Thread: Bangkok to Surat Thani bus crashes, 10+ dead, including 5 foreigners

Originally Posted by Wizard of Oz

Busses are made to transport people, all want to have a view of what's going on outside, they are not made to survive any crash. Large surfaces with wondows and a bit of steel hold the bus together, in March this year 28 people were killed in a bus accident in Switzerland with a Belgium coach, there are many bus crashes in Europe to, many times with a number of passengers killed. The busses in Thailand are not better nor worse than busses in the rest of the world. I once had a bus trip in Australia from Melbourne to Mount Buller. The trip was at night, bus driver doing 120k's on the Australian Highway.... Just a 2 lane road. That was the last time I ever took a bus, never again!

How true, Australia has plenty of bus crashes, more often than not with fatalities. Thailand would have many 1000's times more buses than here.
But when l do use a bus in Thailand, l would like to use a fleet with late model, well maintained fleet with hopefully, well trained drivers.

every bus trip we have taken i have never really felt `safe`

RIP

Originally Posted by taxexile

The bodywork, or lack of bodywork on thai buses contributes greatly to the death and injury toll in these accidents, new bodies are fabricated on old chassis, fabricated out of what appears to be thin aluminium and plate glass, there is no rollover protection. They are designed to look good, but as with so much in this disneyland of a country, beneath the surface there is little of substance. In a bus accident the aluminium will fold and the plate glass will break into lethal shards, The seats, held in place by flimsy bolts will come adrift flinging the occupants about.

Combine this with the poor maintenance and abysmal driving standards and riders of these buses are entering a grim lottery.

This accident will fuel the anger felt by the parents of the british students killed a while back and hopefully their campaign to publicise the criminal neglect of the thai authorities in not regulating their transport system adequately will move forward a bit more.

Only if the international media put pressure on the Thai tourist industry to lobby for better regulation citing lost tourist revenue. If it doesn't hit their pocketrs there is no reason to change the status quo.

Originally Posted by Wizard of Oz

The busses in Thailand are not better nor worse than busses in the rest of the world.

It's quite evident that you are either entirely ignorant of Thailand or an idiot.

In any event Andrew Drummond's website has a story on this accident. Two survivors who were seriously injured but will live, both Britons, have disclosed they they begged the driver to slow down during the night when the bus was driven too fast and began swerving over the carriageway. He apparently did so but only until folk went back to sleep when he sped up again.

Situation normal. I wonder how many times passengers in the past have blogged on fora elsewhere describing how they have asked bus drivers to slow down only to have been threatened or abused for their pains. You can't tell Thai anything - they're simply too stupid and to correct their idiotic behaviour at the suggestion of another would be to admit their obvious inferiority and lose face which of course, being the children they are, would never do.

he may have a point about the busses but I have to go with thegent regarding the drivers

Chalk 'n Cheese .

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...f/Bus_Safe.pdf

Traffic and Car Accident Statistics for Thailand. Graphs and Figures.

[quote=setaputra;2149668]

Originally Posted by taxexile

The bodywork, or lack of bodywork on thai buses contributes greatly to the death and injury toll in these accidents, new bodies are fabricated on old chassis, fabricated out of what appears to be thin aluminium and plate glass, there is no rollover protection. They are designed to look good, but as with so much in this disneyland of a country, beneath the surface there is little of substance. In a bus accident the aluminium will fold and the plate glass will break into lethal shards, The seats, held in place by flimsy bolts will come adrift flinging the occupants about.

Combine this with the poor maintenance and abysmal driving standards and riders of these buses are entering a grim lottery.

This accident will fuel the anger felt by the parents of the british students killed a while back and hopefully their campaign to publicise the criminal neglect of the thai authorities in not regulating their transport system adequately will move forward a bit more.

Thai tourist industry to lobby for better regulation

communist

citing lost tourist revenue. If it doesn't hit their pocketrs there is no reason to change the status quo.

capitalist

Bus safety Australia PDF doesn't take into account that the number of bus passengers has declined dramatically after the arrival of the budget carriers. Only the poor take the interstate bus in Australia, all the rest take the plane. Furthermore it doesnt take into account the number of coaches/busses and number of cars, bus has 40+ passengers, car far less, sure if you compare it like that bustravel is the safest way of ROAD transport. Also take out the Urban busses, any "crash" would involve most of the time only damage to bus and most of the kilometers mentioned are from urban busses. If they would have taken the long haul, interstate busses only, I don't think the figures would be that favorable. Nice way to make a report to have the bus look the safest way of transport.

That Nakonchai Air is not bad. There buses are all Mercedes and reasonably new and well cared for. I think in the last year I've only read about one of their buses having an accident and it was nothing like this.
They always have 2 drivers and they seemed more professional and not as reckless as the other buses I've ridden in Thailand.

