bus drivers in Thailand have to take a special test to drive tour buses or is it all done on a regular car license? Just asking because they seem to be particularly incompetent.

Bus driver to mechanic,    "The brakes don't work.   Can  you fix the horn?"

.....NOT....' a Chinese tour bus'.......???

 

...a Thai tour bus........ carrying Chinese tourists.......???

Zero dollar tourists take zero dollar ride to hell on a zero dollar bus with zero dollar maintenance... Do the math and go figure ..

15 minutes ago, SOTIRIOS said:

.....NOT....' a Chinese tour bus'.......???

 

...a Thai tour bus........ carrying Chinese tourists.......???

Things get lost in translation...Maybe they'll hire editors one day. Similar to the 'bathroom collapse' header.....

Too many inexperienced drivers in these busses.

every instance of "Brake Failure" I have read is caused by steer wheel attendants standing on the brakes all the way down the hill. The brakes overheat and Brake fade occurs and they crash.

in a heavy vehicle a gear low enough to hold a constant safe speed all the way down the hill needs to be selected at the top of the hill. I have been driving heavy vehicles (up to 190 tonne gross) for years.  But what would I know.  Just sayin. 

0+0+0+0=0

20 hours ago, johng said:

So these busses are autos and have no gears to help slow them down and also don't have "air brakes" which fail to a closed position which in theory should stop it in its tracks ?

Thais don't unnerstan this stuff so don't know that when they lie we know they are lying.

15 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

Do bus drivers in Thailand have to take a special test to drive tour buses or is it all done on a regular car license? Just asking because they seem to be particularly incompetent.

Someone wrote recently that have to undergo an intense extra test lasting 15 minutes 

You are correct! They give you a fifteen minute verbal test before they give you a Lifetime Commercial License or you can hand

the examiner 1000 baht and no test. The test is very comprehensive: How often do you change the oil on a bus? Whenever it

runs out. How often do you change tires? Whenever they blow out. Your doing very good only a couple more questions. When 

a red light comes on your dash what do you do? When I go home, I ask my wife what's wrong because I can't read or write. Very

good. When on a hill, with a bus load of Chinese, and your brakes don't operate properly, what do you do? I order Chinese Takeout for everyone on board. You Passed. Congratulations your now a Thai Bus Driver! Here's your Lifetime License.

All Mercedes buses are equipped with an eddy brake or a hydraulic retarder, and if that is not being used downhill, the brake lining can wear off.  The switch looks like a direction-indicator-control lever and is located on its the opposite site. If you do not know, how to use it, you should not drive a bus. Ergo: This accident was caused by the stupidity of the driver, and not by brake failure.

 

 

 

16 hours ago, NamKangMan said:

 

And quality bus drivers for ALL tourists.

 

Phuket is all about maximum money coming in, for minimum money going out.

 

The buses, the tyres, the maintenance, the drivers etc are the cheapest that the operators can get, in order to maximize their profits.  Thus, safety standards are non-existent.

 

Bus accidents have been happening on Patong Hill for years, with no end in sight, as nothing has ever been seriously being done to stop them. 

It is all about checks and control by authorities.

If the owners and drivers get no "push" to really do something about safety, then money and only money will be the business guide.

In fact this can be seen anywhere else in the world.

No checks, out goes safety.

Safety is expensive.

1 hour ago, fxe1200 said:

All Mercedes buses are equipped with an eddy brake or a hydraulic retarder, and if that is not being used downhill, the brake lining can wear off.  The switch looks like a direction-indicator-control lever and is located on its the opposite site. If you do not know, how to use it, you should not drive a bus. Ergo: This accident was caused by the stupidity of the driver, and not by brake failure.

 

 

 

 

Probably not a "Real" Mercedes bus. Maybe just some home made contraption with a fancy logo on the front.

 

Hilarious..... Probably not for the passengers, or the other road users, but I am all in favour of Thailand bidding for the WORLD NUMBER 1 spot, in something other than Thai language usage, thai cooking, and the commercial sex industry. Come on guys, Thailand can definitely do this! It takes just a leeeeetle bit more effort by the government's  Department of Mai Pen Rai! Why on earth use a low gear, when you can smoke your brakes on a steep hill........and gain international renown for the kingdom!

Patong Hill must hold the world record for the number of brake-fail accidents. (or is that TL in general?)

21 hours ago, colinneil said:

The driver should have said !! I was driving like a loony, too fast and couldnt stop in time.

Well said Lol Maybe they have to look at suppliers from other countries when they are buying these brakes. But you are right most common excuse is Brake failure

3 hours ago, fxe1200 said:

All Mercedes buses are equipped with an eddy brake or a hydraulic retarder, and if that is not being used downhill, the brake lining can wear off.  The switch looks like a direction-indicator-control lever and is located on its the opposite site. If you do not know, how to use it, you should not drive a bus. Ergo: This accident was caused by the stupidity of the driver, and not by brake failure.

 

 

 

I used to drive coaches in Europe many moons ago, we had an electronic retarder fitted to our coaches, as you say it looks like the indicator stalk, our were graduated from 0 - 10, we also had manual gearboxes which helped when descending some of the mountains in Germany, Austria, Italy & the former Yugoslavia, you really need to know what you are doing when you have 50+ people sitting behind you and expecting to get to their destination in one piece.