Another bus crash .

Just before midnight last night a bus from Bangkok travelling to Chiang Mai, crashed into a gas station outside Lampang killing 8 including the driver and injuring 50 .It is believed the driver fell asleep at the wheel .
http://www.komchadluek.net/detail/20111 ... B8%AD.html
Sorry in Thai .

More courtesy Thai Rath.
http://www.thairath.co.th/content/region/221791

This sounds like a real bad one ..and must serve as a warning to anyone not needing to travel by bus ..THEN DONT.

When i go on my monthy jolly to BKK there aint a trip ive done where i HAVENT seen a tour bus mangles , o its side i the central reservation or over a cliff , ,,, driver fell asleep , fled the scene whatever this is to much of a regular occurance to risk it IMO.

Mash

Plenty of farang in LOS and posters here on this forum with small money so bus is the only option,Why do the drivers not do 4 hour shifts or is the law here not applied or is there no law relating to bus drivers

Blame in on the ''war on drugs'',probably out of Yaba!I often wonder,who pays for the survivors hospitalization and aftercare?

nkstan wrote:Blame in on the ''war on drugs'',probably out of Yaba!I often wonder,who pays for the survivors hospitalization and aftercare?

There are numerous reasons for the more than often occurance of these crashes ,, un licenced , un qualified , illegal drivers . driving too many hours without a rest , maybe taking pills to stay awke scrambling their cordination who knows ,,
The last smash between Udon and KK was same time my son was in hospital and i saw the carnage as it arrived , the time before same company same stretch of road my missus sister and husband on board , thee were deaths and lots of injuries , the sisiter broken leg , her hubby colarbone and head injuries ,,, the bus company paid 50 k compo to each and thy had to go to court for the hospital costs on top of that ,,,,, these bus companies have minmal insurance or death of passengers we looked into it at the time and when buying a ticket that is in actual fact agreeing to their rules and conditions regarding accidents .

Pomps has agood point some have to use buses ,, my advice was if its the last resort then ok , if 2 or 3 travelling together rent a car , or go by train or plane as all are safer IMO .

Mash

You have to say that the standard of driving and testing is the root cause.

Although not (at the moment) driving buses, my kid bro-in-law took a THREE DAY course to learn to drive big trucks.
Nothing wrong with that you say, until you realise the only time he had been on the road exept on a motorbike prior to the course was when illegally driving his dads pick-up in the village 20 km from the nearest main road.

A couple of days after he passed his course he was driving artics full of sugar to Laos and back

I have been unable to find if the equivalent of a PSV license even exists here. All my enquiries end up pointing back to the standard HGV. No one seems to know whats special about driving with 60 people on board . If this is so it means any of those apparently suicidal guys behind those sip lors with a huge trailer, normally overloaded, can be your next chauffeur on that bus .Add to that the common system whereby the driver is penalised financially for late arrival at the destination and you have a lethal combination .On top of that with the local inter city buses, not the so called tour bus, as far as I can gather , have this ridiculous system whereby the driver rents a slot in the timetable. As he gets the reward of the fares gathered he wants as many passengers as he can get , So, he runs as slowly as he can at the start of the journey so that more people are waiting for him, then after goes like a bat out of hell to get to the destination on time to avoid the late arrival penalty .The system is not designed to take account of passenger safety .

I would say that passenger safety does not even rate as a consideration in Thailand at all. I mean when the insurance companies do pay for any injured sustained BUT you have to take them to court to get a reasonable compensation package for lost wages etc, then you have a lethal combination of lax enforcement of any laws ( if they exist 0 coupled with uncaring and insensitive protection and the Bus companies know that and take FULL advantage of it.
Personally every time i go to BKK on a bus I look at the bus if I am not happy I say so.
They get upset BUT they do put on new tyres and if the driver smells of alcohol I bloody well complain as well preferably to a Police officer who has to act . Now I really don't bother rather take the car to Mo chit and catch a sky train cheaper and a damn sight safer.

Khun Paul wrote:Now I really don't bother rather take the car to Mo chit and catch a sky train cheaper and a damn sight safer.

Some valid points Paul but by the time you pay for fuel for your car and then the Sky train Is it really cheaper than the bus?

Well regarding the cost, I always try to take up to four people as well then the cost is acceptable, last time is was two Thais and one of my friends and we had a great time. Thais are not that enamoured with the buses either it seems.

OK, it is not around Udon, though below another five fatality crash reported from PhangNa near Phuket, in a local Songtaew. The article includes video showing the car that caused the carnage, an older BMW 5 series from which the driver was able to walk away. At least he was not able to drive away and escape responsiblity.

This follows another five fatality crash recently in PhangNa, in which four of the dead were Swedes and the driver that caused it fled before turning himself in a few days later.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/a ... 12359.html

*****
I am really going to worry when my children are a bit older and go farther on their school trips in buses, or worse, go around town on the back of their friends' motorbikes That may be a good time to take them for a few years of high school in the old country.

No it might not be cheapere but a whole lot safer and if as others do you have a couple of people with you then it is cheaper, last time I had three Thais who wishged to go down for the weekend, the bus ( decent ) is about 500 THB, but they offered me 750 return trip leave 1600 friday and return Sunday night about 1800 , i thought I was goping to seea freind on Sat and come back sunday so i agreed, it cost me personally 300 THB for the trip as the amount they offered paid for nearly all the fuel.cruising at btwn 90-100 took 7 hrs going down and almost the same coming back, no extra police stops and all in all a good trip .

Stopped at Mo chit parked the car and took the Sky train, one of the chaps knew a place for 50 THB and we used that he said if I ever need it I could it is run by his friend. near to Mo chit a seedy looking place that repairs cars.

So if one plans ahead it can be cheaper and safer and not only that you can stop whenever you want and have GOOD food not the rubbish the bus company serves.