More carnage as six dead after "sleeping" minivan driver collides head on with old folk's pick-up

[Catkiwi]

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Post of the month here, I made the exact same points about a year ago when three people were killed in a mini van on

a visa run.

All valid points that should indeed be addressed but doesn't cure the scourge of the mini van drivers who are totally lawless and not only kill people on visa runs but many others, including those in other vehicles. The New Year carnage where the van exploded and there were 20 or more killed from one idiots stupidity, case in point.

[Na Lee]

Easier to extort.
Not complaining when paid under the minimum wage for 12h work a day.
Totally dependent on the mercy of employer.
Happy with 150 to 200 Baht per day.
Similar to many countries in the world.
Undercutting local wages with "willing" migrants from dirt poor countries.
 

Fully agree. I saw myself in Hua-Him that after days work the(migrant) male worker got 200 baht. And the women a lousy 100 baht.

[Swedenlars]

This kind of news getting boring. OK, OK, R.I.P. and all that.

[cardinalblue]

The van driver will get a long rest now....

 

they always speculate in trying to find acceptable excuses....when you don't know, say it...bottom line ..he drove into the oncoming lane...

 

so are they saying he fell asleep at his job?

[janpharma]

No news...just daily (Thai) practice...

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, Catkiwi said:

All valid points that should indeed be addressed but doesn't cure the scourge of the mini van drivers who are totally lawless and not only kill people on visa runs but many others, including those in other vehicles. The New Year carnage where the van exploded and there were 20 or more killed from one idiots stupidity, case in point.

Yes, I understand what you are saying and I cannot disagree with you. I sit in a minivans front seat when I go to Bangkok, and all that journey there are vehicles, mainly cars and small trucks hogging the middle lanes and sometimes the outside lanes all the time, causing the driver to undertake and even use the hard shoulder regularly which of ccurse is wrong. The majority of Thai drivers have no road sense or common sense at all. The minivan company I use have a speed limiter, so the driver can never be accused of speeding.

 

What I am saying is that it is not just the minivan drivers who are the bad ones on the road, although I do agree that some of them are driving too many hours without a break, although in my case I always travel in daytime,

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

8 hours ago, tomwct said:

Get those vans off the roads! Put those drivers in mini buses, so they cannot go faster than 80 KPH. Also require them to maintain a drivers log, which should be checked periodically and by the RTP no the Army!

If properly maintained it is not the vehicle's fault.

If the driver and owner ignore maintenance, overloading, seat belts, fatigue, excessive speed and road conditions then the carnage will continue with whatever vehicle they have.

[Nemesis7]

Driving in Thai highways are scary and minivans ?!? Simply no comments, they are death traps 

[lvr181]

Drivers kill, NOT vehicles and until the Government accepts that and does something about it, nothing will change! 

 

RIP to those killed and I hope a full and speedy recovery to those injured.

[Happyman58]

The reason they import workers is because Thais hate WORK But as everyone says Life goes on the killing goes on and everyone has big Thai smile about it Mini vans are a coffin on wheels All these laws are very nice but the secret is you have to enforce them Does anybody know who will in Thailand? Now before anybody say the police think again THEY WONT

[Grumpy Duck]

14 hours ago, tomwct said:

Get those vans off the roads! Put those drivers in mini buses, so they cannot go faster than 80 KPH. Also require them to maintain a drivers log, which should be checked periodically and by the RTP no the Army!

The van didn't cause the collision the apparently sleep deprived driver of the van did. Imagine if he was driving a large bus, how many other vehicles could have been taken out also. Perhaps authorities should crack down on the owners of the van for over capacity and other violations as well as allowing a person incapable of driving. 

I recall making a visa run to Laos, We took a van and the driver was quite safe, stopped every couple of hours for stretch, toilet, or eye opening breaks. The company had 4 vans going to the same place

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, NoBrainer said:

Well if these archaic requirements for "Visa Runs" were changed, thesis people would not have needed to be in that Van in the first place. How much energy, fuel, tires, wear & tear on the vehicles, and the roads is totally wasted by making hundreds of thousands of people travel to the countries borders every year. Ridiculous policy causing many deaths each year.

 

Better have them do their turnarounds at the local immigration, and charge accordingly to cover expenses, and make a very good profit.

This happens in many countries of the world... immigration has not set itself up for the importation and longer term status of workers. It probably makes it easier to keep tabs on them too.

Another van and dangerous driver off the road but another will be along soon.

[jerojero]

Think PM and govt officials need to regularly ride in these vehicles with the Idiot drivers. Guarantee then necessary changes would happen damn quick!

[Keesters]

15 hours ago, lucjoker said:

Millions of Thai's with no work......and they need 

to import workers .........the reason???

