Another Thai Bus Accident

[Terry]

Just noticed this on BBC world

It would be headline news anywhere else

Thai bus crash kills at least 22

At least 22 people were killed and 50 badly injured when a bus overturned before dawn in eastern Thailand.

The bus was driving on a steep, winding road when it smashed into a hillside in Prachinburi province, reports said.

Highway police suspect the driver might have fallen asleep at the wheel, and believe he has also been killed.

The bus was carrying a group of students from a technology university in north-eastern Khon Kaen province and was driving overnight to the coast.

"Initial investigation shows that the bus might have had a break failure and could not stop on the steep road," police Maj Suchart Yaemsak told reporters.

Police fear more casualties may occur as some of those injured are in serious condition.

The students were on a field trip when the accident occurred at 0330 local time (2030 GMT), 135 km (83 miles) east of Bangkok.

[Guess]

I have traveled that road a few times. It is scary. I'm surprised there is not more accidents with the buses overtaking on blind bends all the time.

[Nereus]

Bangkok Post has the following:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_new ... ?id=131299

24 university students die as bus overturns

(BangkokPost.com) - A tour bus carrying students of Khon Kaen College of Agriculture and Technology on an overnight trip crashed in Prachin Buri province early Friday morning, killing 24 of the students and injuring about 30 others early Friday.

According to police, the bus was carrying some 50 students for an educational tour in the eastern province, and was probably running at a high speed. It went off the road and crashed at around 3.30am.

Police believed that the cause of the crash was that the driver was unfamiliar with the route.

Chaturong Muangkam, the bus driver, was found dead at the scene.

Injured students were taken to three nearby hospitals.

[clive]

Bangkok Post has the following:


According to police, the bus was carrying some 50 students for an educational tour in the eastern province, and was probably running at a high speed. It went off the road and crashed at around 3.30am.

Police believed that the cause of the crash was that the driver was unfamiliar with the route.

Chaturong Muangkam, the bus driver, was found dead at the scene.

Injured students were taken to three nearby hospitals.

Obviously the driver was so scared of the road he closed his eyes!!!

On a serious note, a very sad happening, one day this country will take steps to stop this continual waste of life!! My symapthies to all the families involved.

[Spitfire]

This a sad, common story. Overworked bus drivers which have to clock in at certain times on the route as they often only get a certain, tight window of time to get to the destination, which leads to driving at unrealistic and dangerous speeds. If he stops for a bowl of noodles then he's quite late and then 'steps on it'. 130 km/h is not unusual for these buses. The bus operator is at fault aswell here.

The other pertinant point that is relevent is that there is little "preventitive servicing" as we would call it. No MOT's here. It's fix it when it breaks, which leads to the mess you see everywhere when driving around(blow-outs everywhere etc) and regretably incidents such as this.

Then throw into the mix all the other hazards that are omni-present on the roads(such as 'scooter boy' riding any which way he chooses, cars driving the wrong way up the motorway, wandering cows, people running acrooss duel carriage ways etc).

Maybe they(the locals) have become somewhat numb to it now?

[STEVE G]

I have traveled that road a few times. It is scary. I'm surprised there is not more accidents with the buses overtaking on blind bends all the time.

If that’s the road from Saraburi to Khorat, 135km east of Bangkok is that bit down from the hills towards Siam cement, which apparently is statistically the most dangerous bit of road in Thailand.

[caller]

I have traveled that road a few times. It is scary. I'm surprised there is not more accidents with the buses overtaking on blind bends all the time.

If that’s the road from Saraburi to Khorat, 135km east of Bangkok is that bit down from the hills towards Siam cement, which apparently is statistically the most dangerous bit of road in Thailand.

I'm not sure it can be as that's all dual carriageway, although being on a bus, the speed of the bus, coupled with it's height and with the bends in the road - it did concern me!

[Guess]

If that’s the road from Saraburi to Khorat, 135km east of Bangkok is that bit down from the hills towards Siam cement, which apparently is statistically the most dangerous bit of road in Thailand.

I think you have your bearings a bit off.

The bus was traveling from Khon Kean to "the coast", not Bangkok, although I suppose it could have meant this coast but the articles mention Kabinburi which is 135 km due East rather than northeast of Bangkok. The road (304) leaves from the Rayong to Chonburi & Bangkok Highway (3) at Chon Buri and travels North east across country to Kabinburi. It then does the hazardous single carriageway journey up to the Korat plateau through Muang Kao, Udorn San and Pak Thong before coming out on Highway 2 just west of Korat at the beginning of the Korat bypass.

