22 injured in Pranburi bus crash

[buksida]

Twenty-two people were injured when a Bangkok-bound tour bus ran off the road and hit a bridge stanchion in Prachuap Khiri Khan province early on Monday, police said.

Pol Lt Nattapong Art-am, a duty officer at Pran Buri police station, said he received a report of the accident about 1am.

Police suspected that Paitoon Boonyakham, the driver, dozed off at the wheel and missed the turn in the road. The bus then mounted the sidewalk, hit the bridge support pillar and overturned.

Twenty-two people were injured. There were no fatalities.

The tour bus, Bangkok licence plate number 15-4892, belongs to the Express Company and was travelling from Phang-nga province to Bangkok.

Source: Bangkok Post

[deepee]

Just saw on the news another ugly bus crash .This one up Saraburi way, 9 dead and 22 seriously injured.Caught fire after hitting a truck.

[Dannie Boy]

Just saw on the news another ugly bus crash .This one up Saraburi way, 9 dead and 22 seriously injured.Caught fire after hitting a truck.

Latest report on BBC news is that at least 19 have been killed after the lorry crossed the road and hit the bus.

[Bristolian]

Just saw on the news another ugly bus crash .This one up Saraburi way, 9 dead and 22 seriously injured.Caught fire after hitting a truck.

Latest report on BBC news is that at least 19 have been killed after the lorry crossed the road and hit the bus.

The lorry driver has admitted to falling asleep at the wheel

[PeteC]

I wonder if these accidents we read about here are proportional and average for a country of 65 million people? The UK is about 65 as well, and are all accidents of a serious nature reported in the press there? If not fully reported there and elsewhere in the West, we may be over reacting to what we read about here? Pete

[Takiap]

I can't see this sort of thing stopping before they clamp down on the bus companies and transport companies. A mate of mine has been driving trucks in the UK for a while now and he reckons that you can't even go over the limit by a few minutes, and the office is on the phone wanting to know why the truck is still moving.

Everything is monitored it seems, and you get tracked in real time. Here in Thailand it seems like the transport companies actually encourage drivers to push themselves to the limit. So what if they crash....it just means a call to the insurance company in the morning.

[dtaai-maai]

I don't think so, Pete. Most of the accidents reported here involve multiple deaths. An accident in the UK in which, say, 5-6 people were killed would probably feature in national news - double figures would undoubtedly be a major headline. Thankfully, they appear to be few and far between these days.

Infrastructure, training, regulation - all absent here.

[Dannie Boy]

I wonder if these accidents we read about here are proportional and average for a country of 65 million people? The UK is about 65 as well, and are all accidents of a serious nature reported in the press there? If not fully reported there and elsewhere in the West, we may be over reacting to what we read about here? Pete

I'm quite certain Pete that accidents in the UK come under much closer scrutiny than they do in Thailand and would be both reported and investigated in far greater detail.

As Bristolian has mentioned, the cause of the crash appears to have been the driver of the lorry falling asleep, no doubt due to driving for too long, something that is tightly regulated in the UK. It's not impossible to get around the use of tachographs, but they at least install a fair degree of control to prevent the type of accident that is far to common in Thailand - many of the minibus accidents result from the drivers being asked/forced to work dangerously long hours.

[Bristolian]

Maybe some comparison for road deaths from the Foreign Office reported by the Telegraph:

“Thailand, a country with 50,000 British residents and over 870,000 British visitors per year, suffered 68,582 incidents resulting in 9,205 deaths involving both Thai residents and tourists in 2011. In contrast 1,901 people were killed in road accidents in the UK that year”

[Frank Hovis]

Pete, you can drive the length of the UK (about 1400Kms) without seeing a single accident (excluding Scotland's infamous A9), you can barely go 14Kms here without seeing a serious accident.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/caus ... y-country/ suggests that your are about 10 times more likely to die in a traffic accident here than in the UK and about 4 times more likely than in the USA.

[Bristolian]

I am not sure the age of the data but wiki states that for every 100,000 of population the road accident death rate in the UK is 3.59 People compared with 12.3 for the USA and 19.6 for Thailand

these figures are correct you are about 6 times more likely to die in Thailand from a road accident than in the UK. Not too far adrift from Frank’s figures which may be more up-to-date

Alternatively Wiki also gives the numbers by 100,000 road vehicles and then the numbers are very different
UK - 7 deaths per 100,000 vehicles
USA - 15 deaths per 100,000 vehicles
Thailand - 118 deaths per 100,000 vehicles

[Nereus]

It appears that the bus driver was not the culprit in this latest "accident". There was some comment recently about GPS tracking being fitted to some buses. This link is not the one I am refering to, but it also mentions it.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/lea ... to-control

Still, not all private firms in partnership with Transport Co are bad. Nakhonchaiair, for one, makes an incredible effort to ensure the safety of its passengers. It's a simple process. It has equipped its fleet with GPS devices with staff tracking the buses on screen at head office in Bangkok around the clock. By doing this, all buses are being watched and any errant driver is ordered by the control room to slow down if he goes beyond the speed limit.