 

Cheaper. More hard working. Good time keeping. Scapegoating.

 

[kiwikeith]

16 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

why didn't the GPS save everyone?

 

RIP victims of your do nothing police and government.

 

 

Did I or did I not read in the Bangkok post that the enlightened one was going to bring in Log Books within 30 days???????

[gk10002000]

Low budget over night transport is just so dangerous.  Overnight driving and sleeping accidents happen every where. Many tourist buses in the USA make the news also. 

[garbolino]

18 hours ago, wow64 said:

If only this Van had the GPS tracker it would have saved 6 lives. 

 

Must have been following the 80k speed limited and caused him to fall asleep.

 

how would GPS stop an accident like this???

[Inepto Cracy]

Argh the infamous mini van again.

Known world-wide as the Toyota Hiace. Yes, the Hiace name stands for:-

H = High

I = Impact

A = Asian

C = Culling

E = Equipment.

Ride and die, safety Thailand.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Inepto Cracy
spelling checker gone wrong.

[mok199]

the volume of mini vans on roads at any giver time, is staggering...this carnage will never end...mabey its time we have 2( two drivers in every van) .as a retired locomotive engineer  I know about fatigue and I know about long hours, and starring at my headlight all night long its tough,now every passanger and freight train in north America must have 2 qualified operators in the lead loco at all time...also we must have 8 hours rest every 12 hours on duty....but In Thailand ,these idiots just find a new way around a new law..the only way to avoid this is.AS A PASSENGER.DO NOT FALL ASLEAP.WATCH THE DRIVER AND DON NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY HIS BULLYING ATTITUDE...IF HE NODS OFF TELL HIM..IF HE NODS OFF AGAIN STOP THE VAN AND GET OUT....

[The Dark Lord]

19 hours ago, lucjoker said:

Millions of Thai's with no work......and they need 

to import workers .........the reason???

 

A surplus of Work Permits that have previously been denied to farangs maybe

[TSF]

19 hours ago, lucjoker said:

Millions of Thai's with no work......and they need 

to import workers .........the reason???

 

reason - Thais can <deleted> them over, pay them shit, no need to observe any of the labor laws, they're foreigners not equal to Thais so it's OK to treat them like animals. 

[Wim1954]

20 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Exactly, according to my sums 6 dead (  two from the pick up....R.I.P to all. ) and 11 injured comes to 17. Which means 15 in the Minibus.........

Need to stop this don't let them drive after 7 pm untill 7 am. According to the records between that time the most accidents happens with minivan's and busses.

[wow64]

1 hour ago, garbolino said:

how would GPS stop an accident like this???

The government said this would fix the problem of these commenter vans having acccidents. 

 

Countless hours of research and investigation was surely put into coming up with this solution. 

[smileydude]

Often the drivers are also the owners of the van and are trying to make as many trips as possible to maximize their income.  

In other cases the owners of the vans have incentives for the drivers to make as many trips as possible to their maximize their own profit.  

In either case,  lax enforcement of labor laws/ regulations regarding how many consecutive hours you can work and how much rest is required between these hours plus greed is to blame.

Nobody really cares until some celebrity or hi-so dies then society forgets and the vicious cycle continues.

The whole problem is Thai society has not yet developed to the level where the concepts of accountability or the value of each human life regardless of their socioeconomic status as much as more advanced countries.

We are stuck in our economic materialistic concerns and Thailand 4.0 bs.

Edited June 14, 2017 by smileydude

[Lobber]

w4nk driving

[ddavidovsky]

I fear for the life of this Korean girl who has cycled around the world and arrived yesterday in Thailand at Nong Khai.

https://www.youtube.com/user/universewithmecom

She seems quite blithe and innocent, for all her cycling experience. Hope someone tells her about all the road carnage here.

Edited June 14, 2017 by ddavidovsky

[Chongalulu]

On 13/06/2017 at 2:49 PM, ThomasHOL said:

And that why i perfer to rent a car and drive myself. 

Didn't help the couple driving themselves in the vehicle it hit.

[Chongalulu]

7 hours ago, garbolino said:

how would GPS stop an accident like this???

Whoosh!

[dexjnr555]

On 6/13/2017 at 2:33 PM, lucjoker said:

Millions of Thai's with no work......and they need 

to import workers .........the reason???

 

Millions? The unemployment rate is around 1% of a 70m population, do the maths. The imports are doing the work Thais do not want to do I believe.

[dexjnr555]

6 hours ago, Inepto Cracy said:

Argh the infamous mini van again.

Known world-wide as the Toyota Hiace. Yes, the Hiace name stands for:-

H = High

I = Impact

A = Asian

C = Culling

E = Equipment.

Ride and die, safety Thailand.

That's racist.