If you are traveling south the shorter climb up is fairly straight and gentle but the descent is treacherous and much longer.

The Sara Buri to Korat section of highway 2 is also dangerous as you say but for different reasons. The road seems to be undergoing permanent resurfacing and there are long hillside sections that has wide pullovers and no road markings. To add to the problem they don't use retarders on heavy vehicles here meaning that the driver has to continually brake as he is going down hill. Drivers in a hurry can't resist the temptation to see what there vehicles can do.

Look at Google maps and then check Google Earth and you will see what I mean.

BTW. All government buses from Pattaya to the North East take this route (304).

Added later.

It may not be that piece of road I thought as the two articles above mention Prachinburi which is another town on the route, however if I remember correctly that road is not very safe either.

[STEVE G]

If that’s the road from Saraburi to Khorat, 135km east of Bangkok is that bit down from the hills towards Siam cement, which apparently is statistically the most dangerous bit of road in Thailand.

I think you have your bearings a bit off.

Yes Guess, I’ve since read the report on a couple of new sites and it seems that it’s not highway 2 where the accident was.

[clive]

I did not realise that bus drivers have to clock in en-route and work within time windows! Unbeleivable but I suppose to be expected.
I once caught a bus from Pitsanoluk to Khoen Kaen, the bus had only one windscreen wiper and no washers and it rained lightly on the journey. The bus kept stopping so that the engineer!! could get out and throw a bucket of water on the screen!! When I spoke to the driver at the convenience stop he told me that he travels from Chiang Mai to Pitsanoluk and then onto Khoen Kaen one day and then returns the next day, a lenghty and very stressfull journey, his home? the bus.
Three weeks ago I was held up in traffic just outside Pattaya, on the grass verge lay a double decker VIP bus on its side with the driver being extracted by passers by. Other witnesses expalind that he was speeding in the third lane and lost control, hit the centre reservation and then the bus flipped on its side. The happy side of the story was that the bus had no passengers on board!!
The sad side is that buses are not allowed in the third lane and are restricted to I beleive 90kmh, so som nam nah to both the owner and the driver and of course there were no police at the scene either!!!

[Guess]

.............The sad side is that buses are not allowed in the third lane and are restricted to I beleive 90kmh, ...............

I didn't know they had lane restrictions but 90 km/h is the national speed limit for all vehicles on a dual carriageway. The only one exception is a motorway and there is only a few of them. One is the North Bangkok to Chon Buri Motorway (HWY 7) that the Mo Chit - Pattaya buses use.

What gets me is that Thailand is still one of the safest countries in Asia to travel by bus.

[clive]

Now I thought that cars on a dual carriageway, except where it says different on a sign, were allowed to do 120kmh. I know that the dual carriageway between Hua Hin and Cha Am is only 90kmh but was under the impression that the rest of the dual carriageway up to BKK was 120kmh. 90kmh is just 54 mph, that would take for ever to get somewhere, like back to 4 hours HH to BKK!!!

[dtaai-maai]

Now I thought that cars on a dual carriageway, except where it says different on a sign, were allowed to do 120kmh. I know that the dual carriageway between Hua Hin and Cha Am is only 90kmh but was under the impression that the rest of the dual carriageway up to BKK was 120kmh. 90kmh is just 54 mph, that would take for ever to get somewhere, like back to 4 hours HH to BKK!!!

It's 90 alright. But I was once told by a friendly traffic cop, as I was handing over my 200 baht for speeding, that they only stop you if you're doing over 115. I suspect that depends...

[Guess]

90kmh is just 54 mph, that would take for ever to get somewhere, like back to 4 hours HH to BKK!!!

More haste less speed. 90 * 2.5 is 225 km. That gets you to BKK.

It's the high speeds on that road that cause the accidents that cause the traffic hold ups.

It's all about flow control. They had it in the Bay area 15 years ago so maybe we will get it here in another 15. Until recently the speed limit in the whole Bay Area was 55 MPH but you would be doing that speed most of the time.

[Guess]

90kmh is just 54 mph, that would take for ever to get somewhere, like back to 4 hours HH to BKK!!!

More haste less speed. 90 * 2.5 is 225 km. That gets you to BKK.

It's the high speeds on that road that cause the accidents that cause the traffic hold ups.

It's all about flow control. They had it in the Bay area 15 years ago so maybe we will get it here in another 15. Until recently the speed limit in the whole Bay Area was 55 MPH but you would be doing that speed most of the time.