Originally Posted by Wizard of Oz

@the gent. How many times have you been a passenger on an interstate bus. Talk about ignorant.... Busses have schedules to keep and will drive to keep to them. Bus drivers all over the world are the same, keeping deadlines, speeding, taking "speed" to stay awake etc. if you think this is a Thailand problem, you're a fool! When I mentioned the bus driver in Australia he was going to fast on the 2 lane highway in the pitch dark, missing oncoming trucks and road trains by centimeters, he just laughed and said "no worries mate,doing this all my life, I know every curve in the road". don't say this is a Thai problem please, it's a global problem.

The plural of bus is buses.

Quite how omnibuses operate in the Antipodes is not my forte but in Europe when driving at night they have lights which illuminate the carriageway. In technical terms we call them " headlights " and they are quite bright. Drivers find them quite useful not least to reflect light from the lane studs which delineate the lanes on dual carriageways and motorways. We call them " cats eyes " but you might know them better as Wombat ears or Roo bollocks, who knows. Now, in the real world where people know what they are doing public transport and heavy goods vehicles have a thing called a tachograph in the cab. Drivers must operate in accordance with the rules relating to their use and if they are found in breach, ie. they have exceeded speed limits and their hours at the wheel they are liable to prosecution, the withdrawal of their licence and the operator may be fined and prohibited from conducting their business. The reason we have tachographs is to ensure that the drive for profits do not compromise road safety.

Now, if you have a spare moment you may wish to establish what the rules are in Thailand governing such limiters on commercial abuse. At the same time you may also wish to research the number of road fatalities over the past 10 years in Thailand and calculate the proportion of deaths arising out of accidents involving public buses.

When you have digested that information please feel free to contribute but in the meantime why don't you shut the fuck up and find something else to occupy that enfeebled intellect of yours.

Are you an Abo perhaps?

Originally Posted by thegent

Originally Posted by Wizard of Oz

@the gent. How many times have you been a passenger on an interstate bus. Talk about ignorant.... Busses have schedules to keep and will drive to keep to them. Bus drivers all over the world are the same, keeping deadlines, speeding, taking "speed" to stay awake etc. if you think this is a Thailand problem, you're a fool! When I mentioned the bus driver in Australia he was going to fast on the 2 lane highway in the pitch dark, missing oncoming trucks and road trains by centimeters, he just laughed and said "no worries mate,doing this all my life, I know every curve in the road". don't say this is a Thai problem please, it's a global problem.

The reason we have tachographs is to ensure that the drive for profits do not compromise road safety.

Now, if you have a spare moment you may wish to establish what the rules are in Thailand governing such limiters on commercial abuse.

Put down your pocket edition of the communist manifesto now will you...

^ You know how it is Ben "" we always do it that way "

@thegent, let me guess, you live in the over-regulated, elf and safety Capitol of the world, where everyone from birth is covered in cotton wool, the UK? Your forum name doesn't do you any justice. You are just another racist, foul mouthed,whinging Pom. From the comfort of your council housing estate looking at the world. Do us all a favor, stay there looking at all the cat's eyes that make your world a better world to live in.

No I am not an indigenous Australian and thank you for pointing out the plural of bus, we can all learn from eachother, like the correct spelling for cat's eyes.

A quote from a farang passenger "He was driving like a mad man. He did slow down for a while."
BBC News - British couple in fatal Thailand bus crash recovering

We foreigners are no better than the Thais when it comes to speaking up and demanding the driver slow down or calling the Highway Police from our cell phone. Encouraging people to do just that might eliminate many of these accidents.

The problem in gauging the full extent of the poor road safety standards prevailing in Thailand is obtaining relevant data.

Over the past 10 years fatalities seem to range from 9,000 to 13,000 annually. However, the consensus among most of those conducting surveys is that under reporting is significant. Subsequent death of those hospitalized are not necessarily included in many instances in the database established by the Royal Thai Police statisticians. Most concede that a more accurate total might be in the region of 20,000 fatalities per year.

Taking into account recent international studies only Honduras poses a greater risk to the travelling tourist of meeting his maker through public transportation.

I used to think the age of the buses implied there must be some safety to them, but apparently even the most mangled buses, maybe even the one in this accident are repaired or spliced onto the good half of another bus and put back on the road.

From Today's Bangkok Post:

""The accident was a shock. But what had taken place before that was even worse. The passengers on the bus felt something was wrong as the vehicle was going too fast. One scared passenger could take it no longer and told the driver to slow down.
The driver not only dismissed the request, but he pulled into a petrol station, turned to the passengers and told those who were not happy to get off the bus immediately."

Shortly after he resumed the journey, he lost control of the vehicle and the bus hit the electricity pole.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/o...eed-reining-in

^
Wonder if anybody got off?

Originally Posted by BobR

The driver not only dismissed the request, but he pulled into a petrol station, turned to the passengers and told those who were not happy to get off the bus immediately."

Originally Posted by thegent

You can't tell Thai anything - they're simply too stupid and to correct their idiotic behaviour at the suggestion of another would be to admit their obvious inferiority and lose face which of course, being the children they are, would never do.

true.

I dont know what some are debating here but even Stevie Wonder could
see that Thais are some of the most reckless, inconsiderate and ignorant
drivers in the world.
They say Egypt is worse , but I dont know.