[Ginjaninja]

Travel Security Online
23 Jul 2013
________________________________________
Thailand: Luxury coach accident in Saraburi province reminder of need to avoid long-distance bus travel
At least 19 people on 23 July were killed and around 20 others injured in a tour bus accident in Keng Khoi district (Saraburi province). According to media reports, a truck veered off course and collided with the double-decker luxury coach, which was travelling from the capital Bangkok to the north-eastern province of Roi Et. Although such accidents involving luxury coaches are uncommon, we advise against using long-distance buses for business travel. Those nevertheless intending to use such services should enquire into the safety record of commercial operators and review the efficiency of safety provisions on board.

Travel Advice Summary
• We advise against using long-distance buses for business travel due to the poor standard of driving, the variable condition of the vehicles and the risk of petty crime.
• Where possible, travel longer distances by air. Where air travel is not a viable option, travel by rail is preferable to long road journeys. See our internal travel section for alternative options.
• Those intending to travel by long-distance bus should consider the following:
o Some coach or bus operators may not meet international safety standards, travellers are advised to ensure the vehicle they are intending to travel on is regularly and properly maintained. Ensure the driver has a valid, current licence and that the bus has the necessary documentation.
o Those intending to use coaches should ensure the vehicle is equipped with suitable safety provisions, such as seatbelts, fire extinguishers, emergency window hammers and first aid kits. They should also conduct an active assessment of the vehicle; where there is doubt about the quality of either the driver or the vehicle they should seek alternative options.
o Be aware that buses in Thailand can attract pickpockets; maintain vigilance over your personal possessions.

[bsdk1960]

Travel Security Online
23 Jul 2013
________________________________________
Thailand: Luxury coach accident in Saraburi province reminder of need to avoid long-distance bus travel
At least 19 people on 23 July were killed and around 20 others injured in a tour bus accident in Keng Khoi district (Saraburi province). According to media reports, a truck veered off course and collided with the double-decker luxury coach, which was travelling from the capital Bangkok to the north-eastern province of Roi Et. Although such accidents involving luxury coaches are uncommon, we advise against using long-distance buses for business travel. Those nevertheless intending to use such services should enquire into the safety record of commercial operators and review the efficiency of safety provisions on board.

Travel Advice Summary
• We advise against using long-distance buses for business travel due to the poor standard of driving, the variable condition of the vehicles and the risk of petty crime.
• Where possible, travel longer distances by air. Where air travel is not a viable option, travel by rail is preferable to long road journeys. See our internal travel section for alternative options.
• Those intending to travel by long-distance bus should consider the following:
o Some coach or bus operators may not meet international safety standards, travellers are advised to ensure the vehicle they are intending to travel on is regularly and properly maintained. Ensure the driver has a valid, current licence and that the bus has the necessary documentation.
o Those intending to use coaches should ensure the vehicle is equipped with suitable safety provisions, such as seatbelts, fire extinguishers, emergency window hammers and first aid kits. They should also conduct an active assessment of the vehicle; where there is doubt about the quality of either the driver or the vehicle they should seek alternative options.
o Be aware that buses in Thailand can attract pickpockets; maintain vigilance over your personal possessions.

don't now if I should laugh or cry.

[Bristolian]

Transport Min emphasizes on safety measures of public transport
BANGKOK, 24 July 2013 (NNT) – The Transport Ministry is stepping up measures on the safety of public transport, especially buses, urging the Transport Company to check its tour bus condition regularly.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has urged the Transport Company to inspect their vehicles at least every 2 years, adding that a driver should not drive longer than 8 hours per day and has to stop every four hours when on a long trip.

As for trucks, the minister said he wanted the truck companies to inspect their lorries more often than once in every 3 years as now required as well as to regularly check their drivers’ health condition, adding that all companies have to be strict when recruiting their drivers.

The minister also has a plan to build more rest stops for tour buses, ordering the Department of Land Transport to discuss the idea with related agencies. Lastly, he ordered the Land Transport Department to inspect all public buses in terms of safety equipment, such as seat belts and emergency doors, and report the result back to the Minister within a fortnight
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/new ... 7240010003

And so...a cursory inspection of busses every 2 years and inspection of lorries every 3 years is going to solve the problem...yea..TIT